social networking How can we use as a marketing tool to compete against the best?

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the sharing of words, pictures, videos, and audio. It is the term used to describe the type of media that is based on conversation and interaction between people online. http://www.wikipedia.org

Social Media Can be broken down into 6 main areas: BLOGS SOCiAL NETWORKS MICRO-BLOGS BOOKMARKING VIDEO SHARING IMAGE SHARING

Blogs A blog is a type of website with regular entries or commentaries. Blogs are used primarily for keeping customers up to date with what the brand is doing

Micro Blogs Micros blogs are similar to blogs with much smaller entries. The most famous micro-blog is Twitter Twitter adoption is highest in the 30+ group It is used to share & promote things. As the name suggests offers a very streamlined blogging functionality, with a focus on brevity. Twitter adoption is highest in the 30+ group but has significant numbers of younger people tweeting regularly.

SocIal Networks Social network services allow people online to communicate, share and interact with one another social networks such as Facebook include blogging, Instant and internal messaging and discussion boards. Social networking sites offer services from other areas of social media.

SocIal Bookmarking THESE sites allow users to collect links to sites and content which they find useful or entertaining. Also useful for searching & sharing links. The biggest platforms are Digg, Reddit, Delicious and Stumble Upon. Whilst it can be difficult to create a specific bookmarking strategy, if good content is produced and optimised for sharing and bookmarking then it will happen organically.

Video Sharing These sites are used for hosting and sharing videos online. They are more of a branding and broadcast tool, also used to increase engagement by asking users to submit videos. The two biggest players are YouTube and Vimeo Whilst it can be difficult to create a specific bookmarking strategy, if good content is produced and optimised for sharing and bookmarking then it will happen organically.

IMAGE SHARING These sites allow users to host, share and comment on images & photos. The biggest dedicated photo sharing site iS Flickr. user participation CAN BE ENCOURAGED THROUGH sharing photos of a particular event or activities, such as people using a product. whilst facebook has much larger numbers of uploads it’s focus is more social networking. Image sharing sites can be used to encourage user participation, for example sharing photos of a particular event or activity such as people using a product.

WHY BOTHER?

3 times the overall internet rate Because time spent on social networks is growing at 3 times the overall internet rate Nielson, Global Faces & Networked places, 2009

93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media Cone, Business in Social Media Study

Because the amount of TIME it took to reach an audience of 50 million:

Radio 38 years

TV 13 Years

Internet 4 years

Facebook HAD Over 200 Million users in less than a year

Because social media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the web

Because facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S

Because if facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest

peer recommendations Because 78% of consumers trust Only 14% trust advertising

Because online spend HAS OVERTAKEN TV SPEND IN THE UK. And it is predicted australia will follow this trend.

Because we will no longer search for products & services, they will find us via social media

9.9 million The Australian social media audience is estimated at Neilson Study Social media and search traffic is now neck to neck 40% of online Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites

Where has it come from?

Consumer’s trusted information sources have shifted They trust each other more than brands Consumers have a greater impact on the purchase decisions of their peers than marketing ever can Others’ opinions are highly valued and trusted

People talk about companies. Now you can get involved in the conversation.

Who uses Social Media?

PEOPLE WITH A PASSION

10,474 PEOPLE THAT LIKE AUSRTALIAN BANANAS

HOW CAN Brands Use Social Media? Is it right for me?

The first TASK is to identify YOUR audience and THEN work out why YOU want to connect with them

The Social Hierarchy Corporate PR Inbound Communications Outbound

Source: trendspotting

The Social Hierarchy Corporate PR Inbound Communications Outbound

The Social Hierarchy Corporate PR Inbound Communications Outbound

OBAMA CASE STUDY Case Studies

Rules of Engagement Where to start

1. Listen 2. Engage 3. Measure Listen to your consumers and join in the conversation 2. Engage get active in platforms that you identify are active for you 3. Measure measure the effectiveness of loyalty and engagement

Using social media is about listening to what people are saying about Your brand and product

‘Measurement’ is the volume of the buzz in the world, where as ‘Monitoring’ is what is being said

PAID SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS Neilson Buzz Metrics gives you a picture of your brand’s online health over a specific time period. Nielsen BuzzMetrics score card shows you how your brand stacks up against your competition. Radian6 Radioan6 dashboard enables monitoring all forms of social media with results appearing in real-time, as discovered. It give users the ability to uncover influencers, track and measure engagement and determine which conversations are having an impact online. Buzz Numbers Buzz Numbers is the leading Australian social media intelligence platform enabling brands and businesses to monitor and report word-of-mouth conversations in social media.

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS Social Mention Social Mention is a social media search platform that aggregates user generated content from across the universe into a single stream of information Technorati Technorati is a Blog and social media search engine Google Alerts Google Alerts is a content monitoring service that automatically notifies users when new content from news, web, blogs, video and discussion groups matches a set of search terms selected by the user

Define Your Strategy & Choose your platforms

Create some excitement to share with the world.

When you participate in social media follow these basic guiding principles:

Stick to your area of expertise and provide unique, individual perspectives Respect proprietary information and content, and confidentiality. Talk to your followers like you would talk to real people in real situations; remember it’s a conversation.

4. Post meaningful, respectful commentary—in other words, no spam and no remarks that are off topic or offensive. 5. Always pause and think before posting. That said, reply to comments in a timely manner, when a response is appropriate. 6. If you make a mistake, admit it. Be upfront and be quick with your Correction.

fundamental shift communicate Social media isn’t a fad, itS A In the Way we communicate

jules@thehallway.com.au Linkedin.com/juleshall