Some reading this book are social media geniuses, while others are just starting. The interesting part is that no matter where you are in this cycle, there are four easy steps that should always be adhered to and revisited.
Even if your company is a social media trailblazer, it's important to always take a step back and make certain you are following the basics. This is similar to when two college football teams are preparing for the National Championship. In 2010, as Alabama and Texas prepared for the game, Alabama's philosophy was as follows:
"The focus will be on fundamentals and execution, rather than scouting Texas . . . It's going to be important for us that we get back to where we're physical and aggressive in what we're doing," Alabama Coach Nick Saban said, "That we play with the mental and physical toughness that kind of trademarks our team." [152]
Which was very similar to how Texas was striving to achieve excellence:
"It's like starting over and having a one-game season," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "So you really have to go back and work on fundamentals." [153]
Both of these teams were the best in the country; both had perfect records. Yet, they still both felt it was necessary to go back to the fundamentals.
Now, if we are going to replicate a championship caliber team and practice revisiting the fundamentals, it's important to examine the necessary paths and building blocks an individual or business needs to undertake within social media to have success.
One must wrestle with many complex social media issues. These can be overwhelming. Where to even begin?
Rather than be paralyzed, it's often best to understand that there are four simple, yet critical, steps to social media (see Figure 10.1).
It's easiest to think of it as a stairway (see diagram). If you learn anything, it's that you need to constantly practice this first step: listening. It's the most important step. As showcased in the diagram, the four steps are:
Listen—To your customer and conversations around your brand.
Interact—Join the conversation.
React—Adjust your product or service based on feedback.
Sell—If you Listen, Interact, React, this will happen with less effort.
Companies often enter the social media fray and jump straight to step four, selling. This is the worst thing you can do, and it won't be effective.
You need to start with step one, which is listening. Without listening, the other three steps won't achieve any degree of success. As many have said before me, there's a reason we have two ears and one mouth.
After listening, then you have the appropriate baseline and credibility to join the conversation. Imagine if you were at a housewarming party and walked up to a group of four people who were already engaged in a conversation and said, "I'm not sure what you are talking about, but here is what I want to talk about." This is socially unacceptable behavior in the offline world. Yet, we also need to remember it's socially unacceptable behavior in a digital world as well. You don't want to be "that girl" at the housewarming party and you don't want to be "that girl or company" in the socialsphere.
Many embrace the listening and interacting correctly, but then they commit a terrible crime. They don't do anything (react) based on the suggestions and information gathered. If 90 percent of the people complain about a certain aspect of your product or service, it's imperative that this issue is resolved, and resolved promptly. If 90 percent of the conversation is centered around certain aspects of the product or service that people love, then it's imperative that this information is placed in the appropriate hands (PR, production, sales, customer service, etc.)—let's make sure we do more of this! Everyone loves it.
We won't touch on selling too much, because if you do the first three steps well (Listen, Interact, React), then the selling will happen with a proper push here and a prod there.
Notice in the diagram that the steps for the customer then happen in the reverse order of the company. This is huge. It's these steps that the customer takes within social media that give an exponential return (good or bad). Please note that we use company in the diagram but this could easily be charitable organization, political party, small business, or something else.
If it makes it easier to grasp, you can consider the following as steps 5, 6, 7, 8. This is where the magic can really happen.
Listen: The customer buys the product or service from the selling company. The customer's first step is to listen for what to expect from the product or service (important expectation setting here). What is the value that will be delivered? This also may involve reading instructions or a manual.
Interact: The customer will then interact with the new product or service (e.g., use the product or service).
React: During or after this interaction, the customer will react according to his or her experience (good/neutral/bad).
Sell: The consumer's reaction to the product or service will determine if they sell for or against (the company/product). Keep in mind if it's a negative reaction, you still have a chance to correct the situation by interacting and reacting.
That's the beauty of social media. As a company, if you appropriately engage in the four steps, the stairs in the diagram act more like an escalator (pun intended) rather than a traditional stairway (i.e., Social Media Escalator). It will create a positive circular motion, which, with the appropriate greasing (effort), will continue to take your product or service to the top. And that is the true beauty of Socialnomics.
The best strategy in social media is a simple one; in life and social media speed and simplicity win. Always remind yourself of the fundamentals.
As of the writing of this book, it is common practice for companies and organizations to ban social media in the workplace or office. It reminds me of the 1984 movie Footloose, where a town banned rock music until Kevin Bacon's character helped save the day.
In today's version, instead of starring Kevin Bacon, perhaps either Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) or Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) could star in the lead role. Just as we now look back on Footloose as being rather silly, the same will likely apply to these social media bans that companies and organizations now employ.
On October 22, 2009, USA Today reported that 54 percent of companies completely block Facebook, whereas another 35 percent apply some limitation. That leaves only 11 percent that don't put restrictions on Facebook in the workplace.
Why does this feel like déjà vu? It is. When Web mail first came out, many banned it (Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL, etc.) in the workplace. A few years before that, companies banned the Internet or eCommerce sites at the workplace.
And it's not just companies that placed these types of bans; teachers often ban mobile phones in the classroom as well. Is this the right thing to do?
Banning social media at work is:
Analogous to banning the Internet.
Analogous to banning the phone because you might make a personal phone call.
Analogous to banning paper and pens because an employee might take a note that isn't related to work.
Could potentially signal workers and future recruits that your company just doesn't "get it."
"People who do surf the Internet for fun at work—within a reasonable limit of less than 20 percent of their total time in the office—are more productive by about 9 percent than those who don't," according to Dr. Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne.
Before we dive back into the workplace, the teacher example is an interesting dilemma to review. Some phones have such a high-pitch ringer that teachers can't hear them while the students' younger ears can hear them. But, is this really a technology issue, question, or problem? Or is it a historic problem that teachers have been wrestling with since the first school opened?
Whether a student is whispering, day dreaming, sleeping, passing a note, doodling, or sending a text, it's all the same thing. The teacher isn't reaching them. Recently, Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's chairman, said for his first four years on the job he was looking for new critics, when all along he should have been looking to produce a better product or store experience.
Capturing students' attention has been historically difficult. The teacher's task isn't an envious one. However, the really good teachers have been able to overcome the hurdles presented before them.
If you ban today's technology, does it solve the problem? Probably not. Also, texting is probably less intrusive than whispering, or passing notes, as it doesn't affect the others in the room as much.
Also, a good student might suffer as they may be potentially looking up something on their mobile browser that the teacher is covering to either fact check or see if something visual clicks with their brain in a way that's better for them than how the teacher is attempting to explain it. Or, if they have already grasped the concept, why shouldn't they be able to learn something else new and exciting at their fingertips?
Some teachers may benefit by leveraging this technology in the classroom; students have grown up with technology. Rather than being lectured at, they're used to dynamic interaction with various technologies and sources to provide possible answers.
It also depends on the age of the student. This is applied more easily to college students than, say, middle-school students, where anything that could possibly distract attention from the teacher isn't good. (It's also another reason why our teachers should be paid more as it's one of the most difficult jobs around, and now teachers have the added challenge of keeping abreast of new technology.)
Banning social media could send the wrong message to employees and potential recruits as a company that "doesn't get it." Also, how can companies learn what to do in social media if they aren't allowing their employees to even use the tools?
All new tools have a learning curve. When people started using phones in the workplace, they had to be educated not to make 30 minutes worth of personal calls, call internationally, or speak too loud.
More recently, when e-mail was introduced, classes were held in the workplace on tonality of e-mails, not replying to all, not wasting much of the workday on e-mail, and so forth. With social media, similar instruction and guidance should be given to the workforce. For example, Facebook IM chatting with your friends may not be the best use of your time, and it will make it difficult for you to achieve your goals, nor is it wise to status update "glad I'm out of the jail I call work for today."
An employee either produces desired results or doesn't. If one employee reads Wikipedia during her break time but produces 40 sales per week and another employee reads books outside during his break but only produces 15 sales per week, which employee would you keep? If you're in the business of making money, you'd keep the one producing 40 sales per week and let her read Wikipedia.
"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a day's work, and as a result, increased productivity," Coker said.
Some employees might benefit from having social media in the workplace. If you're in outbound sales for home insurance, it would be helpful to receive a tweet from a friend in California indicating that the wildfires have taken a sharp turn toward Orange County or that the telephone lines are out in Minneapolis. Or to see a user-generated picture or video of the fires taking place that includes a geo locator on them.
Or think about sales in general. What are two of the top rules of sales? Listen and know the customer.
Google isn't so great at supplying real-time results, but social media certainly is (there's a reason why deals in 2009 were cut between Bing, Twitter, Google, and Facebook). So, if I'm a salesperson about to make a phone call, tools like technorati, search.twitter.com, and Wikipedia are helpful for figuring out what is being said about this prospect or prospect's company. Why would you ban tools that are valuable to your workforce?
One possible answer: management doesn't trust workers not to abuse the sites for other reasons. Is that a social media issue? I'd argue it's a workforce issue.
Also, whether you're at work or in the classroom, when you treat people like kids by not trusting them, expect them to behave like kids. Is that what you want?
Do you think Apple or Google bans people from these sites? Their stocks were up 140 percent and 79 percent respectively early in 2010. They must be laughing out in Silicon Valley.
Occasionally, some bans make sense. For example, a university that bans downloading music on their network because of bandwidth issues is reasonable. Other bans (like those in Footloose) are just silly.
Don't ban social media. In the near future we'll look back and say, "Remember when we used to ban social media? What were we thinking?" Don't be a dinosaur; they became extinct.
A big question out there these days is: What is the ROI of social media? Or the ever popular: How do I measure the ROI of social media? Often an appropriate retort to this question is: "What's the ROI of your phone?" Other times it's not appropriate to respond with this answer, which, if done in the wrong tone, or place, can win you a free punch in the face. Often the simplest response to this question is: "The ROI of social media is that in five years your company will still exist." Then there are the naysayers who adamantly proclaim: "We aren't doing social media because there isn't any ROI." Again, it's important to stress for companies, organizations, churches, and the like: There is not a choice in whether to do social media; the choice is how well you do it. Some companies and marketers are becoming paralyzed with attempting to determine the ROI of social media by incorrectly using inappropriate tools and measurements.
To borrow from the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Benjamin Zander,
There are those in life who sit in the back row with their arms folded, judging, and complaining. Then there are those who sit in the front row with a vision, and they are spending their energy on making that vision a reality.
When Google exploded onto the scene, what did the good companies do? The good companies immediately started buying pay-per-click advertisements to help drive sales.
What did the great companies do? They also jumped in with both feet into the pay-per-click arena, but they further realized that 70 percent of the clicks happened outside of the paid listings. The majority of the clicks (roughly 70 percent depending on what data you use) happen in the free, organic, and natural listings rather than the sponsored listings. In order to rank high organically, the great companies realized that some search engine optimization principles needed to be applied. SEO has come a long way, but even today a CEO may view it as black magic and it's often tough to calculate a hard ROI for it; it can take years, not weeks to see the fruits of the labor. However, great companies didn't sit back with their arms folded saying we aren't doing SEO until you prove an ROI. Great companies went on the attack, since they recognized that these major shifts present opportunities that don't come along often. Great companies went full speed ahead attacking keywords like "home mortgages," "cheap travel," and "black dress," and they derived tremendous revenue. Some even adjusted their business models entirely. They had a vision.
To borrow a line from NYU Professor Scott Galloway, social media is not checkers; it's chess (I believe he credits the line to Denzel Washington in the movie Training Day).
Social media is something the likes of which we haven't seen (just like SEO before it, but with greater impact). As a result, I prefer to ask "What does or will success look like?" rather than "What's the ROI?"
After all, why are we trying to measure social media like a traditional channel? Social media touches every facet of business and it should be viewed more as an extension of good business ethics—which, if done properly, will harvest sales down the line. Co-Chairman Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter & Bogusky puts it best when he states:
You can't buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn't mean anything in social media . . . The old media paradigm was PAY to play. Now you get back what you authentically put in. You've got to be willing to PLAY to play.
If your executives are stubbornly set on tracking like a traditional ROI, you can do it. Below are some points to ponder. However, I would caution you that even though you can measure certain aspects of social media this way, I strongly argue that you are greatly undeserving your current and future efforts by not understanding that social media touches every aspect of your company and isn't a simple ROI formula for your marketing department. Before going into a list of ROI examples, one that I love is from General Mills. General Mills owns Green Giant and they placed codes on packs of their frozen vegetables that consumers could redeem for Farm Cash on FarmVille. FarmVille is a social gaming tool produced by Zynga that had close to 100 million users in 2010. Green Giant is actually able to track if their sales indexed higher for the packages containing the Farm Cash codes. 7-Eleven did a similar thing with some of their products. For example, if you purchased certain flavors of ice cream the buyer was rewarded a Neapolitan cow (quite difficult to get) in FarmVille. "People are asking, 'How do I know what the ROI is on these social media programs?' and in this case, we can definitely track directly to sales on our registers," said 7-Eleven Marketing Manager Evan Brody.[1] These are two quick and creative examples on how you can track a hard ROI using social media. Here are a few more quick statistics relevant to ROI:
1. Over 300,000 businesses have a presence on Facebook and roughly one-third of these are small businesses.
2. Gary Vaynerchuk grew his family business from $4 million to $50 million using social media. Gary's eccentric personality and offbeat oenophile knowledge have proven a natural path to success with his Wine TV Library.
3. Vaynerchuk found firsthand that $15,000 in Direct Mail = 200 new customers; $7,500 Billboard = 300 new customers; $0 Twitter = 1,800 new customers.
4-5. Wetpaint/Altimeter Study found companies that are both deeply and widely engaged in social media significantly surpass their peers in both revenue $ and profit $. The study also found company sales with the highest levels of social media activity grew on average by 18 percent, while those companies with the least amount of social activity saw their sales decline 6 percent.
6. Lenovo was able to achieve cost savings by a 20 percent reduction in call center activity as customers go to community websites for answers.
7-8. Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice Facebook program incented users to give up 10 of their Facebook friends in return for a free Whopper. The estimated investment for this program was less than $50,000, yet they received 32 million media impressions, which roughly estimated equals greater than $400,000 in press/media value. To put this in context, this is somewhat like reaching the entire populations of 19 states (understanding this doesn't account for unique versus repeat visitors, etc.).
9. BlendTec increased its sales five times by running the often humorous "Will it Blend" videos on YouTube, blending everything from an iPhone to a sneaker.
10. Dell sold $3,000,000 worth of computers on Twitter.
11. To put things into perspective, only 18 percent of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive return on investment. This is where the majority of media dollars reside today. I don't believe the majority of media dollars will reside here for much longer.
12-14. "You can't just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other," says James Farley, CMO Ford. Ford seems to know what they are doing, especially with Scott Monty leading the social media charge. By giving away 100 Ford Fiestas to influential bloggers, 37 percent of Generation Y were aware of the Ford Fiesta before its launch in the United States. Is it any wonder why 25 percent of Ford's marketing Ford Fiesta social media spend has been shifted to digital or social media initiatives? Ford is the only U.S. auto company that didn't take a government loan.
15. Naked Pizza, a New Orleans Pizzeria that specializes in healthy pizzas, set a one day sales record using social media. In fact, 68 percent of their sales came from people "calling in from Twitter." On top of that (no pun intended), 85 percent of their new customers were from Twitter. So, yes, social media does work for small businesses. Feel free to have a bottle of Vaynerchuk wine with your pizza.
16. Volkswagen goes 100 percent mobile for launch of GTI. The reason I mention this is that mobile drives social media usage and social media usage drives mobile. More and more, we will see most social media usage on mobile devices, tablets, and iPads.
17. Tweets for a Cause sent out a tweet from Atlanta to encourage support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As a result of retweets from such notables as @mashable, @G_man, @zaibatsu and others, the Atlanta Chapter site received 11,000 visitors in 24 hours as a result of this initiative by ResponseMine Interactive.
18. Intuit introduced "Live Community" into their TurboTax® products two years ago. Due in part to the resulting Word-of-Mouth, they have seen unit sales increase 30 percent each year and have now integrated "Live Community" into other products like QuickBooks, Quicken, and so forth. "Live Community" allows customers to ask other customers questions, which has proved both beneficial to the customer and to Intuit. In some instances, the customer can answer questions that Intuit isn't allowed to answer because of regulatory restrictions.
19. Software company
Genius.comreports that 24 percent of its social media leads convert to sales opportunities.20-23. During Barack Obama's rise to the White House, he garnered 5 million fans on social media and 5.4 million clicked on an "I voted for Obama" Facebook button. Most importantly, this resulted in 3 million online Shepard Fairey Obama hope image donors contributing $500 million in fundraising. An astounding 92 percent of the donations were in increments of less than $100.
24. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center witnessed a 9.5 percent increase in registrations by using social media.
25-28. Web host provider Moonfruit more than recouped its $15,000 social media investment as their website traffic soared 300 percent while correspondingly sales increased 20 percent. They also saw a huge lift in their organic search engine rankings, getting on the first page for the term free website builder.
29. eBay found that participants in online communities spend 54 percent more money.
30. Co-Chairman Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter & Bogusky puts it best when he states: "You can't buy attention anymore. Having a huge budget doesn't mean anything in social media . . . The old media paradigm was PAY to play. Now you get back what you authentically put in. You've got to be willing to PLAY to play."
31. "Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine."—Morgan Johnston, JetBlue.
32. Seventy-one percent of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40 percent because of: (1) Low Cost Marketing, (2) Getting Traction, and (3) We Have To Do It.
33. "Our head of social media is the customer"— Quote from unknown source at McDonald's.
34. Old Spice Guy social media campaign increased sales 107 percent over one month and 55 percent over 3 months in 2010.
To points 12–14 above: "Have You Driven a Ford Lately?" Ford may want to rekindle this old slogan. With Alan Mulally spearheading the way, Ford has made great strides in changing its image as a "truck only" company in the United States. It's hard not to like Mulally's passion and enthusiasm. I was fortunate to be a keynote speaker along with him at a private non-tech event. In fact, it was a room full of CEO's; I was floored by how much he discussed social media and technology. Then he was on stage as a keynote speaker at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This in itself is a tremendous step in the right direction for an automaker—these CES speaking slots are generally reserved for the Steve Jobs of the world. While at Boeing, Mulally helped design the digital cockpit and now he is doing the same with Ford. Some of the more exciting features:
Mulally also has a vision of changing dealer Showrooms into an experience more akin to an Apple store. Rather than having giant lots filled with hundreds of cars/weeds, the vision is a clean, open dealership with showcase cars where users can interact via technology and order cars suited to their needs.
What is striking about Ford is that many ask about the ROI of social media. With the great work of Alan Mulally, James Farley, and Scott Monty at Ford, there is something that can't be measured: a cultural change. Progressive thinking from the top down causes this cultural change to happen both internally and externally. The revitalization of Ford is much more than social media and technology; social media and technology are playing a huge part not only in the bottom line, but also in the perception and culture of Ford, which is often the bottom line of tomorrow. So, perhaps a more important question is: What is the ROI on a positive cultural change?
Over 50 percent of the world's population is under 30 years old
96 percent of them have joined a social network
Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
Social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
Years to reach 50 million users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years) ...
Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months
We don't have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it"
If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 3rd largest ahead of the United States and only behind China and India
Yet, QQ and RenRen dominate China
2009 U.S. Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
80 percent of companies use social media for recruitment; percent of these using LinkedIn; 95 percent
The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears (combined) have more Twitter followers than the populations of Ireland, Sweden, Israel, Norway, or Panama.
50 percent of the mobile Internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook...people update anywhere, anytime...imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé—some universities have stopped distributing e-mail accounts
Instead universities are distributing: eReaders + iPads + Tablets
What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook ...
The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
Every minute 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube
Wikipedia has over 15 million articles ... studies show it's as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica ... 78 percent of these articles are non-English
There are over 200,000,000 blogs
Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, Word of Mouth now becomes World of Mouth
If you were paid $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $1,712.32 per hour
25 percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
34 percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands
Do you like what they are saying about your brand? You better
People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations
Only 14 percent trust advertisements
Only 18 percent of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
Kindle eBooks now outsell hardcover books
24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation
60 millions status updates happen on Facebook daily
We no longer search for the news, the news finds us
We will no longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media
Social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate
Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like Mad Men; listening first, selling second
The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years
comScore indicates that Russia has the most engaged social media audience, with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month— Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
The above statistics tell the story; social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Please feel free to share with any non-believers!
All sources for this data can be found at: http://socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/
The following questions are some of the more common that I have received from reporters, readers, and fans over the years.
Do most companies seem to have clear strategies and direction with social media or does it seem like people are still trying to figure out what to do with it and how it can help them?
Some of the good companies have a clear strategy, while others are just dipping their toes in the water. The key with social media is to fail fast, fail forward, and fail better. You aren't going to get it right the first time, but you aren't going to learn anything if you don't take that first step. The beauty of social media is that your customers are very forgiving and, at the same time, helpful at expressing exactly what they need from you as a company. It is the world's largest focus group on steroids. It's imperative that companies incorporate their social media strategy into their overall business strategy. A big mistake is making it a one-off strategy.
Debate between Content Curators and Creators:
Today, everyone is a potential media outlet. A curator understands their audience and is able to package created content in a digestible manner for them. Creators need to view curators as distribution points for their content rather than as pirates. Content creators and curators that will thrive in this new world understand the importance of this symbiotic relationship. But is it symbiotic? In the end, almost every person is a little of both (creator and curator). After all, there is no such thing as a new idea and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. These cliches symbolize the irony of the topic being discussed.
What is the disadvantage for companies using social media?
Great companies embrace social media because they have nothing to hide and welcome everyone to discuss their products, services, etc. Social media is a big disadvantage for companies that have had mediocre products/service/offerings and have hidden behind big marketing budgets, distribution advantages, etc. There is nowhere to hide with social media.
Do you think most companies will go in-house with their social media, or will there still be a place to hire the freelance person who gets paid to tweet, or the consulting firm?
Since social media touches every facet of the business, it inherently lends itself to the majority being taken in-house. Also, the conversations need to be genuine and it's easier to establish that trust if it's coming from you, not a surrogate. Social media is not an or, it's an and in your business. Dell indicated that they originally had 40 people focused on social media. They soon realized it's not just the 40 people who need to own social media; it's the entire company. Every person, whether it's someone on the phone answering customer service, or any other employee, might have a Facebook and/or Twitter account, and they are representing Dell, whether it is working hours or not.
While a majority of social media activity will reside in-house for certain components, it still makes a world of sense to bring in help from an external agency or consultant for certain aspects of the strategy and execution. If you look at the successful Old Spice Guy campaign this was produced externally by Weiden & Kennedy.
How should marketers be measuring the success of their social media efforts?
Some items can be measured directly, similar to PPC Search or Direct response. For example, if you run Facebook Ads with a direct action you can measure the ROI similar to how you do for PPC Search—it has its own nuances, but it's pretty close.
A majority of other social media activity affects your entire business, so it's really measured by the overall health of your business. It's hard for us to understand this right now, but in the future we will. Social media is that big and that important. In fact the Altimeter Group did a study that showed Companies actively engaged in social media increased revenues by 18 percent while those least engaged saw a decrease in revenues by 6 percent.
Does social media mean more content, less advertising, better results and Why?
Historically Word of Mouth has been the most beneficial marketing effort for businesses. Social media takes Word of Mouth and puts it on digital steroids and essentially turns it into World of Mouth.
What actions should BP have taken digitally within the first 24 hours of the Gulf Coast oil spill?
BP should have immediately posted the HD video images and indicated how they were deriving their flow estimates. We live in a fully transparent world and it's always better to point the finger at yourself rather than wait a few days to have someone else point the finger at you (e.g., Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Enron, Lehman Brothers, Eliot Spitzer). This is counterintuitive to how we've done business for the past centuries with the legal mindset of trying to keep the bodies buried. However, with social media you have to assume the bodies will be exhumed quickly.
What should BP have done in the days after the oil spill?
First, and foremost, attempt to humanize BP. They should have put cameras with their employees down on the Gulf showing what they were doing to help the region. People that work for BP are human; try to humanize BP rather than continuing to be simply a logo hated by so many. Not everyone who works for BP is evil. They should have showcased, via video, real people accessing claims to give a sense for the process. Also, ask for feedback, listen, and react accordingly.
Rate BP's online strategy on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best)
[Score: 4] One good thing BP did was to not overreact and go hard after parody accounts like BPGlobalPR on Twitter that posted tweets like "50 percent off blackened shrimp today" and "Hey, if you see any oil in the Gulf it's ours, please return it." Going hard after parody accounts right away would have been adding fuel to the fire as people would have been upset that BP wasn't focusing on the important task of capping the well.
Another positive is they have many resources posted on www.bp.com and you can also drill down (no pun intended) to specific regions (e.g., Alabama, Florida).
They needed to do a better job of listening to how "big" politically this was becoming and adjusted their PR and spokesmen accordingly. It also wasn't easy to find their social presence (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) on www.bp.com.
How has social media changed the attitude and usage of media, consumer behavior, and enterprises?
We no longer search for the news, the news finds us. A good example of this was in the U.S. during the 2008 elections. Tina Fey of SNL did some wildly popular Sarah Palin skits. More people watched the 5 minute clip online than via regular television. This is a good example of the massive shift in how we consume media. We don't sit in front of the television to watch 90 minutes of SNL, nor do we walk down to the end of the sidewalk to grab the morning paper. News, information, products, and services are pushed to us.
What does social media mean for publishers? How could they integrate it into new business models?
The beautiful thing about digital publishing is that it eliminates so many costs (shipping, printing, paper, etc.). In fact many of you may be reading this digitally right now. There are also possibilities to make money off pass-alongs. Books are social by nature. Historically when a paperback gets passed along, there is no additional revenue derived. With digital distribution you can charge $1 for this pass along. Also, product placement is now plausible with items in a digital format. We can also track what is being read the most so that we produce more of that and less of the items being ignored. We can track how many people read a particular book, or even page. The education front is even more exciting.
Many business travelers love the convenience of their favorite eReader (Nook, Kindle, Sony eReader, iPad, etc.). This is very similar to when we turned in our bulky music CD cases (sorry Case Logic) for lighter and more elegant iPods. As we peer into the future, the thing that excites me the most about eReaders, iPads, etc. is the social component. One quick example is:
When I went to college and purchased a used book, I'd spend a few minutes sifting through the various copies in the student bookstore before placing one into my shopping basket. After selection, I hoped and prayed that the person who took the notes in the margins and highlighted certain passages was smart. Sure, I had my own system—a tattered book was better than a fresher looking one as I assumed it was read more. I also equated neat handwriting and color coded highlighting as a sign of aptitude. Not a perfect system by any means, but it got me through college.
With the sharing capability of eReaders though, buying used books will quickly become a thing of the past. How great will it be to have one tiny eReader or iPad to tote around campus rather than straining the straps of a backpack loaded with books? Also, students will be able to perform quick digital searches and sorts for all the notes from the A+ students. Imagine the improved knowledge transfer from student to student. This is what excites many about the future world of education being enabled by social components of eReaders/iPads.
How will Generation Y and Z's media consumption change?
There will be more mobile consumption as technologies like smart phones, netbooks, and tablets improve. Wireless broadband penetration will make for an always "on" world.
How long will it take for online marketing budgets to match traditional marketing budgets?
Not long. In 2009 Ford moved their digital spend from 10 percent to 25 percent. My guess is that it's possible that in 3 years digital budgets will match and surpass those of traditional media. Keep in mind that most television as we know it today may be fed through an IP in the future.
Do you feel that it is imperative for non-profits to have a blog?
If you have something of relevance to say, and you enjoy saying it, then yes you should have a blog. Blogs are one of the best ways to create inbound traffic. However, they are a lot of work to maintain. Make sure you are willing to put in the time and commitment before launching a blog. They are free from a tangible "hard" cost, but they are far from free. Blogs are free like puppies, not free like beer.
You wrote about how Generation Y and Z is more creative and collaborative and young adults are more willing to promote brands online. Should marketers be focusing on this group in their social media campaigns?
Companies should only focus on this group if they provide a product or service that is of value to these Generations, or if they are influencers. If you are selling denture cleaner, targeting this group isn't going to do you much good.
How do you think the marketer's role in the non-profit sector differs in comparison to the for-profit world?
The same constructs apply. Sometimes non-profits have less resources, but that is the beauty of social media; it helps mitigate these disadvantages. It rewards those willing to work hard to develop relationships, not necessarily those with the most money.
What, in your view, are the most common ways that corporations have embraced social media? Is it making a Facebook page, sending official tweets, or maybe a mix of things?
The good companies know a solid social media strategy is much more than a Facebook page or setting up a Twitter account. The good companies know that social media has to be integrated into everything that they do—it's a part of their overall strategy since it touches every facet of the business. They also understand you get out what you put in; it's hard work. Just like offline relationships it takes time and commitment.
My students tend to get sloppy with their grammar online. What do you think about the importance of using good grammar on digital posts?
Language is a living and breathing item and will constantly evolve. Hence, this is why we see Twitter as the most used word in 2009, beating out Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, H1N1, etc. Some SM tools have character limitations that require people to use shorthand like u instead of you or 4 instead of four. I wouldn't view this as sloppy. That being said, some people are sloppy with the written word and online posts live online for-ever, so it's always prudent to put your best foot forward as you are representing the brand that is you.
I am in the process of expanding eLearning (online) classes here at my college. Which of the many social media products would you say is the best to select for online projects, communication, chats, etc.?
Fish where the fish are. If they are college students, most likely they are on Facebook and YouTube. It would be tough to go wrong here. But it depends on your goals and what you are teaching.
What do you say to small biz owners who want immediate results? What are realistic results?
It depends on what you define as success and also what you are selling. Immediate results are possible—Naked Pizza in New Orleans had record pizza sales for a day by effectively utilizing Twitter. However, this is the exception, for the most part you need to think strategically and long term with social media. It's not a magic pill and if your client thinks that going in, it's going to make it difficult to succeed.
What do you see about using podcasts?
There is still a strong market for podcasts, especially in commuting cities and cities heavily dependent on public transportation. Podcasts take commitment, which many aren't able to maintain. Hence, you can stand out if you produce a timely and consistent podcast.
What's the difference between "bleeding" vs "cutting" edge?
Bleeding edge is when you are too far ahead of the market— cutting edge is where you are ahead of your competition, but not too far ahead of the market/consumers. When Google Wave launched it was too bleeding edge, the general market couldn't grasp it. When the iPhone originally launched it was cutting edge; ahead of the competition but still easy for consumers to understand and use.
What is the worst thing about social media?
Some people start to hide behind social media and their interpersonal communication skills diminish.
What objectives are realistic for a small business owner who is only now just starting to practice social media?
Take the proper steps: (1) listen, (2) interact, (3) react, (4) soft sell. If you only do step one you will at a minimum have a much better understanding about your business and also your customer, and their needs—this is invaluable. Take the next progressive steps from there. Define what success looks like before you start.
I've heard that participation in social media increases your vulnerability to viruses and identify theft. Is this a myth or a valid concern?
If you leave your house you are more vulnerable to catch the flu or get hit by a bus. Yet, living your life confined to your house can cause other problems. The same holds true here. Yes you are more susceptible, yet common sense goes a long way! The nefarious tactics in social media are very similar to those used on e-mail and other parts of the Web.
Do you believe social media is a threat to online newspapers?
Yes I do feel it is a threat. All of us have the ability to report the news now. We are all media outlets. Imagine if you were walking the dog and saw what happened between Tiger Woods and his wife and took pictures or video with your smart phone?
Can "traditional" online news in some way take advantage of social media?
One thought is that "traditional" online news could set up services that (a) pay these onsite reporters/bloggers/experts per story, (b) they provide the vetting process, and (c) provide the distribution platform as well as a reputable source since they are doing (b) (the vetting process).
Do you believe social media could become a threat to democracy because the news doesn't reach the broad layers of the population?
I would say the opposite is true. Social media allows for Democracy to flourish since there is more transparency and it allows for more ownership and input from the people. In the U.S., Obama would not have been able to win without the Internet—and social media played an enormous part.
Some classified information is easy to leak, which isn't necessarily good. Wikileaks posted some confidential intelligence around the war in Afghanistan which may have put allied troops and Afghan citizens in harms way. This type of activity is not good.
Who is going to lead this new marketing? Big agencies? Specialized agencies? Media agencies? Brands themselves?
It's a people-driven economy stupid—people will lead the charge. People that shepherd brands (e.g. Tony Hsieh, Morgan Johnston) will also play leading roles. Technology development (application development, etc.) will continue to be outsourced to specialists.
How will we avoid ad saturation on social media?
Only advertising that delivers value to users will be tolerated. The days of shouting are over. Many of these sites have thumbs up and thumbs down ratings for advertisements. What people care about is what their friends are buying/using and what they like/don't like.
Which one do you think is the best business model for social networks? Is advertising the only way?
That is already proving to be one effective revenue stream for social networks, but there are many more. Think about people exchanging gifts in social media, small businesses setting up their businesses and using PayPal type functionality (many are already doing this), social search, social commerce, social gaming, Craig's List functionality, etc.
Do you know an agency that is doing it right in social media? Or a brand?
Zappos, Comcast, Ford, JetBlue, Skittles, Starbucks, Oreo, Nike, Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher, Ben & Jerry's, Best Buy, Bazaarvoice, Dell, and Virgin are leaders in the space. Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Weiden & Kennedy, and Razorfish have been progressive agencies in this area as well.
One of Google's Vice Presidents for engineering, Udi Manber, said his job is to do rocket science that will be taken for granted. How do you suppose social media fits into that rocket science?
A lot of success is dependent on execution rather than idea. Think of how much "High School Reunion" activity Facebook has captured. Why didn't this all go to classmates.com a decade ago? I agree with Manber in the sense that you want to be "cutting edge" rather than "bleeding edge." The end user doesn't care how things work; they just want them to work.
Marshall McLuhan once famously observed that "The future of the book is the blurb." Is social media eroding our collective attention span and ability to concentrate? Seems like our mind has been conditioned to absorb information the same way Twitter distributes it: in a rapidly flowing stream of bite-sized updates.
Often people believe that evolution is a negative thing. On the contrary, it's just a different thing. People today are used to contributing, collaborating, and multi-tasking; not necessarily a bad thing. It reminds me of an old saying that was attributed to Mark Twain ... "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one." The fact that we are getting better as a society at getting to the "essence" of things quickly should be celebrated rather than frowned upon. However, there has been some erosion in terms of interpersonal communication skills and that's a trend I hope stops. 80–90 percent of all communication, is non-verbal, hence social media should be used as an "and" rather than an "or" when it comes to communication. I still fly around the world to give presentations. There is still nothing like face-to-face communication.
How does social media impact the process of job recruitment?
If there are 10 people on your team and your collective networks are stronger for your specific area of expertise (e.g., SQL database programmer) than any recruiter/headhunter you could hire, then odds are you will probably leverage a tool like LinkedIn. Many recruiters/headhunters' first stop is to do advanced searches in LinkedIn. LinkedIn wouldn't be able to charge for "In" accounts (ability to send e-mail to people you aren't connected with) if recruiters didn't find it helpful. So, if your team already has a network of trusted individuals, there is no reason to seek help, unless you simply don't have the time to reach out to your network. Great recruiters will survive and thrive, but I do see there being less of a market for recruiters as a whole.
How important to the future of political discourse is social networking?
Very important. It helps break down all types of social and cultural barriers created by distance. We all can't afford to travel internationally, but we can all hop on a social network to better understand our friends globally.
Impersonation on social networking sites has been described as both fraud and satire, how do you see them?
As long as you are upfront that you aren't the real person, I have no issue with this. If there is an audience for it then let Perez Hilton provide entertainment or @BPGlobalPR bring environmental concerns to life. I find it similar to Saturday Night Live, David Letterman, etc. making satire of political figures.
What about people sending friend requests to their kids, nieces, nephews, etc.—when and why would that be a good or bad idea?
If minors are on social media, I highly recommend parents are connected with their children on social media—this is just good parenting.
Should people use sites like Facebook or Twitter for dating, or is that best left to dating-specific sites (like Match.com)?
I believe it makes more sense to go on a date with someone that a good friend of yours knows rather than a complete stranger, so by all means some of the social media players like Facebook can be used in this manner.
Where do you see the future of social media?
Much will be around data aggregation and the sharing of this information with the social graph. What have my friends purchased? What services or restaurants have they rated highly? You will see search and social media begin to merge with the end result being we will no longer search for products and services via a search engine. Rather they will find us via social media. This is one of the true powers of social media! I care more what my friends and peers link to than about what an algorithm or opaque rating system spits out. A large part of Socialnomics is Social Commerce. Think Word of Mouth on steroids. Mobile and geolocation will be other major factors that will help both advertisers and consumers.
Consumers will also demand to have more control of their privacy. In a simplified example, there are some photos a consumer doesn't mind sending to the universe, while others they only want to send to five select people.
Oh, and 30 other things we haven't even dreamed up—that's what is exciting.
These questions are only scratching the surface; feel free to send me your questions by commenting at www.socialnomics.com or send a tweet to @equalman.