Trends in social media for business include: 1) Customers shape brands' reputations through online conversations, so companies must listen to understand customers and address issues early. 2) Less than 1% of customer time is spent on purchases; the other 99% is spent searching and socializing online, so companies must engage customers throughout the experience. 3) Customers want to share ideas, knowledge, and help solve problems online, so companies should support these activities to build trust.

1. 10 Key Trendsand ObservationsSocial Media for BusinessNeville HobsonHead of Social Media EuropeWCG, LondonDecember 7, 2009www.wcgglobal.com

2. What’s In a Name?New MediaSocial SoftwareSocial BusinessSocial MediaEnterprise 2.0Web 2.0

3. Customers are co-shaping your reputation every day.Trend #1

4. ReputationAre you accidently outsourcing the building of your brand?What is the impression of your brand?

5. Customers Shape First Impressions

6. YouTube 2nd Biggest Search Engine

7. You know exactly where conversations are occurring, who has influence, and why.Precision is what mattersTrend #2

9. http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=1092512The Ecosystem Is ComplexSocial SoftwareHype Cycle 2009

10. The Value of ListeningA monitoring approach that tells you:Who is driving share of conversationfor your brandWhat the top issues are thatmatter to your customers Where your customers liveonlineHow you can add value foryour customersWhen you should engagethe communityWhy customers arepassionate on certain topics

11. You know which types of social media are preferred by your customers.Blogs, forums, wikis, social networking sites, Twitter, and moreTrend #3

12. The Value of Metrics

13. Tools of the Trade

14. You know that leaders will identify issues before they become critical.If you deal with issues when they hit the press, you are using old school techniques

15. Most business issues are known about in advanceTrend #4

16. Patterns Emerge before Public AwarenessA common problem emerges in a forum in Poland, a blog in France and a mention on Twitter in the UKYour monitoring and listening activities give you the means to analyze what is happening and prepare When the issue becomes public, you are ready with answersCustomers trust us to be smarter on identifying issues

17. You realize that less than 1% of a customer’s time is spent purchasing a product.99% of their time is spent searching and socializing

18. You build trust by being there when your customer needs you, not when you need your customerTrend #5

20. Purchasing Decisions Evolution

22. You realize that media has already changed.Old school media drives share of voice

23. Share of conversation is what’s importantTrend #6

24. The Media World Isn’t Changing……it has already changedMedia Outlets: 74 of top 100 outlets for Techmeme are blogs/online sitesBloggers: 3 of 4 look to each other for their next storyCustomers: 3 of 4 look to each other for purchase adviceConversations: the driver of share-of-voice, influence and recommendationsDon’t define it as offline or online: it’s all one media world.Just know which conversations are defining your brand.

25. The New Media

26. Meme Trackers = Competitive AdvantageComplete knowledge of where the opportunity really is for your brandWhere are conversations occurring? Who has true influence?Clear, brief, actionable insights for your brandWho are the top influencers? Which keywords matter? Knowledge of your competitor’s actionsSo that you outsmart themAbility to get ahead of issues to improve preparationSee trends emerge before they become public, in some casesCapability to integrate your learning’s into all brand activities, eg, natural search/paid search, use of keywords and much moreInsights delivered so you can easily utilize them

27. You realize customers want to do three things to help each other.You build trust by being part of this processTrend #7

28. Ideas, Knowledge, SolutionsShare ideasLet’s improve the next product or service togetherShare product knowledgeHere is what I know…hope it helps youHelp peers with problemsI had the same problem, here is what I did

31. You understand ethical behavior is a key part of maintaining trust.You’re also an influencer

32. You’ve made the mindset shiftTrend #8

33. Maintaining TrustYou understand ethical behavior is a key part of maintaining trustYou don’t support flogs or splogsYou would never create a fake ad, so why a fake blog post, fake Facebook fan page or fake tweet?You always practice full disclosureThat means about ghost writing, toohttp://www.socialmedia.org/disclosure/identity/

34. You leverage the world’s greatest operating system – the web – internally.Access for employees is realTrend #9

35. Employee 2.0 IdeasIdea Communities – ask your employees for ideas; accelerate R&D decision-makingPrediction Markets – wisdom of crowds for specific ideasCommunity Forums – empower teamsRatings & Reviews – to improve within the companyPrivate B2B Communities – unlock the teams between your company and your partners, in support of Account LeadersCompetitive Sites – bring competitive knowledge direct to your desktopSmart Phone Ideas – build new way to share news direct via phones to reach salesforce

36. Reality…

37. You are an active participant in how the world is changing.You’re also an influencer

38. You’ve made the mindset shiftTrend #10

39. The Mindset ShiftOld ModelMainstream media ruleBloggers repurpose ideas/stories from mediaOnline influence dictated by homepageOffline and online treated as separateNew ModelMedia are bloggers. Bloggers are mediaStories originate with either online or offline mediaOnline influence dictated by syndication and searchOffline influence must lead to online influence / vice versa

40. Why Care About Social Media?It’s about knowingWhere the conversations are happeningWhat your share of the conversations isWhat the conversations are that you could / should be inWho the key influencers are who can help build your brandIt’s about expanding your news flowSimple syndication – distribute news via basic sharing tools (eg, Twitter and Facebook)It’s about understanding communitiesWhich groups, forums and networks matter?Who drives share of conversation in these communities?What are the next steps in driving relationships?It’s about leveraging existing contentand improving your natural search