Social Media For Business, Can It Work?

Social Media for Business

What is Web 2.0?
It is a design philosophy, it is not any one application
Perceived second generation of web development that facilitates communication, secure information sharing and collaboration on the World Wide Web.
Led to the development and evolution of web based communities, hosted services, and applications such as social networking, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, etc.

Conversation Prism

Social Media Platforms
Blogs
Facebook
LinkedIn/Plaxo
Ning
RSS
Twitter
Wikis

What is Social Media?
Some say “social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done, there is a surprise it’s not better.” - Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist

Social Media Defined
Social media is an umbrella term that:
Defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, images and audio
Communication has shifted from one to many – or one-way broadcasting to a true dialogue and conversation (many to many)
People have transformed from content consumers into content producers
Interactions can include chat, e-mail, video, file sharing, blogging and discussion groups
Information sharing is immediate and viral

Social Media Use
According to Cone’s 2008 Business in Social Media Study:
60% of Americans are using social media
Of those, 59% are interacting with companies online
93% of social media users believe companies should have a social media presence
eMarketer expects the number of U.S. adults using social media to grow to more than 76% this year
Think of it as a gazillion conversations happening online 24/7

It’s Here to Stay

It’s Global

Mind Blowing Stats
3,000,000
The average number of Tweets per day on Twitter.
100,000,000
The number of YouTube videos viewed per day.
1,000,000,000
The amount of content shared each week on Facebook.
3,600,000,000
The number of photos archived on Flickr (6/09).
5,000,000,000
The number of minutes spent on Facebook each day.

Why Use Social Media?
3 out of 4 Americans use social technology – Forrester, The Growth of Social Technology Adoptions, 2008
2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks – Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity – ahead of personal e-mail – Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest – between the U.S. and Indonesia – Podcasting News, 2009
In 2010, Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers, and 96% have joined social networks

Social Media Can Impact Business
Public relations
Customer service
Loyalty building
Collaboration
Networking
Thought leadership
Customer acquisition too

Evolving Communication

Social Media Spending Up

Measurement

Insights
Source: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide 2009

Social Media Platforms
Blogs
Facebook
LinkedIn/Plaxo
Ning
RSS
Twitter
Wikis

Blog
What it is:
An online journal, short for “Web log”
Can be open to comments or closed
Can be customized with widgets and link to corporate Web sites and/or social media
Why it’s important:
77% of all Internet users read blogs
Almost half (45%) of all Internet users have started their own blogs
36% of Internet users think more positively about companies that use blogs
32% of Internet users trust bloggers' opinions on products and services (Source: PRNews, March 2008)
Frequent blog posts can increase search engine rankings

Blog
Technorati is a leading blog aggregator and search engine

Facebook
What it is:
The largest social networking site, with more than 122M unique visits, June 2009
Users create a profile and share photos, videos, events, messages and more
300M active users
Global visitors spend 8 billion minutes on the site each day
Fastest growing segment is 35 years old+
Drives added traffic to corporate site
Frequent changes improve search engine optimization

Elements of Facebook
Pages
Groups
Security Settings
X
User Profile
X
Applications

Facebook
Personal Profile vs. Business Page:
Create a Personal Profile first, then create a Business Page that you administer
Personal Profiles have friends (mutual acceptance) and Business Pages have fans (one-way opt-in)
Business Pages offer rich customization/integration tools:
Analytics
Integrated advertising
Can be extended with custom 3rd party Applications
Profiles are for people, not companies

LinkedIn
What it is:
Social networking platform for business professionals & executives
More than 43 million members worldwide
Content updates improve SEO
Business organizations benefit from their employees’ professional connections
Form connections at a professional level vs. solely personal level
Position SMEs as thought leaders by creating or joining appropriate groups

Plaxo
What it is:
Platform that offers a mix of professional and personal connections; a “hybrid” social network
Content updates improve SEO
Gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ online lives through rich sharing among users (blogs, Twitter, Flickr, etc)

Ning
What it is:
Allows users to join and create new social networks for their interests and passions
Enables brands to develop their own unique social network that integrates with other Web 2.0 platforms
Why It’s Important:
Listening and research opportunities among your most engaged customers and/or prospects

Ning
More than 3,300 social media networks dedicated to national credit reporting are registered on ning.com

Twitter
What it is:
A microblogging platform that allows users to post short, 140-character updates
Twitter had 23.5 million unique visitors in August 2009 (Source: Compete.com)
Marketers can create a community of followers to which they push information while developing a corporate personality
Follow, Retweet, Respond, DM

Twitter
Tweets are permanent (cannot be deleted)
The content is so easily digestible that users can follow hundreds of micro-bloggers
Like other social media, the proof is in more nebulous measures
Number of followers
Re-tweets
Changes in opt-in rates or visits
Provides a window into a company’s culture, personality
Improves SEO by using keywords in posts

RSS
What it is:
Real Simple Syndication
Provides “feeds” of full or summarized text of new Web content
Allows you to easily push information to your consumers on their terms
Allows readers to subscribe to timely updates from favored Web sites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place
Content can be delivered to multiple platforms
Web-based, desktop-based, mobile
RSS Symbol
RSS Symbol

RSS
Google Reader
Feedreader.com, an easy-to-use feed aggregator

Wiki
13 million articles on Wikipedia
What it is:
Sites that support multiple contributors with a shared responsibility for creating and maintaining content (Groundswell)
Corporate-developed Wikis educate/engage customers on specific topics most important to them
Public Wikipedia pages can appear in the top few results on Web searches based on frequent changes
Contributors discuss content and issues in “talk pages” associated with each Wiki

How Do You Begin?

Know Your Audiences
Forrester's Social Technographics® defines six types of social media consumers:
Among U.S. men & women, ages 18-55:
73% - Spectators
51% - Joiners
37% - Critics
24% - Creators
21% - Collectors
18% - Inactives
Creators make social content go. They write blogs, upload music, video or text
Critics respond to content from others
Collectors organize content for themselves and others using RSS feeds, tags, etc.
Joiners connect in social networks like Facebook
Spectators consume content, including blogs, podcasts, user-generated video, forums, etc.
Inactives neither create or consumer social content of any kind
Source: Forrester.com

Start by Listening
Connect
Influence
Listen
SparkConversations:
Share the stories behind the work and help educate others:
Tag Community content
Upload shareable content: videos/photos/ podcasts
Create Opportunities:
Trial small events of interest and invite the community
Engage Conversations:
Analyze the mood and drivers behind the conversation
Participate in the Activity:
Attend and join in other people’s events and happenings
Monitor Conversations:
Blog monitoring
Tag watching
Conversation tracking
Create an Individual Presence:
Join the communities to learn who’s out there

Twitter Tools
Twitter Search:
Real-time search of keywords and topics being discussed
Links to Twitter profile pages (@abc123)
TweetFeel:
Track the positive/negative sentiment associated with keyword mentions
Links to Twitter profile pages
TweetDeck:
Program that facilitates remote updating and feed management from desktop or iPhone

So, What Do You Do?
Define your company’s social media strategy
Think in conversations not campaigns
Ask for help if you need it

Really, What Do You Do?
Social media should be part of a marketing PR strategy. Social media…
Is not a panacea
Must be authentic
Must be consistent/frequent for maximum success
Determine who should own social media?
If possible, integrate it across marketing, sales, PR and even HR
Establish specific metrics
Measure # of conversations and quality, not sheer fan volume

The Avenue Affordable Luxuries
Goals
Grow Facebook fans to 1,000
Engage a new community of shoppers
Gain feedback on The Avenue brand
Tactics
Leveraged Affordable Luxuries advertising campaign to create a promotion for ShopTheAvenue Facebook page

The Avenue Affordable Luxuries
Tactics
Developed valuable prize package
Created easy to enter contest – join, take an action
Promoted contest via online and traditional marketing PR
Press releases, e-mails to more than 60,000 recipients, event listings, listed on corporate Web site, advertising and onsite signage
Results
Grew fans from 65 to 1,300 in 3 weeks
Fans posted ~100 photos/200 comments on deals
95+ unsolicited, positive comments about the brand
Reached a new audience of shoppers
70% of fans were not e-mail recipients
Media coverage value totaled $19,500 – more than twice the project budget – and resulted in 339,000 media impressions
Social media results helped to secure a new tenant for The Avenue

United Linen
Oklahoma-based SMB
Uniform and linen services for the hospitality and healthcare industries
Family-owned, founded in 1936
Social media goals
Lead generation
Customer retention

United Linen
Tactics:
Blog (must-see napkin folding demos)
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
YouTube

United Linen
Results:
Major business-media buzz
National coverage for a regional small business is invaluable
Enhanced customer service
Twitter used to update customers during bad weather
Building new business relationships
Reaching new audiences

Dive In
Determine the tools to use
Adapt traditional metrics
Set sights on low-hanging fruit
Set employee policies
Set expectations for behavior, educate your team, keep rules simple /focus on transparency
Interactive agencies can help to draft policies for HR review
Track the impact on other channels
Web traffic, media coverage, sales
Be flexible to change tactics with new technology

Don’t Be Anti-Social

Contact Us
c21i is c21’s dedicated interactive practice area, specializing in social media, e-mail marketing, pay-per-click advertising and interactive marketing services.
Sharon Goldmacher, President & CEOMarlena Reed, VP, Interactive Services
(404) 814-1330
sgoldmacher@c21pr.commreed@c21pr.comhttp://cwordblog.wordpress.com/
www.facebook.com/c21pr

Social Media For Business, Can It Work?

by Marlena Reed on Nov 20, 2009

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