What does 'Social Media' mean? (and what does it mean for my business?)

What does social media mean(and what does it meanfor my company?).

This presentation seems long, but isn’t.It’s going to explain:• What social media means• Why it’s important• And how it can benefit your company.

First, the phrase ‘social media’is misunderstood.

This term is generally used to refer to toolslike Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

These tools aren’t so important for ourexplanation. They could change as timegoes on, or as others become popular.

They are just the symptoms of thechanges that we’re concerned with here,not the cause.

The cause is the vast increase in thescope and speed of communicationbetween people.

The cause of this,is technology.

Communicationto manypeople needstechnology.

Technology used to be big, slowand expensive.

Unless you had space, time and lotsof money, you couldn’t do effectivemass communication.

But nowtechnologyis small, fastand cheap.

So now it’s easy for everyone tocommunicate with everyone.

Anywhere.

Doing anything.

Before this change in the use of technology,a small group of people controlled masscommunication.

They hadcontrol over ourperceptions; ofbrands, of thenews, of people, ofgovernments.

Now that control is gone.

Now if someonehas a badexperience, theycan tell everyone.

They can do it quickly, cheaplyand very effectively.

They can easily find groups of peoplewho think the same as they do, andco-ordinate and act together.

They can all share their same badexperiences in public.• Using a cheap video camera and YouTube• A phone camera and Flickr• A computer and Facebook• A blog and Wordpress/Tumblr/etc• Anything and Twitter• etc...

So what, at the start of this presentation, wecalled ‘social media’ you can see are reallyjust the tools used for mass communication.Communication which is now having animpact on society because of better andmore widespread technology.

Companies panic because they focuson the tools, and not the change.

They then think about making a‘viral’ for YouTube.

Or ‘engagingvia Facebook’.Or ‘starting aconversation viaa blog’.

They look for ‘hidden rules of success’,copying what others have had successwith. Not copying the principles behind thesuccess, but copying the ideas literally.

This is wrong.

Instead of focusing on the tools,focus on the change in communication.Focus on the cause, rather than the effects.

For example.Increased communication between peoplemeans increased communication betweenyour customers, or potential customers, orboth.

This communication can be a valuable resource for brands, leading to improvements, innovation or new and unexpected sources of revenue.

Like Wispa.(Check: http://www.marketsentinel.com/files/marketsentinel-cadburywispa.pdf)

Complaints in public about brandscan’t be stopped.

But they can lead to improvements and thesolving of problems which you didn’t beforerealise were a problem, without expensiveand time-consuming customer surveys orfocus groups.

You can then turn a public complaint intoa public solution; making a virtue out offixing these issues.

Like Dell.(check http://www.docstoc.com/docs/23282777/Case-Study-Dell-Hell)

Improvements in technology allowexperimentation, quick response andreaction at a low, low cost.

The money you previously spent on gettingyour ad on TV can be spent creating somethingbetter, something more likely to strike a chordwith your customers and be shared.

Like Old Spice.(check http://wearesocial.net/blog/2010/08/wieden-kennedys-spice-case-study/)

By looking at things the right way, brandscan see:• opportunities rather than risks• good rather than bad• sense rather than panic• insight rather than noise

Increased communication through bettertechnology is something which brands caneasily and cheaply listen to, learn from andexperiment with.

The future of your brand depends onlooking at this change the right way toget the insight, see the opportunities andgenerate the revenue.

In summary:Focus on the change, not the tools.

That’s it...

...although...

...if you do want to discuss any of thisfurther, get in touch: robd@northerncomfort.co.uk www.northerncomfort.co.ukAnd if you enjoyed this presentation,please pass it on.

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What does 'Social Media' mean? (and what does it mean for my business?)

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What does ’Social Media’ mean? (and what does it mean for my business?) Presentation Transcript