The document provides an overview of social media marketing from a bottom-up perspective. It defines key terms like social media, social media marketing, and bottom-up approach. It also describes popular social media platforms and common social media marketing techniques. The study aims to understand how local organizations in Umeå, Sweden use social media from a bottom-up view, focusing on grassroots interactions rather than top-down directives. Interviews were used to collect qualitative data from representatives of different organizations.
Leveraging social media in the enterprise context requires holistic enterprise architecture, IT and information management strategy, as well as alignment with corporate marketing objectives and planning.
Social Media for the Equipment Finance CompanySuzanne Henry
A presentation on how an equipment finance and leasing company may use social media and social networking for marketing and communications purposes. Findings from original grant research conducted in summer 2010 are included.
2009
Marketing
Equation’s annual Marketing Industry Trends survey was created to monitor how
the world of Marketing is evolving with the changing consumer/media landscape.
The 2009 study is unique in that we opened up survey development to the
Marketing Community—and did so by leveraging a Web 2.0 strategy of
“crowdsourcing” the survey questions directly from marketers. Christina Kerley
(“CK”) engaged the marketing community to create questions and submit topics on
what they wanted to know through posts on the leading industry marketing blog
MarketingProfs Daily Fix and her own Marketing Blog.
To the best of our knowledge, it’s the first time a trends survey of this size
has been constructed by and for the community it’s targeting.
Leveraging social media in the enterprise context requires holistic enterprise architecture, IT and information management strategy, as well as alignment with corporate marketing objectives and planning.
Social Media for the Equipment Finance CompanySuzanne Henry
A presentation on how an equipment finance and leasing company may use social media and social networking for marketing and communications purposes. Findings from original grant research conducted in summer 2010 are included.
2009
Marketing
Equation’s annual Marketing Industry Trends survey was created to monitor how
the world of Marketing is evolving with the changing consumer/media landscape.
The 2009 study is unique in that we opened up survey development to the
Marketing Community—and did so by leveraging a Web 2.0 strategy of
“crowdsourcing” the survey questions directly from marketers. Christina Kerley
(“CK”) engaged the marketing community to create questions and submit topics on
what they wanted to know through posts on the leading industry marketing blog
MarketingProfs Daily Fix and her own Marketing Blog.
To the best of our knowledge, it’s the first time a trends survey of this size
has been constructed by and for the community it’s targeting.
What Are 7 Steps Every Social Strategist Must Take To Help Their Organization...Dr. William J. Ward
Whitepaper from Spreadfast here: The 7 Whiteboard Sessions Every Social Strategist Needs To Have
- Understanding your social customer
- Adopting social companywide
- Developing workflows and processes
- Maximizing content
- Creating meaningful engagement
- Integrating social with other channels
- Proving social ROI
In February 2009, Vignette conducted a survey of 200 marketing executives on the subject of Social Media. The organizations surveyed know they need to utilize Social Media on their Web sites, but most are unsure how to implement a strategy.
This presentation by Gerardo Dada, senior director of product marketing for Vignette, explores a summary of trends captured in the survey as well as a step-by-step guide to implementing a successful Social Media strategy in your organization. The presentation also includes discussion on the state of Social Media today, what Web 2.0 means for your business and key strategies for successfully implementing Social Media in your organization.
marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event Mr Nyak
marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing
Usman Koroma
Social Media for Development: Transforming Society and GovernanceRichard Grimaldo
A 2-day seminar (Oct 29-30, 2018) on social media designed for government agencies who wanted to use social media as a development tool for governance. It is designed to introduce social media, its origin and various applications in the development context.
Held at DICT, ICT Literacy and Competency Development Bureau, UP Diliman, Quezon City
A PROJECT REPORT ON “Consumer Preference Towards Social Networking Apps Vibhor Agarwal
A
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“Consumer Preference Towards
Social Networking Apps in Bareilly”
includes
1. OBJECTIVES
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3. INTRODUCTION
4. HISTORY
5. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
5. DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
6. FINDINGS
7. SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
8. CONCLUSION
Pdf formaat
SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS AND THE IMPACT ON HRDelphiaLLC
Organizations have steadily started to integrate social technologies in to recruitment, development and engagement practices. Using social media inside organizations will be increasingly important this year and going forward. HR departments must start creating a social media strategy, including social media practices, policies and guidelines, to leverage current communities and evaluate new ones that are bound to emerge faster than ever before. Joe shares the big picture of social media trends to help you re-tool how you source, develop and engage employees.
Participants will come to understand social media trends to create a social media strategy for HR practices around recruiting, development and engagement.
Learning Objectives include:
The role of social media in contemporary HR practices
Social media trends and their impact on HR
Core concepts for social media policies/guidelines for employees
HR technology, new approaches to recruiting, development and engagement using social media
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Joe Rotella joined Delphia Consulting in 2002 following a brilliant career in software design and development with Lucent Technologies and Bell Laboratories. While at Bell Labs, Joe earned the coveted Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) designation. Joe served as Delphia’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for 11 years before transitioning to become its Chief Marketing Officer in 2014. Joe’s also served on HRACO’s board and teaches the Strategic Management module of the SHRM Learning System in HRACO’s PHR/SHPR Preparatory program.
Social Media and Publishers: A Business CaseSnapApp
This paper provides a 5 step process for magazine publishers in considering a social media strategy. Featuring interviews, insights and tips from editors at Time Inc, Hearst, Rodale, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Conde Nast and more.
The Coming Change in Social Media by Social Media TodayElizabeth Lupfer
In a major paradigm shift that is impacting public relations and marketing oranizations, companies are now viewing social media as their front line strategy for customer engagement, immediate contact, and lead generation. This means the software tools we use in the social space will be changing a lot too. This gamebreaker call was based on research developed by our resident trendspotter, Josh Gordon, in Social Media Today's latest free download white paper The Coming Change In Social Media. It's our focus here at Social Media Today to help frame the issues and put them into perspective so that community members can use them as a roadmap and drive the future of social media. Don't get behind the curve.
What Are 7 Steps Every Social Strategist Must Take To Help Their Organization...Dr. William J. Ward
Whitepaper from Spreadfast here: The 7 Whiteboard Sessions Every Social Strategist Needs To Have
- Understanding your social customer
- Adopting social companywide
- Developing workflows and processes
- Maximizing content
- Creating meaningful engagement
- Integrating social with other channels
- Proving social ROI
In February 2009, Vignette conducted a survey of 200 marketing executives on the subject of Social Media. The organizations surveyed know they need to utilize Social Media on their Web sites, but most are unsure how to implement a strategy.
This presentation by Gerardo Dada, senior director of product marketing for Vignette, explores a summary of trends captured in the survey as well as a step-by-step guide to implementing a successful Social Media strategy in your organization. The presentation also includes discussion on the state of Social Media today, what Web 2.0 means for your business and key strategies for successfully implementing Social Media in your organization.
marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event Mr Nyak
marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing The Effectiveness of social media in event marketingThe Effectiveness of social media in event marketing
Usman Koroma
Social Media for Development: Transforming Society and GovernanceRichard Grimaldo
A 2-day seminar (Oct 29-30, 2018) on social media designed for government agencies who wanted to use social media as a development tool for governance. It is designed to introduce social media, its origin and various applications in the development context.
Held at DICT, ICT Literacy and Competency Development Bureau, UP Diliman, Quezon City
A PROJECT REPORT ON “Consumer Preference Towards Social Networking Apps Vibhor Agarwal
A
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“Consumer Preference Towards
Social Networking Apps in Bareilly”
includes
1. OBJECTIVES
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3. INTRODUCTION
4. HISTORY
5. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
5. DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
6. FINDINGS
7. SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
8. CONCLUSION
Pdf formaat
SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS AND THE IMPACT ON HRDelphiaLLC
Organizations have steadily started to integrate social technologies in to recruitment, development and engagement practices. Using social media inside organizations will be increasingly important this year and going forward. HR departments must start creating a social media strategy, including social media practices, policies and guidelines, to leverage current communities and evaluate new ones that are bound to emerge faster than ever before. Joe shares the big picture of social media trends to help you re-tool how you source, develop and engage employees.
Participants will come to understand social media trends to create a social media strategy for HR practices around recruiting, development and engagement.
Learning Objectives include:
The role of social media in contemporary HR practices
Social media trends and their impact on HR
Core concepts for social media policies/guidelines for employees
HR technology, new approaches to recruiting, development and engagement using social media
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Joe Rotella joined Delphia Consulting in 2002 following a brilliant career in software design and development with Lucent Technologies and Bell Laboratories. While at Bell Labs, Joe earned the coveted Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) designation. Joe served as Delphia’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for 11 years before transitioning to become its Chief Marketing Officer in 2014. Joe’s also served on HRACO’s board and teaches the Strategic Management module of the SHRM Learning System in HRACO’s PHR/SHPR Preparatory program.
Social Media and Publishers: A Business CaseSnapApp
This paper provides a 5 step process for magazine publishers in considering a social media strategy. Featuring interviews, insights and tips from editors at Time Inc, Hearst, Rodale, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Conde Nast and more.
The Coming Change in Social Media by Social Media TodayElizabeth Lupfer
In a major paradigm shift that is impacting public relations and marketing oranizations, companies are now viewing social media as their front line strategy for customer engagement, immediate contact, and lead generation. This means the software tools we use in the social space will be changing a lot too. This gamebreaker call was based on research developed by our resident trendspotter, Josh Gordon, in Social Media Today's latest free download white paper The Coming Change In Social Media. It's our focus here at Social Media Today to help frame the issues and put them into perspective so that community members can use them as a roadmap and drive the future of social media. Don't get behind the curve.
Estamos no mercado desde de 1983, inicialmente com a fabricação de esquadrias. E sempre acompanhando as demandas do Mercado, logo começamos a trabalhar com a área moveleira sob medida.
Há 16 anos tivemos a oportunidade de incorporar em nossos produtos, o Corian® - superfícies sólidas, somos processadores autorizados pela DuPont para serviços em todo o Brasil.
Hoje a Eterna está apta a atender os melhores profissionais e clientes exigentes, respeitando prazos de entrega e qualidade em seus produtos, no melhor custo benefício.
Trabalhamos com os últimos lançamentos de ferragens e acabamentos, sempre atualizados através de participações em Feiras, Palestras.
Things to do in the Digital Afterlife when you're deaddanbuzzo
Things to do in the Digital Afterlife when you're dead:
Presentation at International Symposium of Electronic Art, Istanbul 2011:
There are currently few procedures or public awareness about what happens to online digital identities after death. This paper discusses what happens with personal electronic information after death and looks to what is argued to be the rapidly approaching digital Afterlife. This afterlife of new emergent behaviour offers a challenge of almost unimaginable scope to the creative vision of Artists, Philosophers, Technologists and Cultural thinkers.
AICTE Sponsored National Conference on “Artificial intelligence in Marketing”, Department of Management Studies, PSNA college of Engineering & Technology, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India on 23rd December 2020
Whitepaper: Social Media Influence - Applications, Metrics and TheoryTravis Stephens
TL;DR Social Media influence is largely based upon a peer-presence, as people are the new medium. As a business, utilizing the knowledge that people develop certain control over your brand can be harnessed, as opposed to letting it overpower. Knowing and utilizing your metrics, a business can strategically develop touchpoints to facilitate in steering their audience.
Social media Marketing Presentation by vaibhavjainVaibhav Jain
This is a Social media Presentation made by me a few months ago with a few Basics inside the PPT. Hope it Helps you to Grow your business. the Images used here are From Search Engine's and i hereby do not Claim to be the owner of the same. This PPT is in the interest of People and the content is wholly Written by me(@followvaibhav).
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Multi-channeling and the use of
Social Media by companies of the
Service and Product typology
A research conducted by a third year student Information Science 2012-2013 of the University of
Amsterdam for his bachelor thesis.
Student: Mentor: Second assessor:
Martijn van Tongeren A.M. Stolwijk
6288413 / 10002376
……………….……….. ……………………………… ……………………………….
Date: June 21, 2013
Abstract
The importance of social media for companies has been stressed by many researchers. Many
researchers have also discussed the differences and similarities between product and service. These
two things can be seen as the starting point of this research, which looked for differences and
similarities in multi-channeling and the use of social media by companies from both typologies.
Drawing on a sample of 384 randomly chosen companies, the results demonstrated that there is a
significant difference in the use of social media between the two typologies. We recommend the use
of social media tools and discuss why it can be of great value for both typologies.
1 Introduction
“Do you already like us on Facebook?” and “Are you following us on Twitter?” are questions
people encounter daily while browsing the internet, reading the newspaper, or watching television.
Many research papers have stressed the importance and value of social media for organizations
today (Wilson et al, 2011; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Laroche et al, 2013; Lukes, 2010). The
importance of social media for companies is not only indicated by writing about the new possibilities
of social media, but also by identifying shifts in the use of existing concepts. Such a shift has
happened, for instance, with the term Willingness To Pay (WTP) which is commonly used term in
organizational and marketing literature. Instead of searching for the WTP, companies are now
searching for the Willingness to Participate (Parent et al, 2011). Goals concerning advertising,
organizing contests, distributing information, building communities etc. have been made easier for
companies by social media like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Social media can both be internally and externally of significant importance for companies.
Internally, social media can play a role as social tool for knowledge sharing (Sultan, 2012). It is stated
in a research conducted by Cross et al (2001) that employees often prefer asking work-related advice
informally to colleagues rather than looking up information in a system. Externally, Social Media can
contribute very well to the Customer Relationship Management(CRM) activities of a company. With.
The Effect of Social Media Marketing To Brand Loyalty (Case Study at the Univ...inventionjournals
: Social media marketing is one medium that can be used to build and maintain brand loyalty. This study aims to determine the effect of campaigns advantageous offer, offer relevant contents, offer popular content, apprears on various platforms, offer applications on social media brand loyalty conducted at the University Budi Luhur, Jakarta. Data analysis used regression method with 325 respondents. The sampling technique used a proportional random sampling. Validity and reliability tests are used in testing instruments. The results of this study indicate that offer advantageous campaigns, offer relevant contents, offer popular content, apprears on various platforms, offer applications on social media has a significant influence on brand loyalty. The benefit of social media marketing is one of them as a customer relationship management. Suggestions for further research are able to use variables such as trust and service quality.
The Effect of Social Media Marketing To Brand Loyalty (Case Study at the Univ...inventionjournals
Social media marketing is one medium that can be used to build and maintain brand loyalty. This study aims to determine the effect of campaigns advantageous offer, offer relevant contents, offer popular content, apprears on various platforms, offer applications on social media brand loyalty conducted at the University Budi Luhur, Jakarta. Data analysis used regression method with 325 respondents. The sampling technique used a proportional random sampling. Validity and reliability tests are used in testing instruments. The results of this study indicate that offer advantageous campaigns, offer relevant contents, offer popular content, apprears on various platforms, offer applications on social media has a significant influence on brand loyalty. The benefit of social media marketing is one of them as a customer relationship management. Suggestions for further research are able to use variables such as trust and service quality
Next Generation Social Media: Alignment of Business Processes and Social Inte...Vinay Mummigatti
As enterprises try to catch up with the social media buzz, many companies are starting to realize that it is difficult to define tangible business outcomes around social media investments. Social intelligence and social analytics are new con- cepts which have the potential to help enterprises move beyond basic marketing and define a goal-oriented strategy around social media.
The next wave of social media investments will be in enterprise programs that are designed to facilitate participation in social media interactions, analyzing the data generated and taking real time actions that govern product, marketing, distribu- tion and pricing processes.
The larger ecosystem of any enterprise includes business partners, employees and customers. Each of these constituents plays an important role in processes that govern innovation, customer experience, collaboration, supply chain, talent management and overall business growth. Social media is emerging as the glue that binds these groups and creates tidal waves that can make or break the fu- ture of any company. The only way organizations can ride this wave successfully is to track the social interactions, derive events and patterns that can lead to business process improvements across different functional areas. Another aspect of social media which is internal to an enterprise is in terms of collaborative busi- ness processes where collective knowledge sharing and decision-making is greatly enhanced through social tools.
Certain emerging trends in technology such as the collaboration between social media and mobile technology providers have created a revolution in the adoption rate of social media. The confluence of social media and mobile technologies is creating upheaval not just in competitive dynamics but also across social and po- litical spheres.
The focus of this paper is to enable organizations to define a strategy around Social Media and tie it to measurable outcomes as defined by core processes that are critical to the survival and growth of any enterprise.
Extracting Targeted Users from SNS using Data Mining ApproachIJSRD
In the recent year’s development of Internet is an increasingly important factor in today’s lifestyle. As online advertising budgets of marketers are growing every year, internet advertising has developed in similar way. The following types of online advertisement: banner advertisement, pop-up advertisement, web advertising also called. To deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers, internet advertising can be used as internet advertising is a type of marketing. Fast retrieval of the relevant information from databases has always been a significant issue. Data clustering is one of the chief techniques among the numerous techniques developed for this purpose. Social media is the collaborative tools used for communication that helps the companies to gain the potential users and makes them visible who have no knowledge of their products. Companies can locate target users by analysing their interests, in particular brand and for this purpose social media advertising can be used. It will lead to a systematic approach by developing a technique to effectively improve the marketing plans. This can be possible if we are using data mining clustering algorithm to find out key users to rise up the marketing tactics in internet advertisement. It describes the general working behaviour, the methodologies followed by these approaches and the parameters which affect the performance of these algorithms. The main objective of this paper is to gather more core concepts and techniques in the large subset of cluster analysis.
A century from now historians may look back on the beginning of the era of ubiquitous computing and note how human behavior fundamentally changed, when access to information and communication became instantaneous for nearly every person across the world.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Let's dive deeper into the world of ODC! Ricardo Alves (OutSystems) will join us to tell all about the new Data Fabric. After that, Sezen de Bruijn (OutSystems) will get into the details on how to best design a sturdy architecture within ODC.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
The field of Information retrieval (IR) is currently undergoing a transformative shift, at least partly due to the emerging applications of generative AI to information access. In this talk, we will deliberate on the sociotechnical implications of generative AI for information access. We will argue that there is both a critical necessity and an exciting opportunity for the IR community to re-center our research agendas on societal needs while dismantling the artificial separation between the work on fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in IR and the rest of IR research. Instead of adopting a reactionary strategy of trying to mitigate potential social harms from emerging technologies, the community should aim to proactively set the research agenda for the kinds of systems we should build inspired by diverse explicitly stated sociotechnical imaginaries. The sociotechnical imaginaries that underpin the design and development of information access technologies needs to be explicitly articulated, and we need to develop theories of change in context of these diverse perspectives. Our guiding future imaginaries must be informed by other academic fields, such as democratic theory and critical theory, and should be co-developed with social science scholars, legal scholars, civil rights and social justice activists, and artists, among others.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical Futures
Social media marketing from a bottom up perspective
1.
Social media marketing from a
bottom-up perspective
- the social media transition
Victor Ernestad
Robert Henriksson
Institutionen för informatik
Digital medieproduktion
Examensarbete på kandidatnivå, 15 hp
SPB 2010.01
2. Abstract
It is in the interest of organizations to understand that the public demand for
quick and easy accessibility is growing at a rapid pace. However, the transition
from traditional marketing strategies to social media marketing is not a
straightforward process, but more complex.
The aim of the thesis is to, from a bottom-up perspective, draw conclusions
from a comparative study of the social media praxes of Umeå-situated
businesses and organizations.
The study indicates that the transition into social media still continues, but
that there has been a change in organizations’ mindsets. It also shows that the
application of a bottom-up approach provides new ways of viewing and
understanding activities within social media.
1 Introduction
Social media is often thought of as a buzz concept that has just hit the market. This is not
entirely true since social media has in some form actually been around since the 1950’s
(Lapsley, 2010). The social media wave started when so called ‘phone phreaks’ used
homemade devices that could link up to the telephone system. BBS or electronic ‘Bulletin
Board Systems’ were very popular from around 1980 to 1995. These boards were connected
to a small server where a person could dial in and promote their message (Lapsley, 2010).
The Internet has existed since the late 1960s as a closed network and became public, as
the World Wide Web, in 1991 (Gillies & Cailliau, 1995). From then on, different services such
as IRC and ICQ became increasingly popular. A big shift in the usage of the web became
obvious around 1999 when Napster released their client, which was built to share media
between users via so called ‘peer to peer-’ or ‘P2P’ sharing (Gummadi et al, 2002). One of the
very first social networking websites was ‘SixDegrees’ (1997) which let people create profiles
and connect with friends (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). This kind of interactive social web
application style became popularly known as ‘Web 2.0’ (O’Reilly, 2005), which is a term
describing a new generation of web applications, sites and companies that emphasis
openness, community and interaction. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each
other as contributors to the website's content, in disparity to websites where users are limited
to the passive viewing of the information that is provided to them. Examples of web 2.0
appliances include technologies such as blogs, wikis and multimedia sharing (Millard et al,
2006).
Social media gained momentum with ‘Friendster’ around 2002, followed by ‘MySpace’
(2006) and ‘Facebook’ (2007) (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). During the last few years social media
has become a household concept offering a unique platform for communication. Social media
services allow people to stay connected in what some would claim is an extension of the
physical world. These channels for communication are being used by more people than ever
before, and they are rapidly expanding. Facebook has over 400 million active users and if it
2
3. were a country, it would have been the 4th largest in the world (facebook.com). Hence, social
media platforms have become important and potentially powerful marketing places.
The emergence of contemporary social media services allow business and organizations to
communicate with their audiences in a direct, quick and inexpensive way. The benefits of
social media use can be substantial, but this is still a relatively novel and unexplored area,
without any established specific theoretical models.
How do organizations and companies (in this case local ones) behave in social media?
What do they consider to be important in these contexts? What similarities and differences of
usage can be found between organizations and to what extent does the concept of bottom-up
apply? The application of a bottom-up perspective enables a different point of view to these
questions. It is an organizational mindset through which actions and processes can be
assessed.
The aim of the thesis is to, from a bottom-up perspective, draw conclusions from a
comparative study of the social media praxes of Umeå-situated businesses and organizations,
and how they implement social media services into their activities.
2 The bottom-up approach
In management and organizational arenas, the terms ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ are used to
describe how decisions are made. A top-down approach is one where an executive, decision
maker, or other person or body makes a decision. This approach is spread under their
authority to lower levels in the hierarchy, who are to a greater or lesser extent, bound by
them. For example, a structure in which decisions either are approved by a manager, or
approved by his or her authorized representatives based on the manager's prior guidelines, is
top-down management. A bottom-up approach is one that works from the grassroots - from a
large number of people working together, causing a decision to arise from their joint
involvement. A decision by a number of activists, students or victims of some incident to take
action is a bottom-up decision (Dubois, 2002). Positive aspects of top-down approaches
include their efficiency and excellent overview of higher levels. Also, external effects can be
internalized. On the negative side, if reforms are perceived to be imposed ‘from above’, it can
be difficult for lower levels to accept them. Evidence suggests this to be true, regardless of the
content of reforms. A bottom-up approach allows for more experimentation and a better
feeling for what is needed at the bottom (Dubois, 2002). Microsoft and Sun Microsystems use
bottom-up blogging strategies. These firms seek to maximize the capabilities of blogs by
supporting employees who are highly productive and efficient. However, this approach might
negatively affect companies because high levels of autonomy among self-directed employees
can become a liability (Langfred, 2004). Bottom-up blogging companies tend to focus on
product development and customer service, while most top-down blogging companies tend
to prefer thought leadership or promotional content strategy (Lee, 2006).
3
4. By adopting product development and customer service content strategy, bottom-up
companies can take advantage of employee bloggers who respond to customers inquires
quickly and effectively. However, this content strategy is radically different from the common
approach to exploit the Internets potential in that it attempts to improve product quality
prior to market introduction of the product, by disclosing product development processes
and actively seeking feedback (Lee, 2006).
This relates to the point of view of this
thesis in the sense that social media is
based on lower level interactions where
content is user generated. The bottom-
up approach is a way of thinking about
the structure and is transferrable to
social media marketing. Traditional
marketing strategies applied to social
media tend to be perceived as dated and
somewhat intrusive. To successfully
communicate as a company in social
media it is crucial to realize the
differences between traditional and
social media marketing.
Figure 1. Top-down, bottom-up model.
3 Defining social media
People interpret and use the term social media in different ways. In this paper the concept of
social media will be defined as “a broad term to describe all the different kinds of content that
form social networks: posts on blogs or forums, photos, audio, videos, links, profiles on social
networking web sites, status updates and more. Social media allows people with no
knowledge of coding or web development to upload and post unique content easily and share
with the world instantly. Simply put, social media is any kind of information we share with
our social network, using social networking web sites and services” (Eley & Tilley, 2009).
However, focus will mainly be on the mainstream channels and services of social media such
as Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
3.1 Social media marketing
Social media marketing is a recent component of organizations' integrated marketing
communications plans. Integrated marketing communications is a principle organizations
follow to connect with their targeted markets. Integrated marketing communications
coordinates the elements of the promotional mix - advertising, personal selling, public
relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion - to produce a customer focused
message (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). The emergence of social media platforms offers
4
5. marketers inexpensive ways to create and implement marketing campaigns. These channels
enable an interactive and dynamic communication not possible through traditional media.
Social media marketers typically focus on creating content that generates attention, word of
mouth/mouse as well as motivational incentive for people to share it with their social
network. The access to user information allows social media marketers to create highly
specified advertisements that are more likely to be relevant to their demographic. The low
cost of social media marketing as well as the amount of users and user information available
has contributed in making social media marketing big business. However, it is important to
understand that, at its core, social media is not marketing or advertisement. This insight is
especially important to the producing spectrum of social media marketers as they are facing
potential customers on their territory.
3.2 Social media services
In this section an explanatory summary of the most commonly used social media services
and their functions, is presented as well as an overview of some of the commonly used
marketing types in the context of social media.
3.2.1 Twitter
Launched in October 2006, Twitter is a micro-blogging social network service, which allows
users to share anything with their followers by answering a simple question: ‘What are you
doing?’ Answers to this question are short messages called ‘tweets’ which length is limited to
140 characters. Twitter is more open than for example Facebook since friendships are not
necessarily mutual. You can ‘follow’ people you have an interest in while they in turn don’t
have to follow you. Twitter is mainly used for daily chatter, short conversations, information
sharing and reporting news and has been hugely successful with mobile device users
(Gaonkar et al, 2008).
Compared to regular blogging, micro-blogging fulfills a need for an even faster mode of
communication. By encouraging shorter posts, it lowers users’ requirement of time and
thought investment for content generation. The second important difference is the frequency
of update. On average, a prolific blogger may update her blog once every few days; on the
other hand a micro-blogger may post several updates in a single day (Finin & Tseng, 2007).
Twitter is currently ranked as the 11th most popular website worldwide (alexa.com).
Estimates of the number of daily users may vary because the company does not release the
number of active accounts. Twitter has somewhere between 6-8 million unique returning
users based on different statistic rankings (blog.compete.com).
3.2.2 Facebook
Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social network site that helps people communicate
more efficiently with their friends, family and co-workers. Anyone can sign up for Facebook
and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook’s simplified
navigation gives users easy access to games and other core applications such as profile,
friends, networks and inbox which has a prominent place at the top of the user’s profile page.
Other applications are photos, notes, groups and events. A post on Social Media Today
5
6. (socialmediatoday.com) says that eMarketer (emarketer.com) has predicted a 39% increase
in advertising spend on Facebook for 2010. The increase is primarily based on the notion that
sites like Facebook have a great deal of data on their users and that this information can be
exploited to deliver highly targeted ads to its huge user base. Facebook is currently ranked as
the world’s second most trafficked site in the world (alexa.com), and one of the largest
MySQL installations anywhere, running thousands of databases. Facebook has over 400
million active users and is translated to more than 70 languages (facebook.com).
3.2.3 Blogs
A blog, short for web log, is a web page that serves as a publically accessible personal journal
for an individual (Blood, 2002). Because the blog can be used to convey various types of
information, such as personal, public, commercial and political, it has become an effective
communication tool over the Internet (Lee et al, 2006). A blog can be a simple and
personalized tool to reach out with it’s marketing. It can also serve as a company archive and
make it easier to find material in chronological order. The blog is an inexpensive marketing
tool, the only real cost is the time it takes to write for the blog. The blog is a powerful
marketing tool and can be used for various tasks, such as customer service, internal
communication, managing reports as well as presenting your company as a personal and
credible one. A blog can, with the help of a good placing on search engines like Google.com,
be very effective and help customers reach the company in an easy way (Frankel, 2007).
3.2.4 Multimedia sharing
One of the biggest growth areas has been amongst services that facilitate the storage and
sharing of multimedia content. Well known examples include YouTube (video) and Flickr
(photographs). These popular services take the idea of the ‘writeable’ web (where users are
not just consumers but contribute actively to the production of web content) and enable it on
a massive scale. Literally millions of people now participate in the sharing and exchange of
these forms of media by producing their own podcasts, videos and photos (Anderson, 2007).
3.2.5 E-mail marketing
E-mail marketing is increasingly recognized as an effective Internet marketing tool
(Chittenden & Rettie, 2003). Successful e-mail marketing builds on processing existing
clients and contacts. Marketing towards existing clients is often more successful than finding
new clients this way. E-mail is a much faster way of communicating than the traditional
dispatch via the postal service with printing, designing and responses, which often takes
several weeks. A well-prepared marketer can write the ad during midmorning, send it out
during lunch and get response before the workday is over (Frankel, 2007).
3.2.6 Search engine
The basic idea with search engine marketing is to get a good position at the search engines
search lists to drive the traffic to the company’s web site (Moran & Hunt, 2005). It’s used to
help customers find the company when they are looking for something that a particular
company might be offering. The Internet usage is constantly expanding and so is the usage of
search engines which globally has over 800 million searches per day. Its’ strength lies in the
6
7. fact that the customer is already looking for something, such as a product, service or
information. Companies can buy an ad-space on, for instance, Google.com to get the
company higher up in the search results (Frankel, 2007).
3.2.7 Viral marketing
Viral marketing is about getting as many hits as possible on a certain link, to create a
reputation or to get countless people to read a message. It’s often called ‘word of mouth’, or
as on the Internet, ‘word of mouse’ (Helm, 2ooo). Some tips for successful viral marketing
are:
• Making sure that there is value in it, both for the sender and receiver.
• Keeping it easy is often a key factor because if it requires a lot of steps to participate,
many people won’t.
• Understanding the recipients and the networks they are using. Different target groups
work in different ways. Some may prefer SMS as a communication tool while others
prefer e-mail.
• Making sure that there is something to spread. The unexpected or unusual is often a
good way to start a ‘virus’. (Frankel, 2007).
3.2.8 Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing form for Internet where an advertiser pays for an ad-space
which generates a certain amount of activity to a website. The foundation of affiliate
marketing is about pushing traffic between websites where the ad-space (affiliate) steer
people to the advertiser, and the spreader gets paid based on the results of the traffic.
The offer to the buyer is often a key in affiliate marketing. The price, product or design must
seem as a bargain to the buyer for affiliate marketing to work. Another key is to build up
strategic partnerships for lucrative link exchanges (Hoffman & Novak, 2000). If nobody
clicks the link it doesn’t matter how much you’re paying for the ad (Frankel, 2007).
4 Method
This chapter describes the techniques used in the study as well as approach and selections
made.
4.1 Research
As this study aims to collect data from different areas of the business spectrum, and in
particular from single representatives, you need to be able to extract as much information as
possible from them. A quantitative research method measure data while a qualitative
research method wants to increase the understanding of data. Within a qualitative research
you can be more open minded and let the questions grow during the work process.
(Jacobsen, 2002). These methods allow and enable more in depth contextual information
collecting and are therefore suitable methods of inquiry when dealing with individually
interpreted phenomena.
7
8. 4.2 Approach
A qualitative field study was conducted using semi-structured interviews documented with
notes and a digital voice recorder. These recordings were later transcribed, and since the
interviews left room for discussion to some extent, some parts that were found irrelevant
were left out. Sentence condensation was applied to present concrete and essential meanings.
This choice was made in order to capture the core points of topic. All participants were
interviewed separately to enable them to speak freely and ensure that they were not affected
by one another. Questions about the nature and usage of social media were asked, in general
and in regard to their specific organization.
As the title of this paper would suggest, the concept and approach regarding bottom-up
imbues the overall context and was often present in some form in the matters discussed.
4.3 Selection
Potential respondents for interviewing purposes could have been representatives from any
company that uses social media in their marketing. To find respondents to be interviewed, a
web search through different social media channels was conducted. Since there was a desire
to both research and support local organizations active in the region of Umeå, the choice was
made to focus on these. This had a positive effect on the practical aspect of the research as
well. The selection process narrowed down to Umeå-based companies which are considered
to be active and big in social media. A common denominator is that the companies have a big
fan base or many followers in social media, or that they actively use social media in their
marketing. It is a very broad selection that spreads from a local skateboard collective to a
corporate group which has a turn-over of more than a billion Swedish kronor. This is an
active choice and of big importance in this paper as the different companies may show a
variation in regards of mindset and strategy. These people are active in social media on a day
to day basis and can share their insight of how social media can be used as a marketing tool
on its own, or to support the traditional marketing channels. Our seven (7) respondents are:
• Glad Reklam - An advertising agency which states they don’t know how to do
traditional advertising.
• Västerbottens Kuriren - The 4th biggest local daily newspaper in Sweden.
• Umeå Energi - An energy company who uses social media frequently in their
customer service.
• Random Bastards - A local skateboard collective which is engaged in fashion and
the club scene.
• Plakat - An advertising agency that is big in public relations, media strategy and web
design.
• DUÅ - A local deli shop, which has almost 4000 readers on their weekly letter.
• T-Post - An unusual t-shirt company that produces one t-shirt per month as a
subscription.
8
9. Subject Representative Number of Using social
employees media since
Subject 1 (S1) Glad Reklam CEO 4 2006
Subject 2 (S2) Västerbottens Web editor ~200 2008
Kuriren
Subject 3 (S3) Umeå Energi Web editor 178 2007
Subject 4 (S4) Random Bastards CEO 2 2006
Subject 5 (S5) Plakat Project manager 20 2006
Subject 6 (S6) DUÅ CEO 2 2006
Subject 7 (S7) T-Post CEO 2 2006
Figure 2. Subjects of study.
5 The social media transition
It is in the organizations interests to understand that the public demand for quick and easy
accessibility is growing at a rapid pace. However, the transition from traditional marketing
strategies to social media marketing is not a straightforward process, but more complex.
All of the companies included in the study started using social media in their businesses
between 2006 and 2008. Companies from the media side of the business spectra seem to
point at the technological advances and their work contexts as the main reasons for venturing
into social media, while larger and senior companies accentuates the customer accessibility
and economical benefits social media marketing has brought about. The possibilities of
dialogue and a two way communication were also strong arguments for transitioning into
social media marketing.
The transition from traditional marketing strategies to social media marketing was more
complex for the larger organizations. They explain how they had to, to certain extent,
convince the upper management that social media was more than buzz phenomena, and was
probably going to be around for a foreseeable future. Key factors to this issue were
generational differences that relates to the underlying understanding of the media. S2:
“It can be easy to continue along the same lines as in the past and it has been a
difficult transition. Old patterns can be hard to break but modern society has
different requirements for transparency now”. (Subject 2)
9
10. This clearly indicates that bridging the gap between companies and their customers,
and becoming more transparent as a company in the context of social media, has its
difficulties. It indicates tendencies of friction regarding the change of mindset.
The remaining subjects had more autonomous influence since they were either their own
supervisors and/or had previous experience in social media services. S6 describes their
incentive:
“The traditional image of how to be visible does not quite go hand in hand with
the way we want to be perceived since we don’t want to be like everyone else.
We do not want to be like all the supermarkets that send out flyers every
Wednesday”. (Subject 6)
This can be interpreted as a struggle to move away from established traditional ways of
thinking regarding marketing. It also indicates that social media offers new means of
communicating where there is a higher degree of mutual respect between the sender and
recipient compared to traditional one way advertising.
And S1:
“Instead of placing an ad in the newspaper and reaching as many people as
possible, we could use that money and focus on the ones you really want to
touch and make a more lasting impression”. (Subject 1)
The low (if any) cost of the media plays a definite role in its appeal, especially for new
business, as S7 describes:
“I had no startup money in the beginning and that’s why I couldn’t afford to run
weekly ads in newspapers. This is where social media really comes in handy. I
had six months to gain 1000 subscribers to our service, because that was what I
needed to be able to survive with the company full time, and afford a small
office. I sat down and e-mailed various bloggers during almost 4 months and it
paid off”. (Subject 7)
The transition into social media still continues in many ways but there has been a definite
change in the way organizations are thinking about these channels, as S5 states:
“For me there’s no difference between engaging in dialogue through social
media and talking over the phone, but there is always a threshold and a period
of hype to overcome when new technologies emerge, and for some that takes
longer than for others”. (Subject 5)
This can be understood as a transformation regarding means of communication where these
new channels are becoming integrated into the structure of organizations. The transition into
10
11. social media is an ongoing process which shapes the way organizations communicate with
customers. However, there is a diversity of experiences among companies, which relates to
factors like the size of the organization, internal age differences, the level of understanding
and prior experience with the medium.
5.1 Objectives and benefits
The main goals of social media use among the subjects of study are to enhance
communication, increase the contact area and becoming more transparent. However, these
aims do not seem to be specified to any great extent, but rather considered in a more
rhetorical and idealistic sense. Examples of this can be found among all subjects. S4:
“We want to communicate with our audience in a simple way. If they have a
question we can give them an answer right away”. (Subject 4)
Hence, the main objective in this case relates to relationship-oriented issues, as
opposed to quantifiable or economical benefits. S5 confirms that by stating:
“On our part, we have no real goal other than to communicate with our
customers and those who are interested in us”. (Subject 5)
Despite the lack of concretely formulated objectives, the respondents have all thought about
what they want to achieve with their usage of social media, an important factor in being
successful in these contexts. S7:
“One goal is to be honest all the time, which in turn increases the credibility of
the company. It is also the best way for us to grow”. (Subject 7)
The application of a bottom-up perspective on this reasoning would indicate that these
companies have all realized the importance of understanding the nature of social media. If
one view the structures of social media services as bottom-up frameworks where actions
derive from lower levels, they would, based on their statements, have the appropriate
mindset to enable them to be successful in the synthesis. Even though there obviously are
economical interests, they are not attempting to force traditional marketing approaches onto
their customers, but rather letting them decide for themselves. As S3 states:
“The customer dialogue has priority. We can step down from the pedestal as a
big corporation may have, and achieve a direct contact between the customer
and a human being within our walls”. (Subject 3)
This statement is backed up by S5 who answers the question about what benefits there are, in
the following way:
11
12. “Being in social media as an organization is a bit of a statement; we’re listening.
It’s easy to, with any kind of presence, show that you care, since it’s not
completely obvious to all senders to actually listen”. (Subject 5)
According to the respondents, the benefits acquired by activity in social media ranges from
customer dialogue and accessibility to viral proliferation potential. Hence, the emphasis lies
on relationship oriented returns rather than direct financial and economic benefits.
5.2 Disadvantages
There is a divergence regarding disadvantages and problems with social media usage among
the respondents. However, they seem to agree that the time it requires to maintain the social
media accounts could be perceived as an issue, as well as the balance between being active
and the risk of causing redundancy. In the context of potential problematic areas regarding
social media, S4 states that:
“Media noise can be an issue, because social media is so easy to use, everyone
uses it and that makes it harder to stand out”. (Subject 4
Through a bottom-up point of view, social media offer and enable possibilities for any
person or organization to, with minimal technical knowledge, attempt to be a part of
the synthesis, i.e. lower level actions can, in theory, be taken by anyone. This
contributes to the user generated content in a wider perspective, and adds to the mass
of information through which marketers attempt to emerge.
An issue discussed by several informants concerns the aspects of time and resources
needed to maintain social media accounts, and S5 states that:
“Senders with large amount of customers and stakeholders can have enormous
amounts of input they have to respond to. But overall, the benefits far exceed the
disadvantages”. (Subject 5)
It appears that efforts need to be made to ensure that sufficient resources are available in
order to cope with large quantities of input, and the responsibility to produce feedback.
Viral spread is often sought after in social media marketing due to its economical efficiency
and effects on brand awareness. However, through a bottom-up perspective, there seems to
be somewhat of a duality since it, if not handled properly, can generate negative effects on a
large scale, very quickly.
5.3 Usage of services
Mainstream services of social media, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are important
tools for all subjects of study since this is where the majority of their customers are.
Though not all subjects use it as their primary channel, they agree that Facebook is an
outstanding tool when it comes to customer relations. Twitter is used in a more sporadic and
12
13. complementary way due to its relatively narrow user base in the region. Services like
YouTube and Vimeo are used as media platforms where one is redirected to related content
from the main services. Mainstream services provide a solid base for social media marketing,
however, as S5 points out:
“There are tendencies to equate social media with Facebook and Twitter”.
(Subject 5)
Organizations without prior experience of social media marketing tend to focus on
services, which in recent years, seem popular and have had the most attention. Despite
the obvious benefits of marketing in services with vast amounts of users, companies
would benefit from researching which services their target audiences are actually using.
If the focus solely lies on mainstream services, they might end up missing parts of their
potential customers. As S1 describes:
“We have estimated that there are about 200 to 250 active Twitter users in
Umeå, so the potential in our region is rather small”. (Subject 1)
So despite the hype around specific social media services, this would indicate the
importance for organizations to investigate where they should be investing their efforts.
In the context of combining and using several social media services, companies should be
aware of the fact that in order to be successful in social media, one needs to maintain and
upkeep all registered accounts. If a channel is neglected, it can cause irritation, which can
spread to other services. Ideally, a clear link is established between different services, which
in their turn direct users to the corporate web site. An example where this was taken to a
previously unseen level is candy manufacturer Skittles’ social media campaign, launched in
March 2009. S1:
“They turned their whole corporate web site into a single large flow of social
media, where the start page consisted of a Twitter feed. At the top was a menu
where you could click on different headings, and if you clicked on “media” you
were presented with their YouTube channel, if you wanted information about
the company, their Wikipedia page was presented. The entire site was based
solely on various social media, but within the structures of their corporate web
site”. (Subject 1)
In relation to the concept of bottom-up, Skittles enabled content on their official web site to
be primarily user generated, where lower level actions became the core of its structure.
Traffic to skittles.com increased by 1332% in a single day.
The risk of producing redundant material i.e. presenting the same text in more than one
channel, increases when using several services. This relates to an organizations’ resources
regarding time and staff. S6 describes their approach:
13
14. “I think you should be careful not to put the same information on different
channels. It’s probably easy for the user to deregister from all but one channel if
he/she has access to the same information through just one service”. (Subject 6)
However, as S5 points out:
“I think it’s better to post the same thing in several channels than to not be
present at all”. (Subject 5)
All subjects have in one way or another, reflected on the matter, and even if they are not all
acting upon in, they appear to agree that there are negative effects with redundancy. This
indicates that even though redundancy is something to avoid, it might still be preferable to be
active in more than one service, regardless of the risk of redundancy.
Based on the study, there is a definite need to measure the outcome and impact of activity
in social media, and also to be aware of how the organization is perceived in this context. As
S2 explains:
“We measure all traffic on Twitter and Facebook. We also use Google Analytics
and other measurement tools for other traffic. However, it is difficult to quantify
the long term and ‘soft’ values, as well as effects related to brand building and
customer relations”. (Subject 2)
The process of measuring traffic in services is made simpler by specifically dedicated
tools, and can be done by anyone with just basic knowledge. Tools for measuring values
regarding relationship building and brand perception are still not available to any real
degree.
Using keyword searches in search engines and dedicated tools provide companies with a
richer image of what is being said about them. The use of such services is applied by the
subjects and is recommended. S7:
“It is definitely important to search social for conversations about the company.
You can learn a lot from it. If someone posts negative comments about us, we
try to respond to them as quickly as we can to solve any potential problems. It’s
very good for the company and contributes to the customer satisfaction to a
high degree”. (Subject 7)
S1:
“It is probably among the most important things to consider in your social
media activity, to have a look at what is being said and to respond to it, whether
it is positive or negative comments”. (Subject 1)
To be accessible but also actively reach out to users has proved to be very beneficial in the
maintenance of customer relationships as well as requiring new customers. Emphasis in this
context appears to be on the dialogue and the two-way interactions, and from a bottom-up
14
15. view this indicates that users and customers appreciate when organizations initiate contact
on lower levels of the structure.
5.4 Social media conduct
Behavior in social media on an individual level is in many ways different than in the context
of an organization. Where private persons only need to consider how they are portraying
themselves, users within companies are representatives of the entire organization, in many
cases even somewhat in their private usage. It is important for companies to consider these
differences when engaging in social media. However, the level of importance regarding these
issues relates to the size, management, and brand profile of the organization. For smaller
businesses it is easier to handle these types of questions. Guidelines and strategies can be
formulated and applied to tackle matters regarding customer perception. S3 on the matter of
guidelines:
“We have a clear policy on a detailed level for Twitter since it was the first
channel we used. We have an outline of a more general policy for other social
media services which contains key words such as ‘common sense’ etcetera”.
(Subject 3)
There is a diversity of opinion among the subjects of study as can be seen in the statement by
S6:
“What we publish in social media is mostly freebased since most of what we do
is in that fashion. However, we are so involved in the company and our instincts
are often the right way to go”. (Subject 6)
S1 also has a relatively unrestricted approach regarding strategies and guidelines:
“We have no official ‘rules’ on what to publish, but we are also a small agency.
Despite that, we have both a clear visual identity and a market profile which
includes a set of values; youthfulness, creativity and innovative thinking, and if
something doesn’t communicate that, it’s not going to be published”. (Subject 1)
Applying a bottom-up approach on the matter of restrictions and guidelines in social media
usage reveals indications of differences in how structures affect the freedom of activity. In
larger organizations there is a need to reach a consensus on what types of information, and
also how the information is published by employees. Smaller businesses have shorter
internal distances of communication, which contributes to a lesser need for formulated
constrictions in their usage.
Since content in social media is generated mainly by individual users, and the structure in
which interactions take place is designed for individual communication, it can be difficult for
organizations to know how to ‘fit in’. Some companies attempt what could be described as a
‘simulated bottom-up approach’ where the strategy is to seem and act less like a company and
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16. more as a private user. There are different opinions of whether this a good approach or not.
On the topic of acting officially versus privately, S3 states that:
“It should be made clear that it is a business, because that’s what we are, but at
the same time you want that personal service from a real person”. (Subject 3)
S1 has a slightly different take on the matter:
“It’s a bit of a dated approach that companies don’t really have the guts to
highlight any individuals within the organization. Apple has been really
successful in profiling Steve Jobs as a ‘real’ person instead of an anonymous
CEO. It’s easier to generate emotions connected to a person than to a brand, so if
done properly, you can take somewhat of a shortcut that way”. (Subject 1)
Regardless of what approach an organization has in the matter of acting official versus
private, there needs to be honesty and a genuine connection to someone or something within
the organization. The ‘simulated bottom-up approach’, if seen through, can be interpreted as
a dishonest way of profiling the organization, which can lead to mistrust, and a decrease in
the company’s credibility.
Related to freedom and restrictions in social media usage is the matter of who in the
organization that should be the active users. The use of moderators and social media
managers represent the top-down approach in an organizational context. They act as
representatives for the entire company, and questions regarding transparency can emerge.
Both sides of the social media manager debate are represented in this study. As S4 states, it is
not an easy thing to decide on:
“It’s probably both positive and negative if someone has that position in a
company. On one hand, someone is actually taking care of the social media, but
on the other, it may look a bit odd if someone sits 8 hours a day talking to
customers, representing the entire company”. (Subject 4)
While S2 has a more positive approach towards social media managers:
“I think a community manager is a great asset to have in a business and I would
have preferred that we had someone who had an overall approach to our
activity in social media. Someone who takes an overall responsibility, highlights
and develops certain parts, not someone who dominates and dictates”. (Subject
2)
Therefore, the issue of whether or not to use social media managers may vary depending on
the style of the company and the organizational mindset. There are different approaches and
attitudes towards the use of managers, where some might find it constricting and not
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17. representative others might experience it as a valuable and important function of the
business. In this context, S5 points out the aspect of the company’s scale:
“In large organizations, it probably makes sense; it is more a question of the size
of the organization. In general, it is probably a good idea to have a social media
manager if you have the volume. If you can justify a position where someone’s
job is to take care of you communications in social media, you will probably
bring more attention to you brand as well”. (Subject 5)
Apparently, there are no generalizations to be made regarding the use of social media
managers, but rather contextually based decisions. These contexts relate to scale, brand
profile, management style etc. From a bottom up perspective, however, there are indications
that point towards potentially negative effects when restricting lower level choices and
actions. Organizations would benefit from researching, which approach is most suitable for
them, and even more importantly, which approach is most suitable for their customers.
There are a lot of general pointers available regarding how to be successful in social media,
some more valuable than others. However, many of them are plain common sense. The
subjects of this study have contributed in presenting more contextualized ideas based on
their own experiences in social media. S6 on how they adapt their communication to their
target audiences:
“Depending on what we want to publish, we can choose among our active
channels. What is published in our newsletter shouldn’t feel as thick as a bible,
which you won’t manage to read through, this should be posted on the blog
instead. If you want more information you can visit the website and for today’s
lunch you can check Facebook. This is the division we have done and it feels
natural. We will not flood people with information. We write in a quite relaxed
style, pretty much like a spoken language, so that it feels personal and not so
pompous. Simplicity is the key word and we often try to explain things as simply
as possible to minimize the use of technical terms”. (Subject 6)
The approach applied regarding the combination of services is of a relatively divergent
nature, in the sense that information is segmented and differentiated into several channels.
This allows for a richer user experience due to the absence of redundancy. It is a strategy
attuned to the customer base and reflects the overall business in a transparent sense. It
indicates, from a bottom-up point of view, a high regard for the customer experience in that it
adapts information to suit the context in which it is presented. Redundancy, or rather the
avoidance of it, is also discussed by S4:
“If we organize an event which takes place somewhere nearby, we don’t send
invitations to those who probably won’t have the opportunity to attend, for
example those who live abroad. We do this to avoid sending out unnecessary
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18. information, which can irritate. A good thumb rule is to get to the right
information to the right people”. (Subject 4)
The adaptation of communication to fit customers anticipated perception of the organization
is discussed by S7:
“We have pretty much started from the opposite direction. We have created
something that attracts and has attracted customers. If we make changes now,
we need to be careful not to remove something that some customers really
value, such as styles, illustrations and articles. At the same time, we do want a
dialogue so we can improve things that might be of interest to our customers”.
(Subject 7)
This approach to not adapt to the customers anticipation, can be just as important as the
opposite, depending on the overall genre of business. If one of the core values with the
company, from the customers’ point of view, is to be rebellious and somewhat individualistic,
the perception of adaptation could have negative effects on the brand image. The lack of
specified guidelines or restrictions in social media communication can, in certain contexts, be
crucial. This matter is also discussed by S1, who states that:
“We try to avoid pleasing others and doing things on other people’s conditions,
but rather do things our way and let people choose if it suits them. However, we
are, after all, a business and we do need to make money, so you have to adapt in
certain situations. It’s more about our image and attitude”. (Subject 1)
Here, as well as the previous example, there are tendencies towards pursuing an image of
independence and integrity in social media, qualities which are highly valued in ‘real life’
contexts. The transference of the organizations’ ‘genuine’ image from the physical world to
the digital one appears to have been important, as well as successful.
S5 provides a general mindset regarding how to address customers in social media where
the importance of a narrative aspect of the information being produced is highlighted, as well
as an emphasis on the two-way communication between sender and receiver:
“You should keep in mind that you are writing for someone else’s sake as much
as for your own. It is like the universal journalistic approach; for who am I
writing, and why, combined with what you, the author, want to say”. (Subject 5)
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19. 6 Conclusions
The purpose of this thesis has been to, from a bottom-up perspective, draw conclusions from
a comparative study of the social media praxes of Umeå-situated businesses and
organizations, and how they implement social media services into their activities.
The social media transition
The transition from traditional marketing strategies to social media marketing is more
complex for larger organizations. They have to, in some situations, convince upper
management that social media is more than a buzz phenomena. Key factors to this issue are
generational differences that relates to the understanding of the media. The transition into
social media still continues, but there has been a change in organizations’ mindsets.
There is a struggle to move away from traditional ways of thinking regarding marketing, as
well as indications that social media offers new means of communicating where there is a
higher degree of mutual respect between the sender and recipient. On a wider level, this is
affecting the entire way in which people view advertising where traditional marketing outside
of social media, may become subject to criticism on a larger scale than before.
Objectives and benefits
Objectives in social media do not seem to be specified to any great extent, but rather
considered in a more rhetorical and idealistic sense. Even though there obviously are
economical interests, the subjects of study are not attempting to force traditional marketing
approaches onto their customers. The lack of formulated objectives would suggest that the
new way of advertising is fundamentally different from established ways of marketing, where
a deeper understanding of the customers’ perspective has been reached in social media.
Disadvantages
The time it requires to maintain the social media accounts could be perceived as an issue, as
well as the balance between being active and the risk of causing redundancy.
It appears that efforts need to be made to ensure that sufficient resources are available in
order to cope with large quantities of input, and the responsibility to produce feedback.
Organizations need to require a feel for the media in which they are operating, and realize
that relationships in social media are ‘real’.
Usage of services
Despite the obvious benefits of marketing in services with vast amounts of users, companies
would benefit from researching which services their target audiences are actually using. If the
focus solely lies on mainstream services, they might end up missing parts of their potential
customers.
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20. If a channel is neglected, it can cause irritation, which can spread to other services. Ideally,
a clear link is established between different services, which in their turn direct users to the
corporate web site.
The risk of producing redundant material increases when using several services.
To fully take advantage of the opportunities which reside within social media services,
organizations have to understand that social media is a part of many people’s lives and is
going to be for a foreseeable future. Hence, efforts to, in an organic way, become part of the
synthesis, as well as respecting the structure in which they are active in, is crucial.
Social media conduct
Where private persons only need to consider how they are portraying themselves, users
within companies are representatives of the entire organization. It is important for
companies to consider these differences when engaging in social media.
In larger organizations there is a need to reach a consensus on what types of information,
and also how the information is published by employees. Smaller businesses have shorter
internal distances of communication, which contributes to a lesser need for formulated
constrictions in their usage.
Some companies attempt what could be described as a ‘simulated bottom-up approach’
where the strategy is to seem and act less like a company and more as a private user. The
‘simulated bottom-up approach’, if seen through, can lead to mistrust, and a decrease in the
company’s credibility.
There are no generalizations to be made regarding the use of social media managers, but
rather contextually based decisions. These contexts relate to scale, brand profile,
management style etc. From a bottom up perspective, however, there are indications that
point towards potentially negative effects when restricting lower level choices and actions.
The approach to not adapt to the customers anticipation, can be just as important as the
opposite.
This study has shown that the application of a bottom-up approach enables analysis of the
structure and parsing of social media services, which in turn provides new ways of viewing
and understanding activities within that system.
7 Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Charlotte Wiberg at the Institute of Informatics for her support as
supervisor during this process, all the respondents for their knowledge and time, and finally,
we would like to give a special thanks to everyone at Glad Reklam for putting up with us for
ten weeks. We owe you one.
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