Social media is about people interacting with other people via communication technology. It has become a major way for people and businesses to interact online. For businesses, social media allows them to advertise, provide customer service, and conduct research by interacting with customers and other businesses in online forums and networks. It is important for businesses to engage authentically in social media by listening to what customers say and responding in a truthful, collaborative way. A good approach is to start by understanding your goals, finding where your audience interacts online, engaging in respectful dialogue, and measuring the results both qualitatively and quantitatively.

1. Social Media Overview

2. Do not freak‐out
Social media is your friend

3. You do not have to be on top of
everything, but you should participate

4. Social Media is about people
interacting with other people via
communication technology

5. PLATFORMS
Blogs
Micro‐blogs
Social Networks
Widgets
Chat
Instant Message
Message Boards
Podcast
Video Sharing
Picture Sharing
Presentation Sharing
RSS
User Rating/Reviews
Collaborative Filtering
Virtual Worlds

6. PROPERTIES
WordPress
Blogspot
Twitter
Facebook
MySpace
YouTube
Slideshare
Linkedin
Blubrry
AIM
BizRate
Flickr
Second Life
iTunes
etc.

8. This shiz is 4 real

9. By the end of 2008, social
networking had overtaken email in
terms of worldwide reach
66.8% of Internet users across the
globe accessed “member
communities” last year, compared
to 65.1% for email
Nielsen Online 2009

10. 73% have read a blog
57% have joined a social network
53% have uploaded photos
22% have uploaded video
Universal McCann Comparative Study on Social Media Trends 2008

11. Americans
spend 6% of
their online
time on
Facebook
70% of
Twitter users
joined in
2008

12. Creators
Publish a blog
Publish web pages
Upload video, music, pictures, presentations you created
Critics Forrester
Post rating/review
Comment on someone else’s blog
Contribute to forum/wiki/FAQ
Research’s
Collectors model to
Use RSS feeds
Add “tags” to web pages or photos understand
Vote on websites
Joiners
social media
Maintain profile on social nets
Visit social nets adoption and
Spectators
activity
Read blogs
Watch/listen to video/audio from others
Read online forums and customer rating/reviews

13. Uses Joins Linkedin
Looks to
Facebook Groups to stay Is a
online forums
to lure on top of the tumblr
for answers Tweets clients in tech biz
Opus peeps are so social

14. Be prepared to connect in ways you never imagined

15. OK – so I get the personal value
What value is social media to
business?

16. Social Media is about business
people interacting with customers
interacting with other customers
interacting with other business
people via communication
technology

17. In other words….
Social Media is about people
interacting with other people via
communication technology

18. “Twitter is not about hearing from a
company; it's about hearing from a
person within a company.”
Lisa Cavales, CMO Express

19. Social Media knows no boundaries

20. Do not freak‐out
Social media is your friend
Set your own boundaries

21. Value Proposition:
Social Media is simultaneously
advertising, customer service and
research

22. Cast a message to known and heretofore unforeseen or
unreachable audiences

23. Respond to customers in the forums where they are
organically present

24. Study the interactions – positive, neutral and
negative – to feed the improvement cycle

25. Decode the stream of digital artifacts – images,
videos, podcasts, etc. – to have the broadest
understanding of how a brand is trafficked

26. Never underestimate a persons desire to share
and be part of like‐minded groups

27. Marketers are planning to spend on
social media

28. 50% of marketers said they will be increasing their
spending on social media marketing in the coming
months

29. Social nets, blogs, UGC and mobile is where the
spending shift is going

30. Most marketers are in the experimental stage

31. Opus Creative Case Study
Objective: Develop and nurture an eCommunity to raise
awareness and influence of the Alliance
Social Media Solution: Implementation of a social
syndication strategy
• Select prime social properties to converse with hardware/software business and
technology decision‐makers, industry analysts and technology press
• Make sure all Alliance content/news is distributed through a minimum of 5 social
properties to extend reach/frequency of dialogue
• Continued outreach to Alliance membership for content submissions
• Ongoing evaluation of new properties/ideas to add to syndication network
• Metrics in place to guide optimization efforts

32. Itanium Solutions Alliance ‐ Social Syndication Network :
LinkedIn, Slideshare, Blip, Twitter, YouTube, Blog, Mainframe Migration, Website and eNewsletter
slideshare.net/itaniumalliance
mainframemigration.org/blogs/itanium_solutio
ns_alliance/
twitter.com/itaniumalliance
itaniumsolutions.org
LinkedIn Group
blog.itaniumsolutions.org
Bi‐monthly email
youtube.com/itaniumalliance itaniumsolutions.blip.tv/

33. Ok – so what’s a good approach towards
utilizing social media for business?

34. First – take a step back and check
yer organizations head
Social media is an attitude:
Success will come from fundamentally caring about
what customers, employees and partners have to say
about your business and wanting to learn and dialogue
with them about their opinions

35. Social media is dialogue – it’s not
broadcast
Re‐engineer your business around real‐time customer
responsiveness:
Collaboration between Product Development,
Marketing, Customer Service, IT and other
departments will be crucial

36. Be prepared to be real
Confine slogans to advertising and press releases to the
news wire, as the currency of social media is
truthfulness:
Recruit and incentivize product/service designers and
developers to be the social voice

37. Got the head‐check? Now onto
some tactical process planning

38. Repeat and share as necessary
PLAN
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Awareness, Sales, Service, Loyalty, All of the above?
LISTEN
• Where is your audience organically congregating online?
• What are they saying, doing, mashing, uploading about your brand?
ENGAGE
• Step into the conversation – post and respond
• Stay open to all views
MEASURE
• Qualitative analysis of feedback
• Properties/content/topics that elicit most/least feedback
• People who appear to have influence
• Contribution by customers, employees and partners

39. You are what your customers
think you are
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