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They say you learn something new everyday...And one of the things I recently learned was a new oxymoron: a social media budget.Because in most companies, it simply doesn't exist. They expect Fans, Followers, Likes and Pins to fall from the sky. But that's not the worst part... No, the worst part is when you see how companies actually spend a social media budget if they have it. Because most of the time it's wasted on vanity metrics and hot trends. And the problem typically resides with the HIPPOs (highest paid person's opinion), because the highest paid person is also (usually) the least knowledgeable and furthest away from the front-lines. Here are three of the worst ways that companies waste money in social media.... [This is an excellent, thoughtful post with some good lessons and perspective about the past in technology ~ Jeff]
While social media use among businesses has grown, so have social media blunders. 2012, in fact, has produced a bumper crop of embarrassing, insensitive and incriminating tweets from businesses. All these Twitter blunders were highly preventable. A little basic training and the right social media management technology could have spared a lot of embarrassment and apologizies, not to mention angry customers, and lost revenue. With the right tools, companies can instead focus on connecting with clients on social channels--and tap into $1.3 trillion in value waiting to be unlocked.... [Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes shares seven preventable Twitter blunnders ~ Jeff]
IBM asked CEOs all over the world what they believe is going to happen with social media for the next three to five years. What they had to say was revealing. “For the first time in my career, I feel old. People in their 20s work and think about this social stuff in a different way,” a U.K. insurance industry CEO shared. “We’re using it as a way of connecting with friends and socializing; the kids coming up are using it as a way of life.”
But do most CEOs acknowledge what is happening with social?
Over half of the CEOs "expect social channels to be a primary way of engaging customers." [But are they committing resources and does social improve the bottom line? ~ Jeff]
With so much data swimming around, knowing which metrics to pay attention to can be difficult. Knowing which ones matter to your company and which ones are simply vanity metrics is important if you are to improve your social media efforts... No matter what industry you’re in, data will always play a key part. Data provides certainly and cold, hard facts that can help businesses thrive. It’s no surprise that by their very nature, the Web and social media have sped up the progress of analytic tools, becoming faster and more accurate. It’s why the majority of social media sites offer up their own analytics tools and why there are many so many are looking for real stats to work from.
Yet sometimes having a lot of data at your fingertips can be a hindrance. Our analytics can be filled with so much data that it can be difficult to determine what data is useful. It can be dangerous to take one metric on its own at face value so a combination of different metrics can help paint a picture of how well your social media activity is going.
Type of Metrics
There are a number of different engagement types out there, but here are the ones you should keep in mind when you’re devising a strategy....
[Simply Zesty provides an excellent overview of social media measurement metrics. If you're serious about measuring ROI, this is a must-read. ~ Jeff]
...Social media has become the new gold star. Recent studies have shown that talking about yourself on social media platforms activates the brain’s rewards centres, in much the same way as that gold star.
Science confirms: we are all narcissists
A May 2012 study by Harvard University’s Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab concluded that sharing information about ourselves activates the brain’s reward centre a great deal more than when we share information about others. It is well documented that the reward centre is tickled by rewards like food, sex and money, but this is the first time it has been confirmed that self-disclosure is a rewarding activity for the brain.
The implications of these findings are vast, telling us a great deal about what we’re like as people, and how social media fits into human nature. Estimates tell us that only 30-40% of our face-to-face communications revolve around ourselves, while over 80% of our social media posts are about ourselves....
[More interesting social media research tidbits inside ~ Jeff]
Kotex identified 50 women, who were active on Pinterest. They researched what they pinned, how they expressed themselves, and then sent them a box of gifts that was customized to their taste. It was essentially a creative influencer outreach campaign, that used Pinterest as its launch pad. Clearly, Kotex targets women as their customers. Pinterest makes a lot of sense for this campaign, since it holds such a high percentage of women users, and has so much growing media and user attention, right now. Kotex used repins to opt-in the Pinterest users for the campaign. And, the women who received the gifts posted about them on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They sent out 50 total gift boxes, and saw over 2,000 interactions that created close to 695,000 impressions. [Useful Pinterest marketing case study ~ Jeff]
Via Jess Seilheimer, theMediaPod
Just-released research by KDPaine & Partners shows most social media comments or posts on controversial topics are from bots, paid posters, or the uninterested. Most of what you think you know about social media buzz is wrong -- because most... of the conversation that you think is happening is not really there. Most posts on controversial topics are fake, or paid for, or they are from people who just aren't very interested. The social media buzz that we're all so hyped on? A awful lot of it is not conversation at all, but a figment of unqualified data. (It is, of course, difficult to generalize from just one study, and these results may be specific to controversial topics.) [Provocative report makes good reading for social media, PR and content pros ~ Jeff]
Really like this post from Facebook's Facebook + Media page: Top-10 Shared Terms by people on Facebook in the U.S.
American Family Insurance took about a month to decide whether the image-centric site was the right place for it on social media. Now, the company's figuring out what works best there. It makes a lot of sense to always link social media with immediacy. After all, it just takes one click to send a message or a photo to the world. But American Family Insurance doesn't think about it in terms of lightning speed. It's looking for lasting connections.
For example, the company's social media team of eight people took about 30 days to determine whether Pinterest, which has grown by a factor of more than 20 over the past year, was a good place for the company to branch out on social media.
"We think there's a long-term opportunity here, or else we wouldn't have gotten into it," says Michele Wingate, American Family's social media manager. The company is taking its time on the site, building up a presence organically before really kicking into high gear with messaging next year. The fact that it has 17 social media presences, reports Andy Sernovitz on SmartBlog on Social Media, while other companies maintain dozens, is even more of a motivation.... [Interesting to see the payback over time ~ Jeff]
Tweet Tweet Social media marketing may not be rocket science, but there is still a large science component to it. If you want your content to spread, you have to look at the numbers and stop making gut decisions. Over the last 5 years I’ve learned how to successfully push content out on through social media so that it spreads virally. And more importantly I’ve learned what not to do. So if you want to ensure that your content spreads, avoid the following 7 mistakes... [Quick Sprout CEO @NeilPatel shares valuable insight and social media experience ~ Jeff]
Social Media around the World 2012 report by InSites Consulting (data collected by SSI and translations by No Problem). [Superb though lengthy presentation, useful for every social media, PR, content and marketing pro ~ Jeff ]
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The CEO is not exactly tripping over themselves to integrate social media into your company's marketing plan. So, where does that leave you? You are the chief marketing officer at your company and you have to approach the big man or woman about trying something out. The goal, to get them to sign off on putting major time and effort into a social media campaign. Yes, the company is doing well overall, but you and others know it could be turning an even bigger return on investment. The sticking point, however, the CEO is not exactly tripping over themselves to integrate social media into your company’s marketing plan. So, where does that leave you?... [How to make the social media case ~ Jeff]
Pinterest is the hottest social media site around, and women are the movers and shakers of this visual media revolution. Contests, mood boards, and remote idea-sharing: Women entrepreneurs are finding new and powerful ways to inspire and engage new and existing audiences via Pinterest.... [Pinterest is fueling innovation ~ Jeff]
Earlier this year, my friend and colleague Heather Whaling turned me on to a new tool: Newsle. For the uninitiated, Newsle is like Google Alerts for individuals and media hits. A great way for you to track friends, colleagues, competitors and journalists who are in the news (or creating the news). In essence, Newsle gives you a chance to track LinkedIn connections, folks in your email address book and Facebook friends as they pop up in news stories and articles across the Web. The best part? Newsle will send you an email with this information when your friends or colleauges are in the news–so you know just about as soon as they know (it seems).
OK, I know, this might not seem particularly helpful, but consider the following ways Newsle might help you and your PR effort...
Every PR agency claims social media expertise. As the “train wrecks” demonstrate, it’s not always true. With this in mind, Sociagility has rated how global PR agencies perform in applying social media to themselves for the second consecutive year. To put science behind the quest, Sociagility uses what it calls the PRINTTM methodology to rank the global PR agencies across four channels: Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube... [Check out Sociagility's interactive scoreboard for an in-depth look ~ Jeff]
Mobile has proliferated every free second we have — social media is one of the bits of content we happen to consume on our phones and tablets — but it is by no means the only thing. The lesson to be heeded here (especially if you have rich media content to distribute) is do not just post it to Facebook and Twitter and hope that it reaches your audience. Chances are that a small sliver of your audience will see it; but more importantly ensure that your entire arsenal of online marketing weaponry is mobile ready — if not mobile first. [Sage advice ~ Jeff]
The Stanford Graduate School of Business recently published a fascinating study of 180 C-level executives* revealing their perceptions of social media versus social media implementation in their organizations. [Lots of insight, a few surprises and some gaps that need filling ~ Jeff]
Infographic from VerticalResponse that highlights how small businesses are using social media. ... small businesse are catching up, as is evident from this new infographic from the folks over at VerticalResponse, brought to our attention by Marketing Pilgrim this morning. The infographic highlights how small businesses are using social media -- how much time and money they're spending, which social networks they're focusing on, and the challenges they're facing. Turns out a big chunk -- 43% of small businesses -- are spending at least 6 hours per week on social media, with a large focus on Facebook (90% are using it) and Twitter (70% are using it). As for social networks like Google+ and Pinterest, to quote the infographic, "not so much." Check out the full infographic for more interesting stats....
Check out NetBase.com's “real-time mood meter,” with dials that deliver up-to-the-minute voter sentiment on the upcoming election.. It's an example of a content strategy that brings new meaning to metrics. When you land at NetBase.com, the online home of a company that sells serious software to major enterprises, a comic book character greets you — NetBase calls him “Captain Insight,” a super hero of “social intelligence.” The masked man has the super power needed to unlock the customer’s mind. When you’re done with the Marvel-style sequence, you can click into some of the usual content you’d expect to find on a software company’s website. However, between now and election day, you’re more likely to point your cursor at a more mysterious element —a gauge marked “Obama.” You’ll then discover a “real-time mood meter,” a dashboard of sorts with dials that deliver up-to-the-minute voter sentiment on the upcoming election. Indicators display the sentiment of Twitter users who, in the previous 10 minutes, have expressed opinions on the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Have a look:...
Discover your true competitors, uncover new uses for your products, enhance your traditional research methods, and more. Over the last few years, social media research has evolved from speculation to practice. But many people still approach social media research without goals in mind. This ultimately leads to failure.
To avoid that problem, here are 12 important opportunities and goals social media research offers... [Some really good suggestions on how social media research can be used ~ Jeff]
This Sample Social Media Policy is the result of over two-years of research, extensive interviews with stakeholders from multiple corporate and government agencies and more than a decade of experience serving clients as a strategic communications consultant, with a specialty in online communications, web design, search engine optimization and, since its advent, social media. On Jan. 25, 2012, the US National Labor Relations Board issued their second social media report, offering further clarification over an earlier compilation of cases it released August 18, 2011, available as a PDF. This revised social media policy template takes into account the NLRB's guidance to human resource professionals for the lawful development of social media policies for employees. Social media policies are not one size fits all. The right policy for your organization will (1) reinforce your organization's existing corporate culture and (2) provide practical guidance to those governed by the social media policy.... [This social media policy template is an excellent starting point for a DIY guide for social media and employees. Available free under a Creative Commons license. ~ Jeff]
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