A Primer for Social Media Junction, Auckland, New Zealand, May 2010
@SMJunction on Monday May 17,2010 is a landmark in that it marks the widespread interest and adoption of social media by business in New Zealand. With the conference in just a few days time, I thought I would do a little background research on the presenters and the subject matter so I can get the most out of the day. If you're attending, then I hope this is useful for for you also. Reading time is ~20 mins :
After the event, I also wrote a Recap of Social Media Junction.
Easliy track #smj view photos, access links & connect with other delegates, speakers and organisers before and after the conference at Twubs.com/smj
Trust Age nts - @Julien. You know you need to "join the conversation" but what do you do now? Julien will be discussing:
How to use the tools of the web that make relationships that mean something. - Chris Brogan, Co-author, Trust Agents.
Trust Agents are people who understand that the web has become more humanized and build their business accordingly. They are the pioneers mastering the latest communication channels. Julien will help us become better at communicating a message online through:
- Learning to be human at a distance - Connect people, share information & practice simple touchpoints of loyalty.
- Understanding how to leverage social networks - Leverage your existing assets. Build on what you've got. Don't rest on your laurels. Be the relationship before the sale.
- Knowing how to stand out from the crowd - The Attention Wars. Gathering awareness, gaining reputation and earning trust. Effective strategies that make sense but are not common sense like: Make your own game. Find your value differentiation and create a new word because in a crowded niche its impossible to own the defacto keywords. For example 'Lifestyle Design' by Tim Ferriss.
Read Bullet PR's interview with Julien Smith,read a sample of the book or watch their Gnomedex presentation.
Changing People's Behaviour with Social Me dia - @m_hickinbotham
The Foundation of Telstra's Social Media Policy is the 3Rs. They apply to someone who is officially representing Telstra or making reference to them.
- Representation: Be clear about who you represent and in what capacity.
- Responsibility: Ensure what you say is factually accurate, not in breach of any laws, within your area of expertise and not harmful to Telstra.
- Respect: For the people and communities that you interact with.
Read the entire social media policy (6 pages)
Read more on: Social Media Governance
Mike will be discussing:
- Making the decision to ignore, listen or engage: Check out the US Airforce's flowchart.
- Take information and link it back to business objectives: How can social media engagement be used to help us achieve our strategic goals?
- Research: Real time snapshots of customer satisfaction and future intent. This provides invaluable insight into what customers care about right now.
- Changing organizational mindsets: Championing the cause, a shift in mindsets, providing skills and a sense of self-responsibility - Converting employees to ambassadors. This is achieved through Telstra's remarkable staff online education tool:
International Best Practice in Social Media: Examples from the private, public, not-for-profit and creative sectors
@justinflitter and @mcgovernonline will be sharing some incredible examples from around the world. Here's a few remarkable organisations I have come across locally that understand how to leverage social media. Each appear to have a strategy in place to experiment with and evaluate the emerging social media opportunities.
Private Sector
@Giapo know how to use Twitter to express what their gelato is about. They also use it to engage heavily with their friends throughout the day.
- In their Queen street store you will find a plasma screen with a live Twitter stream and a webcam through which you can end up on Youtube.
- On Facebook, their crowdsourced customer photo competition has been wildly popular. The resulting photos are now used as Giapo's main profile photo. - That's real engagement.
@privateboxnz . They are on http://www.facebook.com/post.office.box.
- Capitalised on iPad hype to cultivate their Facebook presence - Become a fan for a chance to win an iPad.
- They've taken ownership of the keywords "post office box" on Facebook - Great for their SEO Strategy.
- Leveraged their email newsletter to drive traffic directly to the competition landing page. They understand the need to disaggregate their customer database and move away from complete reliance on email.
- Companies that offer social network competition management include Wildfire (run by an expat kiwi,Victoria Ransom, in Silicon Valley) and also Auckland based Netfinity. More comprehensive Social Media management platforms include: Objectivemarketer and Spredfast
Public Sector
After the success of Barack Obama's digital media strategy, it's no surprise that politicians the world over are engaging.You can connect with @johnkeypm via Facebook, Youtube and Flickr. The importance of these channels as campaign tools is obvious. With Twitter and Facebook, we are given the impression the PM wants to listen to what New Zealanders are concerned about and he is embracing new technology.
Not-for-profit
Charities and non-profits lend themselves to success with social media. They are causes that people like to show their support for. It makes us feel good and maybe it feels even better because you know your friends get to see what causes you support. I've found one great local example and one terrific overseas example that speak best practice to me:
SPCA Petfood Product launch. Traffic driven to a custom landing page where pet owners can get a free sample delivered to them. The distribution channels and product aesthetics are also made clear. SPCA Petfood on Facebook has over 26,000 fans.
Another notable product launch is Pampers Cruisers on Facebook. What makes it interesting is the nappy-rash related backlash that followed together with how Pampers handled the complaints and misinformation found on social media.
The lifecycle of a non-profit social media campaign. I highly recommend watching this video:
What to Avoid When Implementing Social Media into an Organisation: Lessons from Facebook, YouTube & Twitter.
Chair: @VHeeringa
Panel: @vodafonenz, @phixx, @PaulBrislen, @2degreesmobile
Here's what I think should be avoided:
- Don't have social media usage guidelines. Staff education is paramount to success. I defer back to Telstra.
- Don't dip your feet in the water without checking the temperature or water quality first. Chances are you will recoil and not want to go back.It's essential to have a strategy in place to properly evaluate and experiment with social media within a framework that drives towards tangible business goals. Allocate sufficient human resources to ensure proper management of your social media presence.
- Don't work in a silo. There needs to be organisation-wide buy-in. Cultivate champions internally.
- Don't stray off topic. It's about your customers, not your weekend golf game.
- Don't start without using a social profile management tool like Hootsuite or the enterprise grade Spredfast. Also ensure you have a good measurement plan in place using Google Analytics, Clicktale, Bit.ly or other appropriate package.
Managing Measurement and Tone in Social Media: - @andybeal
An important first step is to define what success entails for your business. What business goal is the initiative working towards and what KPIs will you use to measure your progress? There's a multitude of Social Media management & measurement tools available including both free and enterprise grade options with SLA's. Examples include: Spredfast,Google Analytics,Tweetreach and Bit.ly.
Tone in social media: You vs. Brand representation was the topic of discussion at the latest Social Media Club in Auckland. My views on the subject are derived from experience working on a Social Media Policy with a bank in Singapore:- I think best practice is to always remember that you represent the organisation. Everything on the internet is public (as highlighted by the latest Facebook privacy debacle.)
- The less verbose you are in your responses and your interactions, the less public material can be taken out of context and misinterpreted.
- Never admit fault. Acknowlege the issue and say what went wrong, why and how you are working to investigate and resolve it. The worst response ever is:
We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.
- A typically corporate tone - one that comes from a form letter, has many words but doesn't actually say much, is not the way to go. The 140 character limit on Twitter is excellent in this regard, since there's no room to beat around the bush. You have to be succint and helpful at the same time.
- Sometimes it is best to resolve an issue out of the public eye. Move it to email or phone.
- On occasion, you don't have to do anything. Your customers (evangelists) answer the query or bury the troll for you.
2 excellent resources are: New Media and The Airforce and ofcourse Telstra's 3Rs of Social Media.
Read the highights of Andy Beal's Newstalk ZB interview
Blogger Panel: How to keep it compelling and relevant. - Top 5 Tips.
Chair: @audaciousgloop
Panel: @freitasm @greermcdonald @publicaddress @alistairnz @bernardchickey
People subscribe to your blog because they're interested in your thought leadership or stories about a particular niche.
They want to learn from you, be inspired or participate in the discussion through comments or, picking up on a thread and adding more thoughts on their own blog post. My thoughts on keeping a blog compelling and relevant:
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough” - Albert Einstein
- Stay within your area of expertise. As a subject matter expert, stick to writing about what you understand best.
- Write a series of posts, each one connected to the previous one. To this end also link back to older posts from any new articles (an internal linking strategy is also important for SEO.)
- Subscribe to peer blogs and build on their posts. Reference and comment accordingly.
- Be among the first to pick up on new trends and ideas in your niche. Demonstrate thought leadership.
Using Social Media in a broadcasting environment; external and internal stakeholder management - @superfabulous
Social & Search inseparably connected; how to ensure you do both well - @gdosborne
I couldn't agree more:
- Real Time Search means that fresh content gets prioritised in Google's search index.
- Making your content accessible on social media makes it available to more people in a way that allows your message to spread faster.
- The Google honeymoon period means that new websites (fresh) get prioritized for a few weeks. Social Media is a way to keep them fresh.
- Facebook Like is similar to social bookmarks like Digg,Stumbleupon and Delicious, but offers greater viral spread through your friend network.
- Google is getting more social with Buzz and easy to use filters that segment content types, giving you up to 8 opportunities to rank at the top of a SERP.
- Read more about Winning Search Engine Oscars with Social Media
How to harness video content for a local yet global social media campaign - @KeaRossco
My guess is we will be learning about:
Pass it On: Help share the best of New Zealand with the rest of the world. Watch the introductory video. This looks like a great viral campaign that properly leverages social media. I look forward to learning how successful it has been so far and also what measurement infrastructure is in place.
Using Social Media effectively from an advertising perspective international best practice from MySpace - @AndrewCordwell
I found this presentation that talks about Coca Cola's foray into social media, but there is no mention of MySpace. I look forward to learning how MySpace fits into the picture.
You might also like to read: A Recap of Social Media Junction.
