Making Business Sense of Social Media

@Chris: Is it a party, is it for kids, is it social or business, personal or professional?

There’s a great deal of fear and anxiety some people feel when doing social networking, because a misstep will stay online forever, but will likely be forgotten a week after you were at the convention center in person.

@Chris: Is it a party, is it for kids, is it social or business, personal or professional?

There’s a great deal of fear and anxiety some people feel when doing social networking, because a misstep will stay online forever, but will likely be forgotten a week after you were at the convention center in person.

Convincing businesses to dig in and experiment more is about results. For example, the top barrier to social media advertising according to B2B Magazine’s survey last November was insufficient metrics to measure impact. Now I realize social media goes beyond “advertising,” but guess how many business people do not?

Fortunately, there is a great deal of opportunity to make your presentation to the decision makers. And regardless of how you wow them with your knowledge of slick aggregation tools and new media thought leadership — the most important slide in the deck better address expectations around ROI.

In the meantime, case studies are in the works. And now, more than ever, you may find yourself being asked to help address the social media line item in the latest fund raising plan.

Convincing businesses to dig in and experiment more is about results. For example, the top barrier to social media advertising according to B2B Magazine’s survey last November was insufficient metrics to measure impact. Now I realize social media goes beyond “advertising,” but guess how many business people do not?

Fortunately, there is a great deal of opportunity to make your presentation to the decision makers. And regardless of how you wow them with your knowledge of slick aggregation tools and new media thought leadership — the most important slide in the deck better address expectations around ROI.

In the meantime, case studies are in the works. And now, more than ever, you may find yourself being asked to help address the social media line item in the latest fund raising plan.

Convincing businesses to dig in and experiment more is about results. For example, the top barrier to social media advertising according to B2B Magazine’s survey last November was insufficient metrics to measure impact. Now I realize social media goes beyond “advertising,” but guess how many business people do not?

Fortunately, there is a great deal of opportunity to make your presentation to the decision makers. And regardless of how you wow them with your knowledge of slick aggregation tools and new media thought leadership — the most important slide in the deck better address expectations around ROI.

In the meantime, case studies are in the works. And now, more than ever, you may find yourself being asked to help address the social media line item in the latest fund raising plan.

I’ve been thinking about Social Media a lot lately, and had a shacking revelation today about it (or my attitude toward it). I blogged about here: http://tinyurl.com/6ng3hv

I have to wonder if this is what other people are wrestling with? People are making it too hard or over-analyzing it?

I’ve been thinking about Social Media a lot lately, and had a shacking revelation today about it (or my attitude toward it). I blogged about here: http://tinyurl.com/6ng3hv

I have to wonder if this is what other people are wrestling with? People are making it too hard or over-analyzing it?

Business is 100% about the ability to engender trust with your prospects/customers/channels. The way to engender trust is communication.

Add the network affect of social networking and the presence of the online world and now many people can ‘see’ how I interact with my small network. The network affect can happen very quickly if there is something of value in that conversation that is also trustworthy – others will see it and pile on. The opposite is also true – companies that never respond or participate will not be ‘seen’ and potentially not be trusted if they are not being publicly responsive.

Interesting times we are seeing evolve…mostly for the better I think.

Business is 100% about the ability to engender trust with your prospects/customers/channels. The way to engender trust is communication.

Add the network affect of social networking and the presence of the online world and now many people can ‘see’ how I interact with my small network. The network affect can happen very quickly if there is something of value in that conversation that is also trustworthy – others will see it and pile on. The opposite is also true – companies that never respond or participate will not be ‘seen’ and potentially not be trusted if they are not being publicly responsive.

Interesting times we are seeing evolve…mostly for the better I think.

Business is 100% about the ability to engender trust with your prospects/customers/channels. The way to engender trust is communication.

Add the network affect of social networking and the presence of the online world and now many people can ‘see’ how I interact with my small network. The network affect can happen very quickly if there is something of value in that conversation that is also trustworthy – others will see it and pile on. The opposite is also true – companies that never respond or participate will not be ‘seen’ and potentially not be trusted if they are not being publicly responsive.

Interesting times we are seeing evolve…mostly for the better I think.

As the IT manager for a 25-person professional services firm, I’m looking for ways to facilitate collaboration, communication and information gathering — while reducing mental overhead and tech complexity. There’s certainly a business case for client-based or web-based interface that aggregates feeds and conversations while integrating presence, blogging and sharing tools. I’d add another one: email. Our employees live out of their inboxes, and I would like to see a system that integrates all of it elegantly so they can read up and join in effectively.

@Chris – My small town retail store has a blog that has actually drawn an excellent measurable return on investment, far more than I expected.

Ironically, for all my personal social media presence, I don’t talk about the areas where I do most of my consulting, such as grant writing and web presence. I get my almost all of my consulting clients in those areas through word of mouth, locally.

What I DO talk about online is what I am passionate about: succeeding in a small town small business. And I think that is starting to pay off, with a few speaking offers, a few joint venture offers, and a few other things that excite me.

How do we help small town small businesses “get it” and then find time to use social tools? That’s a very, very large subject. But basically, you show them, and then you coach them. Start with those businesses that already rely on breaking out of the local market, like tourism related businesses and small manufacturers. They want to connect with the larger world.

@Chris – My small town retail store has a blog that has actually drawn an excellent measurable return on investment, far more than I expected.

Ironically, for all my personal social media presence, I don’t talk about the areas where I do most of my consulting, such as grant writing and web presence. I get my almost all of my consulting clients in those areas through word of mouth, locally.

What I DO talk about online is what I am passionate about: succeeding in a small town small business. And I think that is starting to pay off, with a few speaking offers, a few joint venture offers, and a few other things that excite me.

How do we help small town small businesses “get it” and then find time to use social tools? That’s a very, very large subject. But basically, you show them, and then you coach them. Start with those businesses that already rely on breaking out of the local market, like tourism related businesses and small manufacturers. They want to connect with the larger world.

@Chris – My small town retail store has a blog that has actually drawn an excellent measurable return on investment, far more than I expected.

Ironically, for all my personal social media presence, I don’t talk about the areas where I do most of my consulting, such as grant writing and web presence. I get my almost all of my consulting clients in those areas through word of mouth, locally.

What I DO talk about online is what I am passionate about: succeeding in a small town small business. And I think that is starting to pay off, with a few speaking offers, a few joint venture offers, and a few other things that excite me.

How do we help small town small businesses “get it” and then find time to use social tools? That’s a very, very large subject. But basically, you show them, and then you coach them. Start with those businesses that already rely on breaking out of the local market, like tourism related businesses and small manufacturers. They want to connect with the larger world.

Mobile phones were a hot topic when they were about 2 kilo’s and the size of a loaf of bread in the mid 80′s. McKinseys then(1986) did a now famous global market review for AT&T >> Objective: “Tell us what the global market opportunity is”.

AT&T threatened McKinsey with enough money and they went away to do their research and came back: “By 2000 there will be only an estimated 900k handsets globally”.

*close to 900k UK citizens dropped their handsets in the toilet in 2006 (insurance claim data)*

What social networks will be in the future is hard to say – we cannot look around corners. However we know that today people are using it to communicate and that communicaton will evolve and grow – with different channels, tones, loaded languages, uniforms etc.

Its just about communication – and we know it works that way.

Its a communication tool AND a channel.

What it will become depends on what we create or make of it. Bit like life.

Mobile phones were a hot topic when they were about 2 kilo’s and the size of a loaf of bread in the mid 80′s. McKinseys then(1986) did a now famous global market review for AT&T >> Objective: “Tell us what the global market opportunity is”.

AT&T threatened McKinsey with enough money and they went away to do their research and came back: “By 2000 there will be only an estimated 900k handsets globally”.

*close to 900k UK citizens dropped their handsets in the toilet in 2006 (insurance claim data)*

What social networks will be in the future is hard to say – we cannot look around corners. However we know that today people are using it to communicate and that communicaton will evolve and grow – with different channels, tones, loaded languages, uniforms etc.

Its just about communication – and we know it works that way.

Its a communication tool AND a channel.

What it will become depends on what we create or make of it. Bit like life.

Chris, I agree. And not only that. This is what sometimes’ happening in R&D project close to where I work at: http://alex.digns.com/collaboration-for-real/ (well, yeah, especially when it comes to collaboration)

Chris, I agree. And not only that. This is what sometimes’ happening in R&D project close to where I work at: http://alex.digns.com/collaboration-for-real/ (well, yeah, especially when it comes to collaboration)

Chris, I agree. And not only that. This is what sometimes’ happening in R&D project close to where I work at: http://alex.digns.com/collaboration-for-real/ (well, yeah, especially when it comes to collaboration)

I just started a twitter account for the company I work for (without permission).

We’re an online travel agency. I saw our vendors (Carnival) on Twitter and a few other agencies as well as other travel providers (JetBlue).

I took us there to experiment with using it to lay a bit of a foundation for future community growth, future customer service, and, yes, to push out some marketing and brand extension.

We are kind of doing this a bit backward IMHO. Twitter followed by RSS followed by a blog. The blog requires the most planning and commitment.

I’m excited to be trying this out, and I hope the experiment pays off well.

@93octane

I just started a twitter account for the company I work for (without permission).

We’re an online travel agency. I saw our vendors (Carnival) on Twitter and a few other agencies as well as other travel providers (JetBlue).

I took us there to experiment with using it to lay a bit of a foundation for future community growth, future customer service, and, yes, to push out some marketing and brand extension.

We are kind of doing this a bit backward IMHO. Twitter followed by RSS followed by a blog. The blog requires the most planning and commitment.

I’m excited to be trying this out, and I hope the experiment pays off well.

@93octane

-What do you think?

I definitely think you are right Chris, to get the most out of social media, two of your core content goals and outreach goals should be product marketing and customer service. More about listening then talking.

I believe this because I’ve seen a few companies become really successful using blogging and social media. Poster child’s were, Macromedia, Microsoft, and now Dell.

-Is there a business application to all this?

As above, product marketing and customer service.

What’s really interesting is the process of monitoring. Think about it, if you worked in communications and you spent most of your time promoting and talking about yourself, what would you know? Well getting involved in social media means you have to listen, all of sudden you become much more news savvy about what’s going on. That means you can react more quickly to developing stories because you have really been paying attention to the community.

Monitoring will also give you some amazing insights into competitive intelligence.

Why are big companies delving in?

Because customers are talking amongst themselves, and because of search engines, and the way that search works, those conversations between websites mean customers have a competitive advantage in the world of dominating rankings on an industry topics (The Long Tail helps search).

This means those voices are being heard, by other customers, and now by companies. It is becoming a competitive advantage, and depending on the industry, an imperative to dive in.

What will convince businesses to dig in and experiment a bit more?

Customers. More of their peers jumping in. Think of the Geoff Moore model here.

-What do you think?

I definitely think you are right Chris, to get the most out of social media, two of your core content goals and outreach goals should be product marketing and customer service. More about listening then talking.

I believe this because I’ve seen a few companies become really successful using blogging and social media. Poster child’s were, Macromedia, Microsoft, and now Dell.

-Is there a business application to all this?

As above, product marketing and customer service.

What’s really interesting is the process of monitoring. Think about it, if you worked in communications and you spent most of your time promoting and talking about yourself, what would you know? Well getting involved in social media means you have to listen, all of sudden you become much more news savvy about what’s going on. That means you can react more quickly to developing stories because you have really been paying attention to the community.

Monitoring will also give you some amazing insights into competitive intelligence.

Why are big companies delving in?

Because customers are talking amongst themselves, and because of search engines, and the way that search works, those conversations between websites mean customers have a competitive advantage in the world of dominating rankings on an industry topics (The Long Tail helps search).

This means those voices are being heard, by other customers, and now by companies. It is becoming a competitive advantage, and depending on the industry, an imperative to dive in.

What will convince businesses to dig in and experiment a bit more?

Customers. More of their peers jumping in. Think of the Geoff Moore model here.