10. Tweets per day 3,000,000 Active Facebook users 200,000,000 Number of friends the average user has 100 Number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002 133,000,000 Percentage of active Internet users who read blogs 77%
14. 85% of social media users believe that a company should go further than just having a presence on social sites and should also interact with its customers
One out of eight couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media . http://media.photobucket.com/image/online%20dating/rogiemac/6a00d834515c5f69e20112790d19db28a4-.jpg?o=45
It took Radio 38 years and TV 13 years to reach 50 million people. iPhone applications reached 1 billion people in nine months . http://media.photobucket.com/image/iphone%20apps/naikmichel/September%202009/apple_iphone_ipod_touch_apps_applic.jpg?o=6 http://media.photobucket.com/image/naikmichel
If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's fourth largest , between the United States and Indonesia.
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
Social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity on the Web. http://media.photobucket.com/image/communication/sirblackknight/communication.jpg?o=31
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melinwonderland/2729654002/ online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content It transforms broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues
People want to engage with the brand. They’re investing their time and money in supporting it – they want to have their opinions and ideas heard
Cluetrain Manifesto First published 1999 95 Theses
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart/15201894/ These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked.
The consumer is in control – and that’s OK Brand loyalty is the corporate version of going steady, but the breakup is inevitable—and coming fast. Because they are networked, smart markets are able to renegotiate relationships with blinding speed.
http://www.planebuzz.com/Cat%27s%20Out%20of%20the%20Bag.jpg There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them. Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor. Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1233/1239822286_93a89c2bec.jpg
Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone. - *Remember people are skipping ads, tivo, dvr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadiantennis/1491189105/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/netzkobold/2574299832/ Companies that don't realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity. Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can't be "picked up" at some tony conference. To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities. But first, they must belong to a community. Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end. If their cultures end before the community begins, they will have no market. Human communities are based on discourse—on human speech about human concerns. The community of discourse is the market. Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die.
For the first time ever, Wetpaint/Altimeter Group have gone beyond surface case studies to measure the true financial value of social media. We conducted our research not just on a small scale, but based on the world’s 100 most valuable brands – these are brands that are widely acknowledged for setting the standards in marketing as measured by BusinessWeek / Interbrand “Best Global Brands 2008” rankings. And now, we evaluate how well they are engaging their consumers using social media and, even more importantly, how that engagement correlates with their most important financial metrics: revenue and profit. A surprising conclusion: While much has been written questioning the value of social media, this landmark study has found that the most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social media engagement. The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful. So now we know it pays to be social, but it is important to note that by “social,” we’re talking about deep engagement, not merely having a presence. And what exactly do we mean by deep social engagement? Resembling any in-person exchange, socializing requires more than just being there — you have to interact with others, instigate discussions, and respond during conversations. Our study implies value in social engagement on top of social presence — it pays to actively and continually participate and invest in your networks.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/taralle/335073820/
http://media.photobucket.com/image/starbucks/jovaortiz/Decorated%20images/starbucks.jpg?o=10 The first channel Starbucks launched was MyStarbucksIdea.com, where people submit , comment on, and vote for their favorite ideas. But rather than just put up the technology, Starbucks set out to ensure the departments impacted by the site (which includes practically every department) had a representative who was responsible for being the liaison. For example, Chuck Davidson on the Starbucks Card team championed the idea of offering a mini-Starbucks card that was suggested by a customer in August 2008. As the person in charge of innovation in that department, Davidson tracked the comments, developed the product, and launched it with a blog post on the site.2 It may appear easy and obvious now, but Wheeler said that the days prior to the launch of MyStarbucksIdea. com were the hardest. “Getting the operational readiness in place, getting people onboard was tough. We had to take a leap of faith together.” The key was making the case to the 50 representatives from all around Starbucks that engaging with people on the new site would eventually come naturally, because they would be operating in areas where they already had responsibility and knowledge.
The first channel Starbucks launched was MyStarbucksIdea.com, where people submit , comment on, and vote for their favorite ideas. But rather than just put up the technology, Starbucks set out to ensure the departments impacted by the site (which includes practically every department) had a representative who was responsible for being the liaison. For example, Chuck Davidson on the Starbucks Card team championed the idea of offering a mini-Starbucks card that was suggested by a customer in August 2008. As the person in charge of innovation in that department, Davidson tracked the comments, developed the product, and launched it with a blog post on the site.2 It may appear easy and obvious now, but Wheeler said that the days prior to the launch of MyStarbucksIdea. com were the hardest. “Getting the operational readiness in place, getting people onboard was tough. We had to take a leap of faith together.” The key was making the case to the 50 representatives from all around Starbucks that engaging with people on the new site would eventually come naturally, because they would be operating in areas where they already had responsibility and knowledge.
As Starbucks became more comfortable with social technologies, they realized that each channel is different and required developing different facets of the relationship with their audience. Bruzzo explained the source of the growth: “Recently, we found that for every four people that interacted with a particular news item, another three people are added virally as friends of those people.”
For example, when Starbucks started engaging on Facebook in October 2008 at Facebook.com/starbucks , they approached and took over the ownership of user-created communities (with the blessing of the original page administrators). At that time, the page had about 200,000 fans, but a combination of Starbucks generating content and customers sharing their enthusiasm for the brand has built that fan base to nearly 3.5 million members — representing one of the largest groups on Facebook.
Just to put it in perspective, the announcement of the mini-Starbucks card on Facebook drew 1,406 comments and 12,382 people “liking” the post so that it showed up in their news feed. Facebook is not only about messaging to the 3.5 million fans, but also allowing the fans to talk with each other about their love for the product and experience.
Contrast that to Twitter.com/starbucks where one person responds to inquiries, such as replacement blades for coffee grinders, or even questions from baristas about changes in the menu. With 250,000+ followers, Starbucks uses Twitter as an “in the moment” channel to deliver timely customer support and spread word about the latest breaking news and contests.
While Starbucks encourages designated employees to have a sense of ownership in customer engagement as experts on specific topics, the company is not yet endorsing a widespread engagement in social channels. This can sometimes be difficult as many of the employees — especially those who work in stores and are avid users of social media channels like Facebook and Twitter — chomp at the bit to engage. Wheeler admitted, “For every single piece of content that we put online and do right, we also do a lot of shutting down.” The reason: Starbucks wants to make sure that there is consistency in the approach and in the experience for customers. “We are protective of these channels and want to make sure that we are using them in the right way,” explained Wheeler. There are plans to engage more broadly, but again, coordination will be centrally managed. Moreover, the interactive team is fully integrated into overall marketing under the Bruzzo’s oversight so that all traditional forms of marketing are integrated with email, paid search, and social channels to maximize impact, rendering centralized consistency and coordination all the more important.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeykblythe/1363508098/ Starbucks had one major advantage in its entry into social media — CEO Howard Schultz personally introduced and championed MyStarbucksIdea.com from the start. A core belief in the importance of customer engagement allowed the company to take risks and try new things as a matter of faith. Bruzzo emphasized, “We had to accept that there were some unknowns. If you try to mitigate every piece of risk, you will be either inauthentic or fail.” In addition to CEO Schultz, there was also an “everyday” champion. Bruzzo added, “There needs to be someone who not only gets social media but can also translate it for the organization. Alex (Wheeler) is a key part of that.” Having Wheeler was essential, as she was the person who cajoled, prodded, and convinced everyone to take that first step into social media.
Dell Hell
When Dell started engaging in social media, they started small with a blogger relations program designed to reach out to bloggers writing about Dell. This simple start — focused on a dialogue with bloggers — set the tone for all future engagement, now ranging from a blog Lionel Manchaca’s favorite hugh mcloud cartoon
(IdeaStorm, an idea generation hub that was the inspiration for MyStarbucksIdea.com), to multiple Twitter accounts. Richard Binhammer, a senior manager in corporate affairs at Dell, observed, “When we moved into other channels, we learned our lesson and adopted a conversational approach culturally.”
There are several examples of how Dell employees are leveraging social media to get their jobs done, engaging for 15-20 minutes a day as part of their routine. For example, Max Weston, an education strategist at Dell, tweets regularly, sharing his thoughts on education and technology with 3,000+ followers.8 Matt Domsch, a technology strategist in the offi ce of the CTO, is a Linux expert who pops in and out of Twitter several times a week and also has a personal blog on which he engages fellow Linux enthusiasts.9 Binhammer explains, “Max doesn’t have to get on a plane and go to a Linux conference to bring that outside perspective into his job every day. For people like Max, this is just another channel for communicating. It’s an add-on, not a replacement, and is like using your phone or email.” http://media.photobucket.com/image/dell/malafe1/Mala%20fe/dell-Monitor15Inch.jpg?o=82
While Dell recognizes that each channel is unique, it also understands that engagement frequently jumps between channels. Dell recently facilitated cross-channel engagement with a post on the Direct2Dell blog asking for feedback on the future of Dell Mini Netbooks while directing people to share their thoughts on IdeaStorm as well.10 Dell also used the opportunity to launch a Twitter account at Twitter.com/dell_mini. The engagement across all of these channels is being driven by three members of the Dell Mini development team who respond to the Netbook idea threads directly. In the future, Dell could create what Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger at Dell, calls “activity streams” to incorporate not only Dell-generated content, but also Dell community and industry news around Netbooks for Mini owners.11 That information could be pushed into blogs, tweets, video, photos, etc. so that Mini owners can consume content in the channel of their choice.
This needs pizzaz
This needs pizzaz
Reference NatGeo story
Mashable:http://mashable.com/2009/04/15/social-media-seo/ SEO and SoMe work together Find the audience ; understand their behaviors, preferences, methods of publishing, and sharing. Most companies that are involved with the social web in the channels where their customers spend time have a good sense of where to start. Many companies are ahead of the game by tracking their audience via social media monitoring software that identifies keywords, conversations and influencers such as those pictured in the Radian6 screen shot below. Define your objectives . Objectives are often driven by marketing or sales, and SEO has long been directly accountable to substantial improvements in web sales. Social media is not direct marketing though, so different objectives and measurements apply. The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search. Do a search for Zappos on Google, for example, and you’ll easily find more than shoes: Twitter, Blog ( ) and a YouTube ( ) channel are all on the first page of search results. Establish a game plan. The game plan for reaching objectives in a combined SEO and social media effort will often focus on content and interaction, since it is content that people discover and share. Whether a keyword-focused strategy for reaching goals means publishing new content or creating an opportunity for consumer-generated content, it must involve proactive promotion and easy sharing amongst members of the community. Create a tactical mix. The tactical mix for a social media marketing effort is based on doing the homework of finding where the desired audience spends its time interacting with and sharing content. Whatever the tactical mix is, it’s an investment in time and relationships – not a short term “link dump” to promote optimized link bait. Much of the content creation and promotion for a social media marketing effort happens within the tactical mix and, of course, that means optimizing content for keywords. Measure your goals . Goals measurement should roll up to the specific objectives, both direct and indirect. Leveraging both social media monitoring services as well as web analytics can provide marketers with the insight to improve results. Radian6 and Webtrends have recently announced a partnership that will bring web analytics and social media analytics together all in one interface. In the meantime, marketers can use specific measurement tools to monitor the effect of their social web participation as well as the search engine performance of SEO efforts.
general guidelines of the road for engaging in social media. Transparency of origin – Be transparent and be authentic. Be Human. Accuracy - - DE employees and other company representatives may not knowingly communicate information that is untrue or deceptive. Anecdotes and opinions must be identified as such. Ethical Conduct -- DE employees and other company representatives may not conduct activities that are illegal or contrary to DE’s Corporate Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy or related policies. Protection of Information -- Communications must maintain the confidentiality of DE company confidential information. This includes company data, customer data, partner and supplier data, personal employee data, and other information not generally available to the public. Enforcement and Discipline – DE is committed to taking corrective action if DE employees fail to comply with the policy
