Why Are You Investigating Social Media

Any business OWNERS or senior budget spenders here reading this? I’m curious what your take is. Why would you divert money and attention to this?

My title is director of community relations. My company has operations in 100 different communities, 100K employees and a national brand. We’re also determined to be a leader among the food industry in the fight against hunger. So our opportunities for community-building are limitless. I first saw the power and beauty of online communities in the Compuserve forums in the early ‘90s. The PR forum was an invaluable resource for me as I learned the art and science of public relations. Many of today’s social media-for-PR evangelists were prominent participants in that forum. There was a strong community therein. While the forum is no more, and the tools have evolved and been refined (Some forever not for better), the capacity of social media to educate and inform, to form and nurture relationships, to build communities holds more potential than ever before. That’s why I’m in it.

I am a nonprofit techie, and one particular thing that I love about social media is that it is becoming easier and easier for someone with little tech training to share photos, videos, ideas and build powerful social networks.

In Ye Olden Days of the broadcast web, corporations and techies had all the control. I love this continual shift where the web increasingly belongs to those of us who have access to it (still an issue, too, but getting better). I love that people can post video, photos and a blog without the help of a techie, and I love that social media makes it more difficult (in many instances) for corporations to control messaging and conversation.

I’ve built and sold 2 “.com” companies, the first back in 1997. Social Media, SEO; it didn’t exist. I started blogging 3 years ago, and it lead me and my business partner to create a new product (http://www.mediabadger.com) to monitor, manage and measure Social & Traditional Media through a passion for how the Web is changing the world, driving the 90-Second Economy and impacting even how we think.

The greatest societal changes are always subtle and take a long time – the Web is, I think, a prime example. And Social Media is the latest driver in this massive societal shift underway.

Great question Chris!

Chris,

I’m using SM as a learning tool (meta-learning using SM to learn about SM) and with an eye toward helping clients improve customer/partner/employee communications. As a side note, since I work from a home office, it is also a good point of connectivity with others in our field — like an on-demand the breakout session at a conference.

@ahg3 (Arthur Germain)

On your point relative to business use of social media. One analogy I like is the one of open source software where communities created product.

Maybe the business use of social media is to opensourced their marketing department ?

I am a 40 something. I am too old to know how to understand text message talk, too young to retire. I think I am in a big group of folks that are trying to learn everything and just dont know where to start.

I just bought my first car with automatic windows and it practically talks. I try to embrace technology and explain it to people in a way that shows them why it is a good thing for them, but first I need to understand it and use it myself. Yes I have an iPod, yes I subscribe to podcasts, yes I know some things, but this trend of stepping away from the intimacy of person to person contact is a little disturbing, yet I know I need to learn to do it.

Forgive my ignorance everyone, I am just trying to learn. Any resources would be helpful.

These are great comments, everyone. I’m excited to hear people’s perspectives on things.

@Ed – I think you’ve got some good points about community. And it goes along with my “social media is like a toilet” theory. : )

“Social media is like a toilet…” You’ve aroused my curiosity there. You might want to reprise that one for those of us who are recent followers.

We started with a blog last year originally to announce our new software version releases. We decided that the few “subscribers” we had were a captive audience that could grow if we provided a bit of entertainment. That’s when each person at the (small) company started making blogposts about funny or informative information security related topics. According to clickthroughs and links, our overall audience has grown exponentially since this change. And we’re having fun doing it! The blog still announces release dates when we have them, and now so does the Twitter we started under the same strategy.

I have been drawn to the social media scene as a means of sharing, discussing, and researching information on a wide range of topics (at all hours of the day or night too!). As more of our lives become dominated by the prescence of the internet (the original online social network) it has become important for us to develop tools to maintain connections to those we know and meet. I think we are living in the most sociable time of human history and I am thankful that people like Chris are opening our eyes to new and exciting ways to share with each other.

Chris! – Thought provoking question encourages me to think deeper for my own business reasons. As a Realtor, I’ve always tried to stay current with the market, to improve the service that I deliver to my Buyer and Seller clients. My early static website was initially good at providing service and converting visitors to clients. There followed a huge shift in the marketplace towards social media. Social media is like the old style conversation over the back fence or around the water cooler-on steroids. For me increases the possibility of connecting,demonstrating caring, a level of trust and at it’s best a sense of community. Simply put though, our potential clients are in the social media marketplace which is reason enough to follow suite. The best ways to do that are why I read your blog:-)

At Alensa we use social media tools to build our community of users as well as to stay connected to our users and support them on as many platforms as we can manage.

At Alensa we use social media tools to build our community of users as well as to stay connected to our users and support them on as many platforms as we can manage.

Our service is a sort of niche, B2B application of social media, so it seems natural for us to explore those services and methods also as our main method of marketing. Personally I’ve been somewhat resistant to many applications of social media since the noise-to-signal ratio is often so discouraging. However, I’m also not particularly drawn to marketing as a discipline, so the idea of substituting traditional methods with making substantive contributions to a conversation, using social media to establish our company as an active member of our corner of the creative and intellectual community–that is very appealing. We’re just starting to develop this approach, and I’m interested to see what we find out about how our methods will have to differ from those that might be employed by a company offering a more general service application.

I am a Retail Industry ‘Insider’ and my industry is facing some great challenges. CIOs have been asked to reduce their enormous Maint spend in order to invest in emerging technologies that will enhance the customer experience. Not only have CIOs been the guys that simply kept the lights on, their staffs have also been emersed in legacy technology and ill equipped for what’s to come. Bottom line, Retailers need conversation before the sales cycle, relationship from trusted sources, and information in order to build confidence and meet the challenge. They also just canceled 1 of the top 2 retail technology shows because vendors could not justify the cost. Not the need. So voila! social media and social networking. i am trying to create an offering here and learning from all of you!

Hi Chris,

I like using the tools to find out what others are thinking, and as a means to align myself with like-minded folks. A good example of someone I met simply by hanging out on your blog is Becky McCray of smallbizsurvival.com. I really appreciate the excellent opportunity you present for people to meet like this.

I think of today’s social media tools as the blooming flower on the stem of RSS and the natural, evolutionary replacement for email. It has been a long time coming, but we are now picking the flower. I think this was a popular meme in the industry a few years back – “RSS replaces email”.

Certainly the marketers will be able to use these tools, but also mom and pop, maybe even sister and brother will also use the same tools, but to different ends. Not unlike the starting phases of radio transmitting, where shortwave broadcasting was popular with all sorts of amateurs and the professionals eventually moved in and set up shop. Despite the presence of professional broadcasters seeking profit, the amateurs (HAM radio ops) still thrive.

Like email marketing and radio advertising, social media marketing is finding a useful place and moving toward the top of its trajectory. This is the time when it serves the most people, while being a disservice to the least number of people.

Sooner or later (hopefully later, since “we” theoretically control this medium via community sharing) the “abuseful” phase will start and the downward trajectory will begin as this eventually becomes a pain in the rear for the members of the communities being marketed to.

Then the next wave will start and we will talk about the new email, the new social media, the new radio broadcasters, whatever they may be.

Hi Chris,

I like using the tools to find out what others are thinking, and as a means to align myself with like-minded folks. A good example of someone I met simply by hanging out on your blog is Becky McCray of smallbizsurvival.com. I really appreciate the excellent opportunity you present for people to meet like this.

I think of today’s social media tools as the blooming flower on the stem of RSS and the natural, evolutionary replacement for email. It has been a long time coming, but we are now picking the flower. I think this was a popular meme in the industry a few years back – “RSS replaces email”.

Certainly the marketers will be able to use these tools, but also mom and pop, maybe even sister and brother will also use the same tools, but to different ends. Not unlike the starting phases of radio transmitting, where shortwave broadcasting was popular with all sorts of amateurs and the professionals eventually moved in and set up shop. Despite the presence of professional broadcasters seeking profit, the amateurs (HAM radio ops) still thrive.

Like email marketing and radio advertising, social media marketing is finding a useful place and moving toward the top of its trajectory. This is the time when it serves the most people, while being a disservice to the least number of people.

Sooner or later (hopefully later, since “we” theoretically control this medium via community sharing) the “abuseful” phase will start and the downward trajectory will begin as this eventually becomes a pain in the rear for the members of the communities being marketed to.

Then the next wave will start and we will talk about the new email, the new social media, the new radio broadcasters, whatever they may be.

I initially started getting involved with social media out of curiosity…in part because I have a 17 yo kid and wanted to see what MySpace was all about. PS – she’s no longer into MySpace – it’s FB for her. Recently called me a twitidiot!

Professionally, a few of the folks I work with (@seerysm) rapidly embraced social media and I followed along mostly to learn. Eventually I became a participant and some what of a defacto champion of social media with my clients. Since my clients are primarily hospitals, we’re exposing them to some of the new social media tools to source and recruit; using social media for competitive intelligence gathering, online reputation management, communicating and connecting via recruiters blogs.

What social media has provided me with is the ability to learn from many different points of view. I have decided to be part of the new solutions rather than become an ‘experienced’ dinosaur that is perceived of not being with it.

I work in the educational field and now see a golden opportunity to incorporate social media and web 2.0 technologies into the educational landscape.

Instructors are becoming more and more tech savy and, as the older professors retire, we see more and more technology adoption. Students are also taking more and more social media tools for granted and it is up to us as trainers and educators to help those who are not as familiar with the technologies to provide the kind of environments that will facilitate learning

It is also a good chance to get to know some awesome people who do wonderful things

One of the many important reasons for a business to invest resources in social media is the ability to ‘listen in’ on the market. Listening in and then engaging with your customer has the potential to establish brand loyalty, promote word-of-mouth marketing, and access real-time market research.

By tracking conversations – via services such as Google Alerts and Summize – companies can immediately and directly address customer feedback. First, this illustrates to the customer that you are not merely a profit-driven automaton (even if you are). Since engaging in an honest dialog with customers is still rare, it also establishes brand loyalty (or at least respect). Furthermore, it provides an exceptional story, which your customers are likely to repeat.

At the risk of sounding trite, we can readily see successful examples on Twitter. JetBlue provides followers with useful tips like Tech Travel Trip Tuesday (#TTTT). Useful content also engages the JB community to submit tips, creating a continuous feedback loop. JB recognizes its followers and rewards them with promotions outside their traditional channels. None of these interactions would have been possible with a static website.

Another benefit of ‘listening in’ is that you can attract ‘potential’ customers. Judging by @crowdSPRING posts, the company tracks phrases like ‘logo design’ and recommends its service to people on twitter. Some may say this practice is invasive, but the evidence indicates that users appreciate the suggestion. In fact, many end up using the service.

Other reasons (not twitter-specific) why businesses should invest in social media campaigns – to network with clients, suppliers, and industry leaders, to tap the knowledge of the community they’ve created, to brand themselves as they want to regardless of the industry they’re in. And lastly, more transparency = more trust!

DISCLAIMER: The above is only true if you are producing quality products/ideas that actually add value for the consumer.

I use it to sell student loans.

I think this is one of the most exciting times in human history: If you have a great idea, you can find people to help you develop it, shoot it down or turn it into something completely different almost as soon as you think it… and you can do it from anywhere in the world!

When I first heard about Twitter and read it’s tagline “What are you doing?”, I thought the social media elite who were obsessing over it had finally slipped over the edge into total self-obsession and were possibly even promoting celebrity worship: “Leo just made a cup of coffee!” There is some of that, to be sure, but the community is transforming it into something better. Not “What are you doing?” but “What are you thinking?” and then creating a conversation around those thoughts.

There are still a lot of problems to overcome, but today I am optimistic. Talk to me tomorrow and I might only see the negative stuff and what doesn’t work, instead of what does and what *can*, if we use these tools creatively.

social media is another channel to communicate to people with. it is not something as scaleable as direct response as search or banners, but it is great for the “softer” side of things like changing perceptions and branding.

Chris love the question, and it really made me think about what are the real reasons. I think for me I have both a business and a personal reason for why I am Investigating social media.

From a personal point of view, I am doing it to re-connect with old friends, and stay connected with new friends. I think a lot of time is spend on career and family these days and the social media channels allow me to stay connect with friends, in a convenient off hours way. I was able to finally connect with an old roommate from high school that I was unable to find for years through the use of a Ning site based on the school we attended. It had been 15 years, and the internet allowed me to finally re-connect.

In addition to the personal reasons, I am also vested in this from a business point of view as well. I am an owner of an online dating community that has just launched. I see the understanding of all things social media related as crucial to everything that I am trying to do. I am most interested in looking to see the mix between both online social media tools, and how they also help people connect in the offline world. In addition I have been involved with the internet since it inception, and have a thirst to know as much as I can about how to reach people, and create a compeling user experience in everything that I do.