The Global Social Media Network – Social Media with a Twist

I have officially declared 2009, “The Year of No Fear”.  My friend has dubbed it “Less Whine in 2009″

Whatever the case, Happy New Year!

Here are my favorite snippets of  definitions of Social Media that I came across in 2008 via my interactions with folks on LinkedIn. Enjoy!

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Start with what they already know: It’s easier to define it mostly by what it is NOT:

1. Social Media is not Heritage or traditional i.e. professionals who create media based on what they think will gain an audience and neutral standpoint (vs bloggers who write about what they are interested in, and passionate about)
3. Social Media is not Social Network Marketing i.e. sending around agency created content as viral videos. If all the network are doing is passing it on, don’t get to add to it, then its viral, not social.
2. Social Media is not Social Networks (Non-Media) – non-media based social networks include p2p telecommunications (Meraki), peer to peer banks (Zopa), and other non-media industries.
Then you can go to the general meaning: In summary, social media is content created by non-agency, non-heritage media and uses social not broadcast channels to distribute (pass on, discuss and rate) that content.
Laurel Papworth  http://laurelpapworth.com/

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A great term we just learned at our recent industry event, special events, was that social media was like an on-going “Cocktail Party” with your invited friends, family, and colleagues to share your stories, moments and events.
Carol Moxam  http://www.linkedin.com/in/carolmoxam333

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If I had to explain it to my mother, I’d say they are internet-based tools that allow people to express themselves by creating a profile and sharing text, pictures, videos and audio they created or gathered from multiple sources, they can also find their previous friends and meet new ones that share their interests.

Mariano Andres Garcia  http://www.marianoandres.com.ar/

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Social…….Media……Words have a meaning. A medium granting the chance to communicate between people, on the Internet. Start from the beginning, then make examples.

Stefano Nicoletti http://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanonicoletti

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In short, SM is the use social sites as tools to create strategies that make our costumers participants of our services and products, enhancing their experience in relation to our brand.
Francisco Kemeny  http://www.neuralis.cl/

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Social Media the communication is a conversation unlike the unidirectional communication of traditional media. Social Media depends on the interactions between people. Audience response, whether it is commenting on, or editing the original message/content, is the key element.

Scott Krinsky http://www.linkedin.com/in/skrinsky

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I would rather say that media has become social in itself. The prosumer (consumer is a producer too) uses media to express himself. Media is no longer the goal anymore, it’s a mean to distribute a personal message. Whether it comes from a particular person or an enterprise doesn’t matter. 1-1 possibilities in communication makes that all media eventually become social.

Tim De Coninck  http://www.communicatiemannen.be/

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Social media is the collection of tools that allow people to communicate amongst themselves. While the web and Internet are clearly part of the mix and faciliate the spread of a message, they are by no means the only tools (cell phones and SMS). The choice of how broadly to communicate is left to the individual – it may be a bull-horn announcment (top blogger or pundit) or a private and personal tweet recommending a new book. To a large degree social media simply allows the individual to choose the audience,  the message and the content.

Anthony Power http://apowerpoint.blogspot.com/

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Social media is still evolving – and for many marketers, the ability to sell the concept hinges on monetization, and proof of measurable impact; either ROI, lift in LCV, etc.. Successfully building metrics around social media means aligning these initiatives with your database; because this provides the means to capture contact information, track interactions, and map future behaviors. Those data points provide the intelligence which proves social media’s value. The question for many marketers, is how, and to what degree, social media can add value which is supported by metrics.

Carol Lynn Martens   http://www.linkedin.com/in/clcmartens

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Social media is a way for people to communicate online usually through discussion and is often used for raising the profile of, marketing or selling products or services. They include message boards, blogs or networking sites and some examples are LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Christine Cooper  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/b62/1a6

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To keep it simple, without all the marketing mambo-jumbo, I’d say these are all the tools that give you a chance to directly and honestly communicate (in both directions!) and connect with your friends, customers, or anybody sharing common interests, passions, problems or concerns; letting all the interested parties create their own, subject-specific community.
Krzysztof Nowak http://www.linkedin.com/in/nowakka

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“Internet-based technologies that allow direct communication between self-selecting groups of people”.  Alternatively: Any internet medium where a group of like-minded people can gather to discuss issues such as “how do you define social media’”.
Chris Noble http://www.linkedin.com/in/infowranglers

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Web-based tools used to share and exchange information.

Tim Allik  http://techprgems.com/

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An internet based application or site with “gathering power” (i.e. a driving force for traffic) that favors and enhances one-to-one and one-to-many communications, usually basing it on a member-get-membert strategy or group affinity.
Matteo Fogli  http://www.pecus.it/

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Digital tools that allow individuals to share, connect, and interact with their friends and their friends of friends.
Jason Dojc http://www.squidoo.com/jd

It’s one thing to read about what companies are doing in the way of Social Media, but to watch people talk about it and see what it is they are actually doing is truly, a motivating experience. These folks were not only passionate about their companies, but also, passionate about helping the people they serve by using Social Media. The following are my notes from the conference. Two tracks of four companies were offered. Four company overviews are presented here.

“8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations”

Hosted by  The Blog Council and Gaspedal

Blogwell San Jose Convention Center 10/ 28/2008 -1pm -5pm PST

Opening Remarks

Andy Sernovitz, CEO Gaspedal

“Social media is learning to talk to people, like people, understand people and treat people better….”

1:30pm   Lindsay Labresco, Corporate Blogger for Graco.

“Graco is one of the world’s best known and most trusted juvenile products companies.” (from company website)

Graco -18 months in Social Media

Social Media Strategy – “building relationships”

1. Enable Advocacy- capitalize on WOM between Moms and 1^st time and expectant mothers
2. Humanize the Brand – Instill trust in the brand highlight that people behind the brand are parents too
3. Connect and Educate – Build relationships through

Listening – conversation mining, listen to the conversation online, don’t do anything without doing this first

1. Gauge public sentiment

2. Strategic Planning – this helps set goals

3. Provides information for production

Staying Informed – knowing what’s going on with customers and in the industry

“People love the product, but we want people to talk about the brand.”

Engage and Participate

Graco – Engaged – personal engagement

“Graco Get Togethers“ – regional blogger meetups, hosted 9 events so far, avg. 125 attendees, 55 post-“posts” talking about the parties

End result of this event – Graco having a guest shot on the Today Show…something that they didn’t aspire to, but came organically out of “Graco Get Togethers”

Also:

• Joining online communities – Blogher, Cafemom, Facebook, Twitter and being in those places as people
• Adding to conversations – commenting on parenting blogs
• Recognize bloggers with monthly nods – pick favorite Blog of the Month
• Giveaways and product reviews
• Flickr – post events

Graco – Participation

• Graco corporate blog, participate in parenting conversations which builds trust and gives Graco a face in that community
• Strategic Content Generation yields positive SEO results

All of this results in:

“true authentic engagement with their targeted consumers” and “Have people come authentically” including:

Bloggers

Retailers – coming to them for advice

Media – being seen as a recognized peer

Twitter - http://twitter.com/GracoRoadAhead

Youtube Videos – with demos of products

2:10pm - Nick Ayres, Interactive Marketing Manager at The Home Depot

Social Media Strategy

1. Recapturing customers

2. Connecting with a new set of customers – 1^st time home owners and ones just coming out of college

3. Engage associates in ways that are relevant to others lifestyles.

EXAMPLE 1 : Twitter and Natural Disasters

The Home Depot on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheHomeDepot

Home Depot is the leader in natural disaster preparation and recovery efforts for both customer and associates donating money and materials

The Challenge for Home Depot:

Could Social Media get us to help better and faster?

How did they engage?

Trusted

Timely

Relevant

Accurate

Appropriate – Ex. using Twitter – letting customers know stores were open later than normal during a time of crisis or, making their community aware of what products were available at which location ex. Generators

He mentioned they could not have gotten this message out fast enough using traditional media methods.

All of these actions were building blocks for “long term brand presence.”

Example 2: Video Syndication

Youtube “How To” Videos

Home Depot Take-Aways

1. Find out what customers want first

2. Find others at your company who are passionate about brand, make them evangelists

3. Scratch and claw for small wins

4. Do not let social media turn into another campaign

3:40pm UPS - Debbie Curtis Magley - Public Relations Office Manager at UPS

Lessons Learned from Social Media monitoring

The largest piece of the monitoring process was to discern which conversations were customer sentiment as opposed to just venting sessions –  the term “UPS” generates many unrelated terms “pushups, pullups”

UPS Social Media Strategy

1. Determine what you want to learn and for what purpose

2. Look at general brand conversations

a. Degree of chatter that mentions your brand

b. Reputation topics – monitor issues that represent opportunities or threats

c. Business Industry sector – what is the brand’s role within the market sector

Recognize the limitations of monitoring

Although they had TNS build a dashboard for them to help them monitor, the need for a human “filter” is essential. Not all conversations can be automated.

The task of analyzing conversations was distributed among co-workers. Co-workers became even more aware of issues and these individuals were being seen as an expert on the issues they addressed.

4:20pm Suraya Bliss, Sr. Director Communications and John Andrews, Sr. Marketing Manager, WALMART

2.2 miliion employees worldwide

Purpose Driven Company

“Save Money. Live Better.”

Whatever they decide to take on, Wal-Mart looks through that lens to make a difference.

Internal social networking just started a month ago whereby they tap into the wisdom of employees for development

Guding Principles

• Increase Loyalty
• Gain Understanding
• Reduce costs
• Reinforce Brand Pillars

I almost Twitter at the thought of the state of the economy and the 43things that have to be done to change it. It almost makes my head Spihn. There’s no Netscaping it. All you have to do is Reditt. You Digg what I’m saying?

But, it got me thinking.

Time to get creative.

Companies don’t have to fall on their face during these times, do they? Do you have to lose your company’s sense of Identi.ca before the Dow drops into a Mashable pulp?

No.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking,

“Just how can I secure my space with employees and customers in today’s economy?”

Let us be reminded of that all too familiar phrase,

“You can do anyNing you set your mind to.”

You can still be pretty Linked In to what’s going on in the world and be seen as a resource for your chosen industry. Utilizing Social Media effectively, you too, can maintain a sense of stability during these challenging times.  It’s just a matter of staying informed and getting creative.  No need to Pownce on the competition. Maybe you can contact a Classmate or hire a Friendster to start a joint venture.  Sound delicious?

Let us continue to press our noses to the grindstone and get involved.

Feed a Friend. Be a Blogger. Go forth and Multiply!

I sincerely hope you StumbleUpon something fruitful.

Imeem it.

Regards,

Ray

PS.
Sorry that you couldn’t stop me Bebo it was too late.
My apologies if I offended or sounded too kwippy.

Sssssssssssssssss.
Transparency folks, transparency. “Trust is the new currency”.

I’ve been to several business social networking events through social websites these past 2 months. While the majority of them have been informative and insightful, there were two that raised some concern.
Here are some signs that you might be a victim of some questionable practices conducted by people who are members of social networking sites.

• The Subject line of an email you received from a group or group member begins with “re:” or “Re:” and you never contacted the person in the first place.
• Someone tells you in their email  that “I have gone to lots of XXXXX group but I think this is best XXXX group I have ever been to”. Then you see that they signed up for XXXXX.com just 1 day before sending the email and has only signed up for the group they are promoting.
• Someone is emailing you from a group, and their profile link connects with someone else’s profile. (I had two separate emails from two separate women who’s profile link connected with a another woman.)
• Someone tells you “To Join me please” and they never signed up for that specific group’s event that evening.
• You get the same exact email from another “group member” 3 hours later, with the exact same words, and exact same profile link to someone else’s profile.
• Someone lists you as a “friend” on their profile and you never met them before.
• The event turns out to be something entirely different than what was posted.

Has this ever happened to you? Please share your stories.

Tips:

• Very simply, run an Internet search on the person’s name. Reminds me of a song. “People….people who “Google” people…are the luckiest people in the world.”
• Find out a little more about the event before attending. Do your research. Your time is valuable.
• Use LinkedIn.com to find out more about people you’re dealing with. If you have a similar connection, talk to them.
• Copy and paste the first half of email addresses you recieve into your browser and run a search on that email address or that phrase. For example, if you get an email from abcdefg@12345.com, copy, paste and run a search on abcdefg and see if there any connections with the name of the person you’re dealing with.
• Use Google Earth to confirm addresses you may find.

There’s no need to be paranoid. Just use common sense.

Any others?

At our Social Media / Business Marketing Meetup Group last week,  some very good points were made by a group member regarding how important email lists were in contacting customers. It had me thinking, “How important are e-mails in reaching a customer?”

I needed to remind myself that contacting a customer via email is only one of many viable ways of reaching customers today. Relying soley on e-mail shuts out other equally efficient avenues.  My past teaching experience as an elementary school teacher and a college instructor has shown me that people, at different stages of their developmental  and learning levels, take in information in different ways.

In his article “Multiple Intelligences“, award winning author and speaker, Dr. Tom Armstrong, writes,

“One of the most remarkable features of the theory of Multiple Intelligences is how it provides eight different potential pathways to learning.”

He lists them as:

Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”):
Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)
Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”)
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)
Musical intelligence (“music smart”)
Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)
Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)
Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)

Our group’s topic for the evening was “Social Media: Why Do It? Why Not?”.  I started the evening by emphasizing how important it was to thoroughly understand an audience as best as you can before reaching them through social media. This saves a business a huge amount of time so that they don’t target a consumer in way in which they won’t take in your information. Some of our customers may not read e-mails, but they’ll watch a video and learn from that and make a phone call instead. Some may need to have a visceral experience before purchasing a product. Some of our audience may not even use a computer. Yikes, what do we do then? (insert McCauley Caulkin “Home Alone” pose).

The emphasis on using e-mail lists were valid. They may be a “key” in increasing an audiences awareness of your service/product because it reaches them directly. However, understanding and using social media effectively, and creating creative conversations with people, may be the way to get access to someone’s email, if that is someone’s intent.  Combining the two could be most effective given that the content you provide is worth their time. Without valuable content, are our Social Media strategies or email lists even worth the effort?

As business owners I believe we need to educate ourselves about all the communicative possibilities that are available to us, so that we don’t rely on just one method. Let’s continue to challenge ourselves to converse with our audience in ways that resonate with them be it visually, auditory or kinisthetically.  As our group develops, I hope that we find those specific ways that work for our businesses and our audience whether it be through social media, e-mails or both.