The document discusses the growth and importance of social media. It notes that social media allows for two-way communication, viral sharing of content, and the formation of networks among users. It provides examples of how different social media platforms can be used by brands for networking, marketing, customer feedback, and crisis management.

1. By : Robin Low introduction to SOCIAL MEDIA

2. media Landscape Internet Advertising Bureau, 2004

3. product Proliferation While mergers, both horizontal and vertical, the landscape of the industry in the world have been changing. Various organizations market many variations of the same products . The number of brands of everything is ever increasing and house brands are common in chain stores, resulting in consumers having more options. Source: Strike up the Brands. McKinsey & Company, December 2003 Source: Darwin Day Conference, Google

4. media Proliferation Source: “Left Brain Marketing,” Forrester Research (April 2004); “The Vanishing Mass Market,” BusinessWeek (July 2004) Source: Darwin Day Conference, Google Today, media is fragmented 13,500 radio stations (4,400 in 1960) 17,300 magazine titles (8,400 in 1960) 82.4 TV channels per home (5.7 in 1960) And the Web: Millions of sites Billions of pages

5. medium Proliferation Besides getting your ads on TV, newspapers, radio and magazines, many other new mediums are used to bombard consumers with ads. Today, ads can be found virtually everywhere, on sms on cell phones, your IM communicator, computer games and in movies. As a result, consumers are growing more wary and tired of advertisements.

6. A radical change has occurred in the World of advertising and marketing “ ”

7. Consumers are not listening anymore Interruptive marketing has seen it’s day Source: http://www.=.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf

8. The Audience is creating Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/ IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf

9. The Audience is selecting Time Shift technology Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/ IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf

10. The Audience is changing Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/ IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf

11. outcome of overexposure to media “ We are immune to advertising. Just forget it. ” “ You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention. ” “ The Internet became a place where people could talk to other people without constraint. Without filters or censorship or official sanction — and perhaps most significantly, without advertising ” “ Don't talk to us as if you've forgotten how to speak. Don't make us feel small. Remind us to be larger. Get a little of that human touch. ” Cluetrain Manifesto Source: http://www.cluetrain.com

12. Consumers control the online environment so brands need to think about facilitating user-created actions, not just user-generated content." Unlike newspapers and TV where the advertisers are speaking at consumers, the Internet allows for more back and forth interaction. Source: http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/30979 “ ” advancements of… digital media

13. The birth of Generation C Control Content Communicate Creativity Channel Creative Class Community Connected Co-Creators Cash Consumer 2.0 Conversation Source: www.slideshare.net/wah17

14. consumer Today Source: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/files/logic_emotion.ppt

15. what is… social media? “ Social Media is a group of online media which has the following characteristics.” Participation – Social media encourages participation and feedback from everyone who is interested, the kind of audience participation blurs the line between media and audience. Networks – Social media allows networks that share common interests to form and communicate effectively and quickly. Two-way communication – Social media is a new way of communication which content is distributed by audience, unlike traditional broadcast media, it allows user comments during transmission. Connectivity – Social media thrives on connecting people, allowing people to share their experiences on the web and add their comments and links to related topics. Open source – Social media is open to feedback and participation. It encourages voting, sharing and comments and it frowns upon restrictive barriers like passwords.

17. growth of social media

18. growth of social media

19. Importance of… social media 2 way communication – allows feedback, comments Generate massive amounts of traffic – get attention and links Viral propagation – Word of Mouth marketing (Invite friends to promote) Networking – create community / supporters Branding Search engine visibility Low cost / high returns Compliments marketing efforts – use with advertisements and PR Market research / customer feedback Crisis Management – resolve things before they become a crisis New Communication Channel Less effort with community sharing / help

20. Suggested Use of Platforms Youtube/Flickr – create a corporate account to show instructional videos. May also show photos / video of seminars and events. Blogs – write blogs / articles for topics like “10 reasons to choose…”, “10 tips on xxxx”. Blogs / articles can be mostly informational with indirect marketing within to attract people to read and direct them to your company’s website and sign up for action. Facebook – Start a fan page, manage users, manage conversations, monitor conversations, promote events, etc. Twitter – promote blogs, promote new updates to website, gain market info. Wikipedia – promote industry, educate your customers about the benefits of your products.

21. Buys tickets online Checks scores Looks for information about latest games Reads up on new cd releases Reads his friend’s postings Gets the latest updates on favorite teams Downloads Songs Music Sites Sports Sites Blog Sites Movie Sites Gaming Sites Google.com Searches for “what’s cool” Consumer Touch Points Source: Darwin Day Conference, Google

22. 6 reasons for using… twitter “ With twitter gaining popularity, number of users greatly increased after celebrities began to use this social media platform. Many people are only beginning to realize the true value in it. ” Networking - You can find all sorts of people on twitter, and following the right group of people, and allowing people to follow you, can allow you to build up a strong network of people that share similar interests. You can sometimes rely on the expertise of these people and as they come from varied backgrounds, having these people in your network is definitely great if you need to seek advice on a topic you do not understand. Networks – Social media allows networks that share common interests to form and communicate effectively and quickly. Updated news – Speed of news on twitter almost unbelievable. Being on twitter, the news show up real time and unlike restricted by news source, the current events you get from twitter is varied and may give you a very balanced or skewed views on a certain topic. Real time Connectivity – Social media thrives on connecting people, allowing people to share their experiences on the web and add their comments and links to related topics.

23. 6 reasons for using… twitter Relationships - Updating your status or what you are doing can allow you to stay connected with your network and friends. Reading about your friend's tweets about their updates allows you to continuously remain in touch with the ground despite your physical presence may not be there. You can also bridge and foster new relationships wirelessly and effortlessly. Information - You definitely get a lot of information on twitter. News on google failing to buy twitter, and apple buying twitter, information on how to pick mangoes, and movie reviews. You can find almost everything on twitter. What is even better is that you can post a question or poll to your followers and get instant feedback on them. Direct responses makes twitter a very attractive tool for many. Entertainment – People are attracted to twitter for all kinds of reasons and the most important of them all is… fun. There are tons of quotes, jokes and funny picture or video links. Endless entertainment on twitter. You can also follow celebrities and know what they are doing or are planning to do. Job Search - In this financial crisis, Twitter transform itself into a new source where you can find a job, attracting a new group of previously non-social media savvy users to join the network. Simply do a #Jobs or #Job search with #location for more specific jobs.

24. brand building & management Social Media is fast becoming an important tool for managing your brand . As more people use the social media platform to share their opinions, it is important to engage and correct any misconception on your company over the social media sphere. Word of mouth is key . A supporter can easily sway opinions and view of their followers for their cause.

25. I believe in the bloggers and their ideas. They are my friends and will tell me the truth, unlike advertisements. “ ” Source: http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/30979

26. Blogs & Articles Write articles and blogs to inform people about new development of the industry and the new advances in processes or technology. Employ ghostwriters or write the articles yourself. Give value and knowledge that people will find useful, for products and services related to your company. Share content related and important for your industry. Share the benefits of the advances in the industry, the importance and effects of the benefits. Brand yourself as an “expert” in the industry. Add a link back to your webpage. Improve your credibility by sharing knowledge. Millions of people read articles on ezinearticles.com, blogger.com or wordpress.com everyday.

27. Using twitter with vendors. (possibly remind vendors and suppliers on important deadline that is not confidential) References service (RT) from twitter – word of mouth marketing Push traffic to webpage / blogs Push announcements Get feedback (Customer Support) Twitter helps one organize great, instant meet-ups (tweet-ups). Twitter works swell as an opinion poll. Twitter can help direct customer’s attention to good things. Twitter helps customer have “backchannel.” Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens). Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives everyone daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks). Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them. Twitter helps with staff development. Twitter Pros & Cons PROS

28. Twitter takes up time. Twitter takes you away from your business operations. Without a strategy, it’s just typing. There are other ways to do this. It doesn’t replace face-to-face (who said it does). Twitter is buggy and not 100% Robust. Twitter is just for nerds not for mass public yet. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only) Twitter doesn’t replace email. Twitter opens the business up to more criticism and griping. Twitter Pros & Cons CONS

29. Build network Generate awareness Get feedback Simple to start Start a profile page Build network (import contacts) Start a group/page Invite all your FB friends to join Ask friends to invite friends Regular events, encourage activities Message Group/Page members Facebook

30. Digital experiences Design Centred Content Focus INTERACTIVITY Marketers>Experience>Conversation>Relationship>Affinity Source: www.slideshare.net/wah17

31. Case study… one Celebrate your Customers Brandjacking Burger King was “Brandjacked” on tweeter, when an unofficial man started “@theBKlounge” and started having a lot of strange new interesting ideas on marketing Burger King. Instead of shutting down the “unofficial” tweets, Burger King ran with the ideas and came up with many funny supporting ads including some on youtube, showing “The King” This proved to be an instant success, increasing sales, and humanize customers for the brand. Through this advocacy, Burger King’s branding was re-interpreted and introducing the new ideas created greater influence with the community.

32. Case study… two www.aware.org.sg Aware is a non-profit organization for improving gender equality. In May 2009, after the first elections, the organizations was split into 2 camps. After apparent insensitivity shown by the new committee, members called for a vote of non-confidence and wanted a new election. EOGM was called and 2 Facebook Pages as well as many twitter accounts were setup. Social Media was used to help organize the support for a new team, and as a result, many things were exposed and the new committee was ousted. Furthermore, with the vast coverage on Social Media, news coverage followed and AWARE grown from 250+ members to over 3000 members.

33. Twitter Management of Crisis Whether or not you are using social media, your customers and interested parties will be using them and talking about you. Through the different mediums of social media, there will be feedback inevitably as social media empowers people to share their opinions. Getting to the feedback, taking in positive feedback and resolving negative feedback becomes critical. Resolving negative comments is critical, and doing it in a timely way can build great relationships from a misunderstanding. Have a clear internal process on management of a digital crisis within the organization. Make the approval and clearance channels as minimal as possible to assure shortest response time. Time is the deciding factor. Crisis management especially online. Maintain a policy of transparency. All negative comments be taken in positively. Engage active commenting users to gain insight to the issue and credit them for the efforts . Such successful examples include AsiaAir and SIA, who transformed negative publicity into loyal customers and a long-memory of good word. Consistently gather statistics and observe conversations to understand ground sentiments. Digital strategies will be adjusted accordingly to meet ground demands.

34. The “ satisfaction effect ” Source: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com

35. Engagement is all about making it relevant to the consumer. “ ” James Speros, Chief marketing officer, Ernst & Young

36. People read particular magazines because of the life stages and events which currently involve them: from teenager to golfer, from having a baby to coping with retirement. “ ” Source: Henley Centre, Delivering Engagement 2004

37. The editorial/reader relationship is a one-to-one conversation, and in time it creates a bond of trust, of belief, expectation and empathy. It is through the quality of this relationship that an aperture or opening to the reader’s mind and heart is created, through which we advertisers can establish communication. “ ” Advertiser with Readers’ Digest

38. Attention Engagement The new paradigm

39. Twitter: robin_low make the best of the opportunity TODAY