#SocialMedia Pro-Book: Excellent work by Eloqua & JESS3

A stunning piece of work by Eloqua and JESS3. The Social Media Pro-Book 2011/12. If you're looking for a reference on the social web and how it can apply to various forms of communications, you won't go far wrong by reading the 22 pages in this booklet.

Click here to download:
eloqua-jess3-probook-110628174811-phpapp02.pdf (2.53 MB)
(download)

By Lyndi Thompson: 9 Things Businesses Have Learned About Social Media | WebProNews

The best post we've found that summarises the basic key points for businesses and the social web. We were thinking about writing something similar, but we now don't have to thanks to Lyndi Thompson at WebProNews.

Social media has walked the fiery coals of skepticism and has brilliantly performed as a marketing, customer service and relationship building tool beyond expectations.

All size businesses have taken the polar bear plunge into what felt like an alien way of communicating with their customers. When businesses began using Facebook fan pages, Twitter, engaging on forums, blogging, creating videos on YouTube and more, they realized that being a less like a brand and more human created real long lasting relationships with their customers.

A few things businesses have learned about social media:

It isn't free: Social media costs time - a lot of time. If you have someone that is customer focused, understands how to write headlines and reaches out to the right audiences, then you are starting out solid.

Be Creative: Social media isn't sell media. Be social. Have fun engaging your community, from congratulating them on opening their new business, to commenting on their blog and attending networking events with them.

Have a Team: This isn't a one person show. Just like customer service everyone needs to be trained and have at least a basic understanding on how to help customers, sell the product as well as assist with customer concerns.

Start with Employees: The people that know how to talk about your brand, company and culture the best are your employees. Treat them as family, acknowledge and appreciate and make them feel as they are an important part of your business. Employees are the first to share with their communities and network their experience with your company and brand.

Listen First: Enough with the megaphone blasting your message to customers and employees. Start by spending some time listening to them instead. Reach out and connect with your customers, employees and fans of your brand and make them feel that they are the center of the conversation.

Customers Turn into Marketers: Customers that feel acknowledged and appreciated are loyal, excited to help and eager to be your brand evangelists, at no charge.

Consistency Matters: Have your pixel pixie help you create a Twitter background that matches your website branding, and a Facebook logo that fits, little things that your graphic deisgner can do to enrich

Connect online then in real life: Find ways to connect offline, have an open house, attend a networking event and then share the experience with your social media communities.

Seek Guidance: Look for someone who understands the tools, language, has experience and passion working with social media to give you an hour or two to give you a tour. Learn about social media management tools, ways to monitor effectiveness, help with content strategy and ways to find your audience.

About the author:
Lyndi Thompson, or Lyndit, is a Social Media and Online Marketing Specialist, and has managed online marketing, social media, PR initiatives, event strategies, product launches, and more. Her blog can be found at LyndiT.com.
via webpronews.com

 

Updated Brand Trust Cube

This is an updated introduction to our Brand Trust Cube. It now includes a fourth and extremely important element of transparency. Other slideshows will follow, which will breakdown the various axis. Please feel free to download...there is no charge.

UCAS Social Media Conference October 2010

Below are the slides from the presentation given by Karl at the recent UCAS conference. The focus is on understanding the people, which is much more important than social media technology. You may find some of the content interesting....you may not, but we hope you do.

2010- The Year Brands will Seduce Consumers via the Social Web

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As 2009 draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect the speed and vigour with which many consumer brands adopted the social web as part of their customer engagement strategy throughout the year. Some really understood it and did a fantastic job; some got it so badly wrong they may take years to repair the damage caused; however, the majority were somewhere in the middle. Expectations were high - "We're on Twitter, we'll get thousands of followers!" - in most cases this just didn't happen. Those brands that did dip their toe in the water will have learned many things and be better positioned to see some real success in 2010.
2010, will see a change from the usual "discount tweets" and "become a fan" (Why?!) and we'll start to see the emergence of an "art of seduction" across the social web. How many of you have already received a comment on a blog or a retweet or an @mention which was phrased something like "Great post" or "Totally agree"? Most probably they come from friends and colleagues, but expect to see more of these from brand representatives. If it is done well and genuinely meant, then this is great, but it is a thin line to tread if it isn't.

There is a tried and tested "chat-up" formula used by many successful seducers (allegedly) which is an acronym of CIQ. This stands for Compliment, Introduction and Question. Here's an example: A man walks up to an attractive lady in a bar and says "Wow! You look fantastic." Lady responds by being very flattered and says something positive in return. "My names, Paul, by the way." "Hello Paul, I'm Tracy." (Don't ask me where those names came from, I have no idea!) Paul then asks "May I buy you a drink?". Apparently, the answer is usually a positive one, as long as you've brushed your teeth.

Now apply this same formula to the social web and brand consumer dialogue, Clearly define profiles and id's will negate the introduction if the brand is well known. Here's what might happen:
  • Consumer Tweet: "Just been for a great run around the park. Had The Who blasting out of my iPod"
  • Brand Tweet: "@consumer It's good to run, great choice of music. The Who are always on my playlist."
  • Consumer Tweet: "@brand Thanks. They seem to make me run a little faster."
  • Brand Tweet: "@consumer Definitely, I (that's me from Brand X) also like a little bit of Motorhead, not everyone's cup of tea."
  • Consumer Tweet: "@brand You're right. Ace of Spades is the only one I know."
  • Brand Tweet: "@consumer There are many more. By the way, what's the park like to run on?"
  • Consumer Tweet: "@brand A bit bumpy and slippy in places. Why?"
  • Brand Tweet: "@consumer Sounds like the park I run round. But I tried a pair of these bit.ly*** and they knocked 3 mins of my time."
  • Consumer Tweet: "@brand Thanks I'll take a look"
Sound elaborate? Don't believe it. Brand X is a running shoe reseller and had set up searches looking at terms such as "run" "running" "terrain" "personal best" etc. and could see the associated tweets.

This is how it is going to be. Your tweets, updates, comments will be heard across the globe by those who want to. Such brands, with the right tools, can then make a judgement whether to engage you; if you're "attractive" be prepared to be seduced. It'll get personal and could be a real benefit to you if brands get it right. It could also be a real pain. There will be many a time in 2010 when you'll be engaged via the social web by a brand. "Get your coat, you've pulled."

Punk's Not Dead! Very much alive due to the Social Web. #RATM

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People were fed up of having the heavily manufactured and overly publicised X Factor/Psycho TV "music" rammed down their throats. So they used the social web to speak out and rebel. In fact, one guy Jon Morter stared the whole thing by setting up a Facebook group and using other social web channels (namely Twitter) to spread the word and gain coverage on national radio, press and TV. He chose a very relevant track and band (Rage Against the Machine & Killing in the Name), which was only available by download (Have you seen the "Share on Twitter" (and Facebook) function on iTunes?)...a track released in 1992 (17 years ago). Whereas, the X Factor, Joe McElderry track was download, CD and probably the most advertised single ever...with millions pumped into it. All this, and yet it was beaten to the number 1 slot. Why?

Well obviously, a lot of people downloaded it, because of their "anti" feeling...not necessarily because they liked the track. It's a statement being made, which has resulted in a clear manifestation. If there is a strong enough feeling amongst the general public about something, they now have the ability to enforce an outcome in their favour. This has truly demonstrated the power of the social web; without it, it would not have happened. How else could a massive crowd of like minded people be brought together in such a short time frame?

Also, another key factor, is the availability to download any genre of music from any era. If downloads were not available, again this could not have happened. In my day (Karl Havard writing this), it was availability of vinyl and cassette tape. Time passing, would mean the ability to get your hands on any form of track would become more and more difficult. Various movements would come and go with the years - Mods, Rockers, Punks, New Romantics etc. as would fashion. However, today every type of music is available and it is clear to see a healthy revival and variance of all these movements again. Two days ago I saw a young girl of around 19 years, in a coffee shop with Buddy Holly tattooed on her arm.

The social web has acted as a catalyst to all of this, and who knows what may happen in the very near future. Will we see various groundswells of people having their say about politics, law, brands, customer service and forcing several outcomes in their favour? Has anarchy been provided with a new and significant weapon for its armoury? 2010 may become a really interesting year.

It's official! 99% of digital agencies don't have a clue about the social web

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It must also be said that 65.6% (that's nearly two thirds) of statistics are made up on the spot. However, when it comes to businesses (even the very large brands) looking for help and guidance on how best they should integrate social media into their customer contact/engagement strategy; they typically turn to their existing agencies. Which is the most natural thing to do.

Such agencies then feel they should be in an authoritative position on the subject. They don't wish to lose any credibility by actually admitting this isn't their core expertise, they'd feel exposed and a bit silly (honesty doesn't seem to matter) and of course they can hear the "kerching" of the extra revenue which may come their way.

So what happens is, agencies "play the game" and begin to regurgitate sound bytes from the numerous and various articles spread over the web (most of which have been plagiarised from a very limited source of genuine innovative thinking). Then, after a while, they start to believe their own bulls**t and believe they sound credible. Because of the perceived recency of social web (when actually it has been around for several years) the ability to sound convincing, especially to a client who is looking for advice and has limited knowledge, is fairly easy. We have seen this happen in meetings, at seminars and networking events many times and have felt the need to cut into the conversation to prevent bad decisions being made. Observing this and having conversations with some of the largest agencies who, in some of their more candid moments will actually admit "off the record" that they really don't have a clue. We could name names...but that may land us in some hot water...three letter acronyms...oops! This whole situation just isn't right.

It is appreciated that organisations, especially in the current economic climate, want to minimise risk and therefore turn to well established digital agencies who are financially stable and safe. However, some common sense should prevail when you understand the core skills and experience of these agencies. Typically they do a very good job at media buying and advertising; design work, may dabble in paid search, venture out into search engine optimisation (quality is debatable) and now have probably set up a new Social Media Department so as not to miss the bandwagon.

And then....they start talking about Social Media Marketing...selling your products via the social web. If that is the direction you have been steered down and your twitter updates are all about discounted products; your facebook fan page is talking about up and coming sales you should stop right now, as this won't work. In fact, it will tarnish your brand.

Think about your customers and what they want. Look at their motivation; understand their behaviour; work with them and help them. Give them advice, support, customer service, make them laugh, chat to them on a one to one...just try to avoid the constant sales pitch. You don't like it when it is aimed at you and they don't like it either.

So when your incumbent agency, who were originally selected by your organisation for something totally different, starts to come to you with "social media marketing" ideas, look at them long and hard, and ask some challenging questions, such as:-
  • Why would this appeal to my customers?
  • Who would it appeal to?
  • What exactly is the objective here?
  • How does this integrate into our overall customer contact strategy?
  • Is this in sync with our brand values, the things we stand for?
  • What are the performance measures?
  • How are we going to measure this?
  • Who makes this happen?
That should keep them busy. Points are deducted for pauses, repetition, stuttering and any farmyard aromas.

All Twittered Out!

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Twitter this, Twitter that, tweet, re-tweet...is anyone starting to get a little fed up with all this malarky? If your brand has decided to have a Twitter channel, then you'll know it is a full time job to monitor the conversations; make sure what you say is on brand and that you don't feature in the latest "How not to..." section of some marketing industry website. It won't be long before we see full-time social media "engager" jobs being advertised.

Anyway, wasn't it refreshing to hear how the "younger generation" is not that interested in all this social media hype. Facebook is the preferred choice (and we thought it was Bebo!) and Twitter is "boring" full of celebrities and old people trying to be cool . Simplicity of communication, cool viral with involvement and free stuff is what they like.

It would appear us "new media types" and marketers are getting too hung up on all this stuff. Can anyone remember when email was a novelty? It didn't matter who the email was from, it was cool to get one and then reply to it...how quickly that changed. Are we witnessing the same thing in Twitter? Spammers following you with promises of making thousands of dollars (yes, they are typically US centric...not seen a "pounds" or "Euros" one as yet) and offering sexual favours from bored women (Or is that just us?). Anyone invented a Twitter Spam Filter yet?

The other interesting concept is how to get loads more followers. Why? Why would you want to be followed by thousands of people and follow thousands of people, creating yourself a bigger reading and filtering nightmare? The answers probably go back to being unpopular as a child. If, as a brand, the perception is more followers means more sales, then we'd actually disagree (especially looking at the way the majority of brand Twitter accounts are being currently managed). More followers means a brand needs to be more careful and the chances of creating a brand reputation issue can be enhanced. One wrong word or interaction and you could be in trouble. As the Bishop said to the Actress, it's all about quality and not quantity.

Our belief is to ensure we follow and are followed by people who are a bit like us...we have something in common. We don't want to scan through thousands of pointless tweets and we wouldn't expect others to do the same. Our rule of thumb is to engage online with the same types of people and brands we would engage with offline. The main thing social media allows us to do is to do it with a lot more people across the globe...that's all.

What unites a "Brand Community"?

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Firstly, what is a Brand Community? Well it is fairly self explanatory and basically it is a bunch of people who are fans of a brand, very similar dynamics to those of a band. The web and specifically social media has allowed these communities to be global and communicate with each other around any brand related subject, ranging from new products, customer service, personnel etc. There are many such brand communities and the web is a key central component to help these communities, in the true sense of the word, exist and thrive. Maybe you're a member of one or two?

But...how do these communities manifest themselves? What brings them together to become a united group? Specifically in the online environment. There has been a lot of research about crowds and tribes in a more generic manner and some really interesting research on "Consumer Tribes" by Cova, Kozinets and Shankar. However, there is limited research specifically about online communities.

Interestingly, many, many organisations are looking at the social web and scratching their heads about how they can create such online communities around their own brand. Surely, with all the available platforms attracting millions of people who are already actively interacting with each other, there must be a way to create something which will attract interest?

Well, we at Somatica Digital think that it is very difficult for a brand to achieve any success in the social web if it is treated as a separate channel. In fact, the key elements of building up a brand community outside of the Internet, still apply...the web then becomes the main way for the brand community to communicate..not the other way round.

So what are the key ingredients for building a brand community?

- Common Interest. A common element that everyone in the community is passionate about. Passionate enough to spend time talking about it and listening to others talk about it. Your brand may not have reached such dizzy heights and have the required attraction. Does this mean your brand cannot be the common element of a community? No brand community for you?! Well, not strictly true. Your brand will be/can become part of a wider community. You will be operating in a market or area where there is passion around something; maybe a specific technology; eco friendly product; specific fashion type or genre etc. There will be something your brand can be associated.

- Common Enemy. Something that directly opposes the beliefs and values of the community (for whatever reason) can build a stronger cohesive community. A common interest is one thing, but when it is "fighting" against something passion increases. Local opposing football teams is a strong example of tribalism, with a softer one being Apple and Microsoft..extreme passion is demonstrated in both examples.

- Status & Recognition. As well as being part of a community, there is always a pecking order in such groups. The communities need organising and leading so that they can stay focused on a common cause and be updated with the latest news and developments. Community members are motivated by being recognised for contribution (Maslow stuff) made and are energised by seeing their contribution recognised by others. If their contribution isn't recognised it won't be long until individuals become disenchanted. It is important to ensure community leaders are continually aware of this. Back to the first point; if your brand is part of a community, then good contribution will help you improve your pecking order and become noticed.

Without these three things it is very difficult to see how a community can be created or exist. Geography plays a big part in "real-life" communities of course, but this pull diminishes online. (Although we (Somatica Digital) do see this changing in the future.)

So when you, as a brand, create a Facebook Group, a twitter Channel, a blog etc. and they aren't as popular as you'd like, please consider the three points listed above. Maybe a re-think is required...remembering the basics could help you onto the right track.

Twitter: The web pages you won't have seen!

Anyone fed up with Maggie yet? Everytime you go to the Twitter home page, there she is with her superior smile and school teacher ways...we know her type! Anyway, Maggie is always on view, but have you ever taken the time to look at the other pages about why and how? Have you ever watched the video? We'd bet a very small amount of money that you haven't. It's a bit like the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Google...no one clicks it.

Anyway, we recommend you take a look at the "why", "how" and the video; it's very apparent that they explain what twitter was supposed to be about when it was first introduced. Answering the question "What are you doing?" and sharing this between family and friends is certainly different to amassing thousands and thousands of followers. Anyway, here are some screen shots with our observations...
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So Twitter puts you in control does it?! And a modern "antidote" to information overload!! In the early days maybe, but it has, in our humble opinion, achieved the exact opposite. Anyone else lost a couple of hours a day to Twitter, Tweetdeck etc?

Here's another one

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Eating Soup!! (Don't you drink it?)...we'll give them the other two, but for us tweets which are updates along the lines of "eating soup" "scratching my nose" and "me me me" add intensity to the noise factor. Especially as it is no longer about friends and family. And then there is Carla.

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Not sure why she is wearing an England shirt from the 80's or why she has a shaven head; maybe it's an interpretation of "plain English"? Anyway, she blows that by uncovering her love of Van Halen later in the video.

We'd recommend taking a look, we found it quite amusing. The guys a Twitter when making this stuff at the outset, could never have envisaged the scale Twitter would grow to in their wildest of wild dreams. hats off to them. Our interpretation is below.

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