Understanding Social MediaCaroline Chambers

February 2009

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other (Wikipedia 2007)

What is social media?

Source: Internet Advertising Bureau, 2004Source: Darwin Day Conference, by Google

Marketing has changed more…..

How We Communicate

Baby Boomer born 1946-1961

Has Changed a lot

Generation X – Born 1961-1981

Through the Generations

Generation Y – Born 1982-2000

And our latest arrival

And say hello to Generation C – Born 2000 onwards

Cash not creditCreatorsControlConnected

Channelled

Creative

Community

“Consumer 2.0”

Communicators

Charted

Getting from me to them

People will come if you make them feel smarter,

make them feel empowered, make them feel

heard or make them feel entertained

The State of the Market

• Explosion of platforms and applications – what do I use for what? Users feeling

overwhelmed

• Businesses and individuals communicating via social media tools becoming

established/expected

• What's the bottom line – will it make me money?

Blogging Micro-Blogging Social Networking

Crowdsourcing Content Sharing Web Applications

Key Tools of the Trade

Blogging

Keys to Success:- Listen to the conversation already going on- Find your niche- Join the conversation- Strike the right tone – drop the formalities- Be yourself, be human- Make it easy to follow

Readers must have a passion… either for you or for the subject matter (preferably both).

The Personality Blog

The Issue Blog

OPEN API

The Organisation Blog

Blogging – The Expert Blog

The Blog Portal

Comment Policy:- All comments (not for controversial subjects)

- No comments (must be very compelling content)

- Member authentication/profiles (closed community)

- Comment moderation (Higher workload, lower return)

- vs. (Better discourse, viral, not full control)

Blogging

Micro-Blogging

Key Features:

- Very quick blog posting method made popular by the Twitter platform.

- Micro-blogging pioneer:

- Four primary types of posts:- Status update (example: “I’m eating lunch at Michaelinos”)- Link update (example: “Great article on Chambers of

Commerce http://www.link.com”)- Reply to update (example: “@twitteraccount I totally

disagree”)- Re-Tweet (example: RT@twittaccount Great article on…..)

Micro-Blogging

Ways organizations are using it:

- Monitor and address customer concerns:

- Disseminate offers:

- Alert Supporters of News and Calls to Action:

Social Networking

Features and Trends:

- Hundreds of millions of people are connecting with each other in online communities focused around their personal lives, professional lives and special interests.

- Facebook is now the number one social networking platform and has released capabilities that allow any website to connect to their platform.

Social Networking

Question:

Create your own social network or integrate with Facebook and/or other existing communities? (Or do both)

523 Followers

561,000 Friends

115,000 Friends

1,200 Subscribers

499 Photos

254 Photos

3000 Badges

Crowdsourcing

Features and Trends:

- Crowdsourcing is a method of outsourcing a task to a group of people who collaboratively come to a solution. (Example: Wikipedia)

New Tools, Risks and Rewards:

- New tools are being launched to increase the effectiveness of online collaboration, including one geared towards public policy:

Content Sharing

- The most widely accepted include:

Real Simple Syndication feeds )YouTube (Video)Podcast (Audio/Video)SlideShare (Powerpoint/Presentation)Flickr (Photos)

Referral & Recommend Sites

Widgets/Applications

Entertainment, Mobility and Utility

- Several categories of applications and widgets- Mobility (e.g. iPhone applications)- Standalone games and other entertainment

(branded)- Platform Plug-ins (e.g face book applications)- Mashups (combining databases)

- Novelty produces high publicity bonus

- Access to content via mobile applications becoming expected

Widgets/Applications

Examples:

http://www.aarpvote08.org/ http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/iphone

Tips

Define your audience Understand what will engage and motivate them Build gradually and don’t aggressively promote until you

are comfortable with your product and your process Use established tools to secure your audience, use

new/experimental tools once you’ve got them engaged Develop tools to measure sales, but understand that

some benefits are qualitative Devote more of your time and resources to content

development than to website development – that’s the hallmark of Web 2.0

Always think about how content will benefit a user before thinking about how it will benefit you

Where is Social Networking Going? Results expected from experimental advertising

within social media Yahoo!, Google, Hotmail testing social media

integration with Webmail products Facebook may start making money! Social shopping experiments (retailers integrating

social network data – EBAY, Amazon, Qype is emergent – rate my purchase)

Integration – One site, one logon, multiple platforms

Why Should My Business SN

1. Branding 2. Create a buzz 3. Online reputation management 4. Establish yourself as an expert 5. Word of mouth6. Build relationships and become more personal 7. Open up the line of communication between business owner and millions of potential

customers 8. Small businesses can compete with the large companies 9. Social networking with potential clients and customers from all over the globe 10. Get great traffic 11. Increase your link-ability 12. Helps with search engines 13. Much cheaper than traditional marketing and advertising 14. Your company is more accessible 15. Direct conversation to a specific niche 16. Provides another way for potential customers to find you 17. It's a way to explain yourself18. Show Your Stuff 19. Find out exactly what your customers want 20. Your customers can play an active role in the business

http://blissfullydomestic.com/digital-bliss/20-reasons-small-businesses-should-use-social-media/

Connect With Me

carolinechamber

http://channelchamber.blogspot.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinechambers

The Channel Chamber GroupChannel Chamber Training

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