DreamGrow Social Media

8 steps to social media goodness

It’s all about being human and engaging in conversation with other humans. We have done it for thousands of years and we really like it. That’s why social media is spreading like wildfire. Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, said it best:

“I had (and still have) a dream that the Web could be less of a television channel and more of an interactive sea of shared knowledge. I imagine it immersing us as a warm, friendly environment made of the things we and our friends have seen, heard, believe, or have figured out. I would like it to bring our friends and colleagues closer, in that by working on this knowledge together we can come to better understandings.”

Location

Go where your audience is. People will not spend time on your site it’s not interesting enough. Most of us like to spend time with other people and this usually happens in social media sites so you have to be there.

Identity

Don’t try to hide who you are in social media. The key in social networks is that people like to talk to other people not some anonymous entities. Full disclosure is the best way to go. Be authentic, be believable, be you.

Connections

Concentrate on relationships with people and get involved in relevant discussions with consumers. Try to find and connect with those who have influence and authority in social media sites. But don’t forget others who are not “A-list”. Thousands of regular people might give you more stable audience than few A-list influencers.

Understanding

Use search to find out what your customers are talking about your brand, competitors and industry. Search Twitter, Facebook and Google Blog Search for relevant keywords. Set up Google alerts to get the latest news.

Give value

To be a successful in social media doesn’t always mean the number of followers, friends, or postings you have managed to get. It is more about trust and your reputation. Giving out consistent and useful information will help you to become an expert in your field.

Interact

Don’t use social media platforms as a new way to yell at people by giving out one-way marketing messages about your brand. Do not sell! Help, share, engage people, ask questions, give support, promote others… and then they will buy.

Long term

Building a following in social media sites will take time. It is not one-off campaign media. You may have a slow start. Just keep going. When you have accumulated enough value on your social bank account then your fans will pay back by spreading your message and buying your products.

Measure

In the end we want results. Some metrics to follow might be: incoming traffic from links, number of people subscribed to news feeds, members, fans, followers. How many mentions you get in the form of trackbacks and links to posts. Number of mentions in social media. Comments on blog and other social media posts. And the most important of all sales and leads.

Successful strategies for marketing in the social networking platform?

What are the differences in online and offline advertising and marketing. Why do campaigns fall on their faces when marketeers are trying to use old strategies in new channels. This excellent paper looks at the social component and tries to find key points to achieve success in social marketing.

It is clear that social networking marketing is very different from traditional marketing. In fact, online and offline advertising are two different fields. One cannot use the old model of advertising in the new landscape.

In this 162 page paper by Weng Wah Wong looks into online advertising, social advertising in the social media environment. The main question of the research is “What strategies can be successfully employed by advertising and marketing practitioners within the social networking platform?”

To address the main question three sub-questions were answered:

• What elements do current social marketing campaigns exhibit?
  A social marketing campaign exhibits five types of characteristics which are participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness
• What elements make marketing with social networking unique and different from other forms of online advertising?
  The flexibility, the precision targeting and the viral element that is in built in a social networking site are the main reasons that make marketing with social networking unique and different. It allows brands to target specifically to their target audience while no other forms of online advertising can provide such accuracy. Harnessing on the social power of recommendations, the consumer no longer hears only from the brand but hears the brand message through friends which increases the credibility and trust of consumer and the brand.
• What strategies can be devised to enable advertisers to maximize success on the social networking platform?
  An integrated campaign, offline and online will be the most strategic strategies that will maximize their success on the social networking platforms because it reaches the consumer through all touch points and driving traffic to the web through offline activities and online activities. In order for the web strategies to work, advertisers need to understand their consumer and learn how to interact and engage with the consumers without being intrusive. Successfully executing this will allow the brand message to be passed along (that is, by word of mouth).

The research is from 2008 but not to worry, the findings are still valid and probably will be for some time. You can find the full paper in Scribd.

Facebook, media should not be responsible for member content

Today’s Los Angeles Times editorial raises the fact that the site should not have to pre-screen every poll or quiz or post the millions of members create. This issue is also raised with online newspaper articles with an option to comment. Pre-approval of the comments would take time and possibly chill potential debate. Yet, there are definitely some comments, polls etc. that are not useful to debate and add nothing to a conversation about an issue. The community should take it upon itself to report those instances so that an organization can take the steps to remove it.

via Facebook, media should not be responsible for member content..