As a virtual pin board, it is built around the concept of sharing photos, like a digital scrapbook where users can “pin” images, videos or other objects to their boards for sharing with others. It has a predominantly female audience.

For small business, this presents an enormous opportunity.  For particular industries including photographers, interior designers or graphic artists the value is immense. They are able to create extensive portfolios which can display their creativity, personality and style which prospects are able to view prior to contacting them.

However, the value can be potentially immense for any number of industries (not just the ones mentioned) as it is a great way to showcase your products and demonstrate your expertise and passion.

So, what is best practice for SMEs in using Pinterest?

Create your pin boards

Consider what would be of interest to your target audience and organise your pin boards in categories that express the products and services you offer. Have multiple boards with numerous themes. Also consider researching your competitors.

Start pinning content

One of the benefits of pinning photos to Pinterest is that a link is automatically included back to the source. So any photos you pin from your website or blog creates a link back to your web content which in theory leads to increased traffic to your website.

Interact and engage on Pinterest: as with any other social media platforms, interact and engage with those that are pinning items of yours. You can do this by “repinning”, “liking” or “mentioning”. The more you participate, the more positive results should be.

Be creative with your pins

Think outside the box and consider the topics that communicate your personality and brand. If the content appeals to your target audience, then consider pinning it regardless of whether it is an interesting article, graphics or products.

Build your audience

As with all social media, the audience is the key. Cross promote your Pinterest with your other social network sites. Get to know your audience and what they like. Comment, share and follow other relevant boards.

Pinterest is not just for products, service based industries can also benefit from this space.  So if you are not sure, why not take a look at what the fuss is about and see if Pinterest can support your business in a unique way.

The report by WebProfits found that despite Facebook boasting almost 12 million active Australian users, only 27 percent of companies are using the platform, while 53 percent of companies are on Twitter despite it only having 2.2 million Australian users.

“Comments on Twitter fly by so quickly, while a faux pas on Facebook often sticks there for everyone to see. Rather than formulate a strategy to turn this to their advantage, many companies are confining their engagement strategy to tweeting the odd media release or pre-spun factoid to a handful of followers,” says Paul Sprokkreeff, managing director of Web Profits.

“The results indicate that companies that feel pressured by their boards to embrace social media are choosing Twitter because it feels safer,” says Sprokkreeff.

Less than a quarter of companies on the ASX100 are using both Twitter and Facebook.

The report also found that while every retailer on the list has a Facebook page, only Myer and David Jones allow their Facebook fans to post comments on their pages.

Other companies, such as JB Hi-Fi, only use their Facebook pages for one-way marketing communication, rather than as a customer service tool.

Here are our top 3 social media tips:

1. Encourage two-way communication with customers – reply to people, retweet, and engage in conversations about your industry

2. Make sure you have a strategy in place to deal with complaints that may arise on your Twitter feed or Facebook page

3. Remember to show your personality rather than focusing solely on your marketing message – for example, you could share behind-the-scenes office pictures or introduce your staff

The story hit the media and several great articles were written detailing the stats, including Gina Baldassarre’s article for Dynamic Business. Interesting. But, so what?

As a small business owner myself, I am sitting on the social media fence – I recently ran my own Facebook marketing campaign which turned a $100 investment in advertising into $23k worth of revenue. Not bad.

But I know I am in the minority, talking through social media with coaching clients has given me this insight – and more.

So why are most small businesses shying away from social media?

1. Small business is still riding the first wave of the trend

At the moment we are seeing the early adopters who forge out ahead and take on tactics such as social media in their marketing from the get-go.

This can yield some great results as they position themselves as innovative, but can have some drawbacks and risks in terms of time and monetary investment. Risk-takers are simply the minority in the population.

2. We all like to feel safe

This is especially the case in small businesses, because there’s so much on the line. Most will wait until they think something is a sure thing before they opt-in in a big way.

There are plenty of visible social media gurus out there these days, but the hard evidence is not as apparent.  What we know about the sales process also applies here: if people are uncertain, they’ll opt for no.

3. They don’t understand how it works

I used to avoid liking Facebook pages because I thought if I “liked” someone’s page then they could send me loads of direct marketing and emails.

Small businesses often don’t get told the golden social media rule: marketing has to be fun and interactive, giving value back to the “liker” instead of just hitting them with a barrage of sales material. There’s a lot of misconception around how the individual might be affected.

3. If the marketing works, don’t tweet it

Small businesses usually already have a couple of marketing tactics that work really well, so the proof has to be strong to garner their attention towards another.

Great business owners tend to market in ways that have worked for them in the past. Why wouldn’t you? It would be illogical for them to change what isn’t broken.

4. It takes support

If you’re not Gen Y, or a tech lover, you may need support to get your head around it and to do it consistently. If it appears too big or too hard, people shy away from it.

When it’s a medium that requires an extra level to get their head around, the payoff has got to be GOOD. Time investment vs return is a huge small business issue.

I would argue that social media purely as a social tool is old hat, but its relationship to marketing is still quite young as far as cultural shifts go. But if small business continues to ignore social media, then they’ll be left out in the cold.

There’s still a bit of resistance from small business owners, but a lot of them are just now coming around to the potential of social media. Give them some time to shift their perception, and the stats will change dramatically. It’s only a matter of time.

Pure Profile recently conducted a survey of 1,250 people (aged 18 and over), on behalf of Telstra, which revealed that eight out of ten Australians prefer not to be tied into a long-term contract with their mobile phone provider.

Telstra’s Chief Customer Officer, Gordon Ballantyne, said the new Telstra No Lock-In Plans is their way of responding to  the demands of millions of customers who said they wanted the power to use their mobile phone on their own terms.

“We’ve listened to our customers and for many, having flexibility is what’s most important. It’s about giving our customers more choice without them having to commit for the long-term,” he said.

“Over the past few years, more than three million Australians have chosen Telstra as their mobile provider. Telstra No Lock-In Plans give customers who are still considering a switch to Telstra the flexibility to test the network for themselves, without being tied into a long-term contract.”

Telstra’s research also revealed customers were most attracted to the the certainty that they can change plans if their budget changes, as well as the flexibility of not being tied down by a long-term contract.

“We also know some of our customers like the phones they already have – either not seeing the need to upgrade or perhaps holding out for a smartphone that hasn’t been released yet – so our new Telstra No Lock-In Plans cater for such needs.”

Here are the key findings of the research:

Eight out of ten Australians would prefer not to be tied into a long-term contract with their mobile phone provider, with interest peaking among 25-34 year olds (89 percent).

• Men are more likely than women to consider a plan with no long-term contract (85 percent versus 80 percent).
• Australians aged over 65 years were least interested in a plan with no long-term contract (70 percent versus 89 percent of 25-34 year olds).

The top three things customers are most attracted to are:

The extra certainty that they can reconsider their plan on a month-to-month basis if their budget changes (35 percent).

• Better budget control rated higher among people aged 18-24 year olds (43 percent) versus those aged 55 and over (27 percent).
• The option of bringing their existing eligible mobile phone and not having to purchase a new one (31 percent).
• People aged 45 years and over were most likely to prefer a no long-term contract option because they already had a mobile phone they liked and didn’t feel they needed a new one (42 percent versus only 16 percent of 18-24 year olds).

Flexibility that comes when you’re not committed to a long-term contract (24 percent).

• This was highest among 45-54 year olds (29 percent), followed by 35-44 year olds (26 percent) and 18-24 year olds (25 percent).

New study by Fifth Quadrant found that compared to other channels such as social media and smartphone apps, web chat is the most used medium for customer service queries.

Web chat is also perceived to have the highest suitability for general enquiries, technical issues, purchase or sales related questions, and complaints or service issues.

Although the technology has been available for over five years, it is only recently that businesses have developed enough interest to adopt web chat as a customer service channel – with the greatest number of implementations (40 percent) having occurred since its emergence.

“Web chat has a great value proposition for consumers. It is a convenient offer of help at an appropriate time.  When carried out properly, it is non-intrusive and simplifies the consumer’s experience,” said Chris Kirby, Head of Research, Fifth Quadrant.

Unlike social media and smartphone apps, web chat appears to be well resourced and supported within businesses that utilise the technology, with three in five organisations reporting confidence in their capability to scale up to support changes in demand for customer service via the channel.

This compares to just under half of organisations being confident in their capability to scale up to support social media and two in five organisations being confident in their capabilities to support smartphone apps.

According to Fifth Quadrant, this difference could be a result of the way each of the channels are managed.

For instance, in four out of five organisations, responsibility for managing and resourcing web chat lies with the call or contact centre – a department well equipped to responding to fluctuating consumer communications. Whereas social media and smartphones are typically managed by Marketing and Insight, or IT.

Other reason may be the very structure of web chat as a one-on-one, direct and instantaneous channel of conversation.

More information on customer experience strategy, design and research is available on Fifth Quadrant’s website.

The event, which is taking place next month on the 17th of May, will involve on-the-spot use of Business Apps, Twitter, Facebook, QR codes, Pinterest, Zite and many more as participants hunt for treasure through the streets of Parramatta.

Leading the event is social media strategist, Meredith Collins, who will provide mentoring and encouragement, and will be giving participants both access to, and real practice with, popular social media tools.

The Digital Treasure Hunt is for:

• Busy entrepreneurs, business owners and BDM’s who want to take a giant leap forward in their social media savviness
• Women who want an increase in lead generation
• Those who work better when given a fun, interactive and multi-sensory learning environment
• Women who want a great lightbulb moment when they see how easily they can integrate social media into what they’re currently doing to promote their business
• Those who want to celebrate their win afterwards with drinks on the balcony

Participants will learn about and get hands-on experience with:

• How to effectively engage with clients through a Facebook business page
• Mobile applications that make business easier
• Twitter language – such as RT’s, #tags and D’s – and how to follow conversations, start trends, and connect with like-minded people
• Klout – whether the time spent online provides value for a business
• The pros and cons of location marketing and Geo-tagging and the privacy issues involved

To register for the event, visit SHE Business.

In most businesses there are many conversations happening across several different social media platforms which can be near impossible to track. Luckily, cloud-based application Hootsuite makes this process simple and effective; giving you the freedom to monitor and publish content across all your social networks in a number of seconds. At MailGuard we use Hootsuite to monitor and schedule posts and to ensure all our content is consistent across platforms.

Hootsuite gives your business a standardised format for managing your social media.

It makes checking for updates, mentions, follows and comments extremely time-efficient, which allows you to spend more time finding and creating content. You can add and remove streams in real-time, schedule posts to update across all your profiles and track potential contacts who send you direct messages.

However there is, of course, a need to interpret the information yourself to ensure you make the most of the app – it won’t just operate on its own.

Let’s take a look at how Hootsuite can help you manage your social media.

Streams

With over 200 million tweets sent out every day it can be hard to identify and construct parameters for the twitter feeds you’d like to see. Hootsuite allows you to create your own streams with various filters, which help to ease this process.

For example, you can easily create a stream which will only notify you when someone mentions your business in a tweet. Conveniently, if you have multiple streams you can arrange them onto a single page so as to see them simultaneously.

Scheduling

Hootsuite allows you to view your Twitter feed, Facebook wall and LinkedIn profile in either a single or multiple tabs.

One of the major benefits of using Hootsuite, however, is the ability to schedule posts concurrently across all your social media profiles. This enables you to organise your posts in advance, and ensures your content is consistent across platforms.

Plans & Pricing

A FREE version of Hootsuite is available but has limited social profiles, feeds and reports; it is well-suited for small business owners who may want to test the app before purchasing an upgraded version.

The PRO version comes with unlimited social profiles and feeds, integration with Facebook Insights and Google Analytics and up to an additional nine users. It comes at $5.99 per month but also has a 30 day free trial which you can use to compare the benefits against the free version.

Lastly, the ENTERPRISE solution contains all the features already mentioned as well as advanced security and support, unlimited users and a built-in ROI calculator. Prices for this plan can be negotiated at the Hootsuite Enterprise homepage.

Total credit card debt is currently a little over $50 billion according to the latest Reserve Bank figures, with the average being $3,282 per person.

While many credit card holders are likely to be making minimum repayments, an improvement on the past 30 years, credit card debt is still a serious issue for Australians.

“While it’s great to see consumers are more cautious about using credit cards, there are too many card holders sitting on big debts and not priortising to pay them down,” said Michelle Hutchison, Spokesperson at RateCity.

The RateCity survey in December last year showed that 11 percent of respondents were making minimum repayments to pay off their debts – which approximates to 1.7 million credit cards.

But with minimal monthly repayments, it would take over 24 years to pay off debt and the total interest charged would cost more than double the original balance.

“By making the minimum monthly repayment of 2 percent on average, the average credit card balance of $3,282 would take 24 years and five months to pay off, based on the average purchase rate of 17.21 percent, according to RateCity. At this rate, you could still be paying off your credit card debt after you finish repaying your mortgage!” said Hutchison.

In light of these results, Hutchison recommends credit card holders to make a bigger effort to end their ‘debt rut’.

“Credit cards can be easy for consumers to fall into a debt rut, because they are very flexible and credit is generally always available. But there are ways for card holders to get out of this bad debt for good,” said Hutchison.

She advises credit card holders to consider consolidating with a personal loan, adding debt to their personal mortgage or comparing balance transfer cards; and increasing repayments little by little will make a big difference to the debt.

“For instance, boosting your repayments from 2 percent to 4 percent will reduce the time it will take to pay off the average credit card of $3,282 from over 24 years to less than nine months, and interest charged would drop by $4,767 to $1,663,” said Hutchison.

You can search, compare and apply for financial products at RateCity.

Recent survey by BlueSteps, the career management service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), looked into the role of social networking websites and the role that they play in career management.

Of the 100+ Australia-based executives who responded to the survey, many had been approached by a recruiter via LinkedIn at one stage or another, but only 6 percent had landed themselves a job.

The main reasons provided by BlueSteps executives on why they use LinkedIn, is to expand (35 percent) and to stay connected with people in their network (32 percent).  Only 19 percent were using LinkedIn to find a new employment opportunity.

“While clearly websites like LinkedIn have had an impact on the hiring landscape by enabling executives to make themselves publicly available to recruiters, the key to finding new roles is more often to network with the leading search consultants, to establish a unique personal brand in the market and to connect with other prominent executives in a given industry,” said Christine Hayward, Managing Director of Asia Pacific at the AESC.

A majority of the executives (55.5 percent) believed having a LinkedIn was either extremely important, or important for their overall career management strategy.

Jason Johnson, Asia Pacific Chair for the AESC, said the role of a recruiter is not to find executives who have a presence on or are contactable via social media, but to identify the best candidates for the job.

“The role of an executive search firm is to identify the best candidates for their clients, not just those executives that can be easily found online on social networks. Online tools should be considered as just one part of an executive’s overall career management strategy,” he said.

With businesses increasingly adopting all things ‘digital’, digital signage is set to be next. The technology aims to help businesses deliver marketing messages to consumers in a way that is engaging and easy to understand.

“We’ve seen how tablets, iPhones and social media, and all these types of technology is impacting our lifestyles in the way that we buy products and it’s a similar thing with digital signage. We can implement a digital screen or video wall or some sort of digital signage technology into a business and it will give the customer a whole different experience to what they would have encountered otherwise,” said Tanya Williams, Business Development Manager, Prendi.

Digital signage allows businesses to combine traditional and digital marketing to deliver marketing messages in a high definition screen, but that’s not the only reason businesses are adopting the technology. Its ability to tie in other digital applications such as mobile, tablets and social media has great consumer appeal.

“The exciting thing is that what you can do with this technology is limited only by your imagination. Businesses that want to lead the way in their industry and really create a wow experience for their customers love the concepts we are presenting to them,” said James Ingram, Managing Director, Prendi.

It doesn’t need to be expensive and can start with one basic screen or video wall. You can then add on touch screens or interactive floor projection, turn your front window into a touch screen and beyond. It is impossible to describe everything we can do as it’s literally unlimited,” he added.

With digital signage technology, businesses are able to connect with their customers in a fun and engaging way, according to Prendi. Retailers, in particular, are expected to gain a lot from using the technology as they are competing with a global online market.

“Particularly in a retail environment we’re finding that a lot of businesses are now competing with a global online market, and they’re finding it difficult to connect with customers and provide a unique experience in store. And a lot of the conversations we’re having with retailers is how they can use this digital signage technology in a way that people can come in and interact with dynamic content,” said Williams.

Whereas traditionally, businesses would print a poster and stick it to the wall to promote a business or special offer, now the same space can be used to provide an engaging and dynamic user experience with a digital screen.

“That same space gives a much greater ROI as you can now promote many messages, special offers, including live news or twitter feeds, promotional video, clocks and best of all you can program to run different content at different times of the day,” said Ingram.

Following tweets by music celebrities with early access to the app, Twitter has officially launched #music, marking the company’s first foray into the online music scene.

The service uses Twitter chatter to detect popular songs and trending artists and features artists’ music-related tweets on their #music profiles. Users can preview 30-second clips of songs directly within the app, with an option to buy the full song on iTunes.

Twitter has also linked up with music streaming giants Spotify and Rdio to allow users with paid subscriptions to stream songs through the #music app. And of course, users can tweet what they’re listening to (within 140 characters) with the touch of a button.

This move by Twitter into the music scene isn’t surprising considering the heavy use of the site by musicians. In a blog post announcing the launch, Twitter stated, “Many of the most-followed accounts on Twitter are musicians, and half of all users follow at least one musician. This is why artists turn to Twitter first to connect with their fans — and why we wanted to find a way to surface songs people are tweeting about.”

The launch follows the social media giant’s purchase of Aussie start-up We Are Hunted. The Brisbane-based project, founded in 2007, monitored sites including MySpace, Last.fm and Twitter as well as blog activity to allow users to discover and share new music online.

Since then, the three founders of We Are Hunted have shut down the site and have been working to develop a similar service under the Twitter name – #music.

So far the app is only available to iPhone users and on the web in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, but Twitter expects to roll out the service to Android users, other devices and more countries in the future.

Good content that is interesting, informative and engaging will have others linking you to their social media platforms. However it is the one of the key aspects most SMEs have the most challenging time doing.

Coming up with material can be time-consuming for SMEs. As such having a content development plan is vital.

This is not something most SMEs consider and are hesitant at the mention of it. But if you can spend some time planning your social media activities so that you can create a story around your product or service you should then be able to develop content that articulates this story to interact and communicate with your consumers.

With a bit of planning content doesn’t have to be an imposition, it can be a great tool to promote your expertise, your products and services and establish a connection and conversation with your target market.

Remember some of the following tips:

Content can be Developed or Sourced

Content can be a combination of new content you have developed yourself as well as other content which has been sourced from other platforms. You don’t have to do all the work so share what others have developed. The key is that it must be consistent. Fresh and regularly updated material is necessary so that you stay relevant and in people’s feeds.

Text Based Content Needs to be Simple

Posts whether short or long need to be clear. This means stay away for technical jargon that is irrelevant and most people can’t understand. Stick to the key points and get to these quickly so that you can gain the interest of the audience.

Give more than Text Based Content

Use a picture with a by-line, upload a video on YouTube or post an infographic. Images and video are easier to digest online therefore mix it up. All are able to provide a message that aligns with your needs.

Pose Questions, Quotes or Tips

Why not pose a question or share a quote or tip that will entice your audience to respond and share. After all this is what social media is about, having a conversation.

Most importantly, know what is happening in your industry, the trends and the opportunities and provide your perspective to it. Doing so will build your brand, provide value and promote your expertise. At the end of the day content through social media provides the opportunity to share your knowledge so it can be a worthwhile experience.

Almost a quarter of every hour Australians spend online is used on social networking, with nine minutes on entertainment sites and four minutes spent on shopping, according to new research.

“The online landscape is constantly changing and it could be that we’re starting to see social networking sites reaching their peak,” says Matt Glasner, general manager of Experian Marketing Services.

The research, conducted by Experian Hitwise, monitored the interactions of 25 million internet users around the world, analysing the total monthly visits to 170 online categories, and the average length of visits to websites in these categories.

“Consumers on a local and global scale are changing the way they interact online, and marketers should take notice. The rise of 3G and now 4G mobile internet access means more visits are being made on the move, particularly in social and email,” says Glasner.

“As brands become increasingly global entities, it’s more important than ever to understand the differences between the regional online behaviours of their customers so that marketing campaigns can be tailored for better and more effective brand engagement.”

The decline in social media use follows a global trend, with usage also down in the US and the UK.

The research also showed Australian users emerging as the largest consumers of news online, with Australian users spending six percent of all their time online in 2012 on news websites.

Recent volatility in the economic climate and tighter scrutiny from banks have posed a number of challenges for businesses.

With the cash cycle tightening, some suppliers are putting customers on COD (Cash On Delivery) or purchase limits when ordering products.

In other instances, banks have requested more frequent financial reporting from clients for monitoring purposes, which has led to customers cutting down on their purchases in fear of being denied loans in the future. This in turn has eventuated in retailers having to work harder to gain and retain customers.

However, all is not bad on the horizon. Consumers are slowly starting to spend again, though they are still being cautious, especially following the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) during which job security was no longer a guarantee.

In light of this change, and the increase of customers buying online, businesses are advised to assess their current revenue streams and identify ways to ensure positive buying experiences. Differentiating from the online buying experience can be a key focus for traditional retailers in their strategy to woo consumers.

“[Business owners] need to move away from ‘survival mode’ to create a positive retail environment that takes full advantage of the fact that consumers are beginning to spend again, albeit slowly and cautiously,” said Andrew Graham, national head of business solutions, RSM Bird Cameron.

“[They] need to review their current revenue streams, identify ways to expand or change revenue streams and identify the client problem solved by providing their product or service in order to attract and retain customers and build customer loyalty.”

Creating a positive customer experience motivates the customer to come back. This is the easiest way to increase sales and the overall growth and profitability of your business.

“It can cost up to six times more to win a new customer than it does to have an existing customer purchase again. This is because you invested time and money to acquire that customer for the first sale but every additional sale after that involves very little cost,” said Graham.

“Increasing the number of times your customers buy from you is possibly the easiest way to increase sales, improve profit and grow your business.”

RSM Bird Cameron’s five tips to promote customer retention 

1. Awareness and consideration

Be aware of what your customer is looking for and make sure this is what you are offering whenever you communicate with each customer and in every marketing initiative.

2. Select and buy 

Streamline your purchasing process to ensure it is as simple as possible for customers to buy from you.

3. Initial experience 

Prevent buyer’s remorse by actively engaging your customers after the initial buy. Inquire immediately about their level of satisfaction and provide information that reinforces the reason for their purchase.

4. Use, learn and support

Continue to nurture relationships with your customers at all times, including post-sale.

5. Repurchase and recommend

Engage your customers in future sales opportunities by encouraging them to recommend you. Act swiftly to correct errors or address complaints and offer an incentive for them to return.

The event will feature experts from both organisations who will deliver presentations to help local SMBs grow using digital marketing. They will be offering tips, advice, and a number of cost-effective ways for small business owners to establish an effective digital presence.

“Together, Yellow Pages and Google want to make digital marketing education more accessible to small business owners across Australia – so they can capitalise on new opportunities to attract customers and grow their business,” said Kelly Brough, Sensis Executive General Manager, Digital Partnership and Innovation.

 Digital marketing topics to be discussed at ‘Strictly Digital’ include:

• How to stand out from your competitors online

• Ways to understand the online behaviour of your customers and the best channels to reach them

• The difference between search engine marketing and search engine optimisation.

The ‘Strictly Digital’ events are being staged at local cinemas around Australia, where each Yellow Pages and Google presenter will deliver a presentation on the big screen.

• Victoria: Preston, Narre Warren and Frankston

• New South Wales: Chatswood, Parramatta, Penrith, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Tuggerah and Wollongong

• Queensland: Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Maroochydore and Robina

• South Australia: Norwood

• Western Australia: Innaloo

• Northern Territory: Darwin

A full list of dates and session times for the ‘Strictly Digital’ series is available here.

With workplaces becoming more global, more virtual and more dispersed, more companies are warming up to the idea of developing internal social networks. ESNs have the same advantages of mainstream social media channels, like easy access to data, collaboration and internal communications but are limited to business related activity.

“Both personal social networking and enterprise social networking are focused around communication and sharing of knowledge. The key difference is around context. [Social networks like Twitter and Facebook] is about a personal context, where people share personal content and have personal goals that they’re looking to achieve,” said Elouise Brennan, Portals Practice Lead, OBS.

“Whereas an Enterprise Social Network is really about the business context. It’s about sharing internal information, working out ways to improve work practices, and sharing structured knowledge from staff.”

How ESNs are different to mainstream social media channels

The widespread adoption of social media has led to more employees expecting to be able to communicate and work collaboratively via social networks. But mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter pose a number of problems:

1. Distraction

Without a doubt, if we open up our personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, something will catch our eye and we’ll be tempted to engage in conversations unrelated to work. Time will fly by before our eyes and we’ll realise how unproductive we’ve been. A lot of employers have banned social media usage in the workplace for this very reason, but this also means that they miss out on the benefits that social media conversations can have on a business.

2. Blurring the line between work information and personal information

Work information and personal information should be kept separate the same way we need to keep our work life and home life separate. It’s a matter of organisation and management, and when we pile all our information in one social media channel, it becomes cluttered and difficult to sort through. ESNs provide centralised and organised access to business related information.

3. Less discipline

We all behave differently in different environments. In the workplace, there are unmentioned rules of conduct that we’re all familiar with – very small things like your posture and tone of voice when addressing someone higher up in the professional food chain. The problem with using mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in the workplace is that over time they have become a personal environment for us, a place we feel open, and perhaps a little too comfortable. Without constant conscious effort, we may let loose and appear unprofessional in our interactions via mainstream social media.

Benefits of using ESNs

ESNs offer benefits such as improved productivity, faster internal communication and easier collaboration both within and between enterprises.

A report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) states that, “Two-thirds of the value creation opportunity afforded by social technologies lies in improving communications and collaboration within and across enterprises.”

MGI estimates that the average interaction worker spends 28 percent of the work week managing emails and 20 percent searching for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks.

With internal social networks, ‘messages become content’, ‘a searchable record of knowledge’ that increases efficiency and productivity through faster access to information.

The greater flexibility that workers are offered when engaging and collaborating with each other via ESNs means that time and location is no longer a hindrance – especially for businesses collaborating across different cities and countries.

“The key benefits that we’re starting to see at the moment is really around how organisations are starting to structure themselves. More and more, we’re seeing organisations where staff or teams are working in different locations. There are international time differences between teams. Staff are working from home more so there’s greater flexibility with their personal lives. Through Enterprise Social Networks, people are able to build relationships without face-to-face meetings that we were previously needed. It’s about building a culture where people might not necessarily be in the same office,” said Brennan.

Factors to consider before implementing ESNs

1. Culture fit

If sharing information and collaborating is not already a significant part of a business, then ESNs will not provide any benefits. It is designed for businesses that depend on interaction between workers.

“If an organisation is very closed, where [people] don’t share a lot in their day-to-day work, you can’t just give them an online tool and expect them to use it. It really needs to be a culture that fits that kind of sharing mentality already and for them to just have another technology to share and communicate through,” said Brennan.

2. Past experience in social networking

Although social networking has become a global phenomenon over the past decade, it doesn’t mean that everyone has adopted it in their day-to-day lives. Introducing new tools requires educating those who have to use them.

“You can never assume that all staff have experience with social networking tools in their personal life. When you’re implementing a social tool in an enterprise, you really need to think about what level of experience people will be able to have with these tools. Would they be able to pick it up straight away? Will they need support in understanding how to get benefits from these tools?” said Brennan.

3. Understanding the difference between personal social networking and business social networking

If workers use ESNs the same way they use Twitter and Facebook then it defeats the entire purpose of the tool – which is to limit social networks to business related activity.

“You need to have [your workers] understand that in a business context, it is about sharing information and building relationships with staff members, not fun, personal information that you would share on personal social networks,” said Brennan.

Key points to remember when building an internal social network

1. Focus on business objectives, not on technology

ESNs should not be used merely for the sake of implementing an exciting new social technology. There should be a clear purpose that is identified well in the early stages.

“[Businesses] need to shift their focus away from the technology. Really what they should be focusing on is delivering their business objectives and finding places where social technologies would really benefit the organisation in some way. Having a clear understanding of why you are delivering a social network, I think is absolutely crucial. Not only do people understand why you’re doing it but are much more likely to engage with it,” said Brennan.

2. Executive support and encouragement for ESN users

While some workers will have a natural affinity to using social technologies, other may need a push.

“There are obviously going to be people in the organisation who are naturally interested in this kind of technology or this kind of business tool. By having them, support them and drive them, will really help people understand how they can use the tools and what they can get out of them,” said Brennan.

“We also highly recommend executive support. Executive support in an organisation is absolutely essential, not only in the way that they’re just verbally endorsing the solution, but also in terms of actively engaging with the social network, encouraging staff to communicate through the network.”

3. ESNs not an end point, but a tool to help reach business goals

ESNs won’t do the work for you – but it will help you accomplish goals more efficiently.

“Enterprise social networks should not be used as an end point. It really is a stepping stone in a journey to achieve effective knowledge-sharing and management in an organisation. It’s essential to deliver it correctly and communicate key benefits,” said Brennan.

StudyBooster takes a spin on this idea by using financial incentives to motivate students to achieve their goals. According to a 2010 Harvard study, paying students to learn has proven to be highly effective. Putting the financials aside, the program can get students in the habit of setting goals correctly and successfully.

The process goes like this. Students simply go on the website studybooster.com, they take a few minutes to create their profile and set an academic goal with a definite end date. Goals can range from getting an A at a particular subject, to having good attendance or doing a certain number of hours of homework each night.

This is then shared with parents, family and friends via social media such as Facebook, Twitter or email. They are invited to sponsor the student in achieving that goal. Once the student achieves that goal, the funds will be released. If the student doesn’t achieve the goal, the sponsors have the opportunity to get a refund or to donate the money to charity.

StudyBooster will take 2 percent of the StudyBoost amount and donate it to the charity organisation, Save the Children. Dominic Bressan, co-founder of StudyBooster said “Save the Children is a highly reputable charity that has great programs to help fund new school development and help less fortunate students to learn.”

It’s not surprising that parents would be skeptical in participating. Will this program teach students the mentality that they are studying for the sake of money and not to learn?

Jorden Minos, the other co-founder of StudyBooster answers that “certainly study booster may not work for every student. It’s a tool that can be used to assist and motivate students with subject areas that they may not be particularly interested in or motivated in.”

Many parents are happy to set a financial reward to help their children study.

And Bressan believes it’s not just mums and dads. He says, “It’s a chance for your grandparents, aunties, uncles and everyone else to get involved in helping your education. It gives them a chance to see you set your goals and progress through school. We found that it was particularly relevant to overseas students who have their friends and families back home. It gives them the chance to stay connected and allow those abroad to be involved with the student’s academic journey.”

At the moment, StudyBooster is raising capital to fund opportunities, additional features and further developments. Bressan’s advice to start-ups is to “choose your co-founders wisely. You spend a lot of time working with these guys, so if you don’t like or trust them, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Australia’s customer experience research and consultancy specialists, Fifth Quadrant, recently set out to explore the evolution of social media, web chat and smartphone apps as customer service channels.

The results of the study suggests that the disconnect between consumer use and business expectations may in part be occurring because the two groups are looking to connect with each other in all the wrong places.

Twitter was found to be the leading social network used by businesses, with over three-quarters delivering customer service through this channel in the past three months. Company blogs, websites and online communities were tied in second place, followed by Facebook. YouTube and LinkedIn were also found to be commonly used customer service channels among businesses.

On the other hand, the number one choice for customer service engagement among Australian consumers is Facebook, followed by online forums and YouTube. Popular networks including Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the least popular options, with over seven in ten consumers stating they “rarely” or “never” turn to them for customer service purposes.

The highest user of social media for customer service is Generation Y, which accounted for 46 percent of all social media customer service queries within the last three months. Second is Generation X (39 percent), followed by Baby Boomers (24 percent), and in last place, the Silent Generation (those who were born between 1925 and 1942) (16 percent).

Overall, less than one in three consumers use social media “often” when seeking customer service, but one-third (33 percent) plan to increase their use of social media for customer service within the next 12 months.

The main reasons why consumers are holding back from using social media for customer service is the perception that the channel lacks personal interaction and because of concerns over security.

While Australian companies have adopted social media for customer service purposes ahead of consumers, over half them showed a low level of preparedness in being able to effectively support the channel given future demand.

“Simply creating a new service channel then standing back and waiting for the customers to come won’t work. If organisations want to offer customer service through social media, they need to go to the networks that their customers use. They also need to treat social networks as they would any other communications channel. This means developing realistic long-term resourcing plans,” said Chris Kirby, Head of Research, Fifth Quadrant.

It is commonly thought that the key to generating raving fans is to give them an amazing customer experience.

There are two challenges here:

1. What constitutes a great customer experience; and

2. How do we give our staff some clear guidelines to follow rather than the vague message of “be nice to them”

Lucky this challenge has been made much easier by some research that uncovers how people judge an experience. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman is the founder of Peak End Theory. This theory proves that when people reflect on an experience they remember the peak moments (either good or bad) and how it ended.

What they do not do is look at the experience as a whole and average it out. We don’t measure pleasure or pain by how long it lasts, rather by the most intense feeling experienced and the impression left by the final moments. Your decision to go through an experience again or buy a product associated with it is controlled by whether there were any peak moments and how it ended.

This theory has been applied to all types of experiences. Sitting through a lecture, being sold to, watching a movie, and even going through a medical procedure. What we are looking for is peak moments of pleasure or pain and how the experience ended.

University lecturers got a far higher rating if they inserted one or two fun interactive moments for their students over the semester. Whether someone agreed to return for an uncomfortable medical procedure was also controlled by this theory.

The duration of the procedure did not feature in their decision. People who had a long drawn out procedure were more willing to return than people who had a short procedure peppered by painful moments and an uncomfortable end.

In business we often get this wrong. Our primary focus is on the first impression, how they are greeted. In contrast we need to focus on giving people a couple of wow moments and a knock out ending.

Hotels only focus on the first impression. Your bags magically appear in your room, the TV has your name on it and chocolates are waiting for you to devour them. But on check out you have to schlepp your own bags, line up with the hordes of other people, correct the bill and find your own taxi. Imagine if they made the exit as amazing as the entry.

I recently bought a car and when I picked it up I was told the car was being “detailed”. Three hours later the car turned up. The guy got out left it running and said, “Here you go.” They were much nicer to me before I signed the dotted line.

What that car yard failed to realise was that the peak moment for me was the pick up. In contrast their peak moment is when they get my money. But for me that sucks. They don’t care about the delivery of the car, but I do. If they want to create a raving fan they need to make the delivery process exceptional.

BMW have this nailed when you take delivery of a car from them, they take you into a beautiful room and unveil the car for you. To top it off they call you a week later to see how it is going.

How to use it to have more satisfied employees

It works with our employees too.

The University of Brunel showed that employees judge how satisfied they are at work by peak moments, good and bad and the most recent interaction. They do not average out the good or bad experiences over the entire time of employment. The study showed that peak moments of satisfaction were twice as powerful as any other variable in the persons decision to stay at their job.

In every interaction you have start to explore how Peak End Theory can get you a better outcome.

Ensure that you peak well and end well.

eHarmony’s newly appointed Vice President International, Jason Chuck, has always been an entrepreneurial person at heart, and when the opportunity came to build eHarmony in the Asia Pacific region right from scratch, it was an offer he could not refuse.

Since joining eHarmony in 2009, Chuck has overseen the brand’s successful launch into the Australian market, growing the number of registered users to over 1.5 million in five years and turning eHarmony Australia into the company’s most successful international business.

When launching eHarmony in Australia, were there any changes that needed to be made to the US model?

Chuck:  The tough thing about online dating is that you need to get a large number of users on board at the same time or else user experience is quite poor. So what’s great about the Australian market is that you can really segment the users.

At first, we decided to launch in Perth only, to understand whether or not the TVCs and the ads from the US, the messaging and the positioning really resonate with people here. Although the feedback was mostly positive, we realised that we need to localise the brand. So we embarked on upon a number of focus groups, user research and a lot of testing on digital channels. We found out pretty early on that, although eHarmony is about long-term relationships, the science, the compatibility indicated that we needed to focus more on the journey (of a relationship) as opposed to just the destination. Parading happy couples on TV was a little too much for Australians, they wanted to understand more about the shared experiences.

But overall, I think our take on media has been quite different. We’ve been quite innovative in terms of how we localise for every metro, every region in Australia. We broke away from the US, probably about a year into our existence, especially when it comes to creative execution. So we film all of our ads locally using local talent and we’ve just been great at doing that cost-effectively for a much smaller market. I think small innovations have a huge impact in the end.

What are some of the main differences between Australians and people from other countries in terms of their dating habits?

Chuck: Every country is different. Before we launched in Australia, we researched local couples and tried to identify and understand nuances because it’s really important to understand the people that you’re targeting and the cultural factors that influence what they value. When I launched eHarmony in Japan, I was amazed with all the cultural nuances. For instance, in Japan, things like your blood type has to be a part of your profile – it’s very important to them the same way people here believe in horoscopes.

In Australia, we researched 400 couples and there were some questions we needed to insert and some questions we needed to remove in order to get a better take on certain personality traits. There were some fundamental human qualities, certain traits, that were common among people here. On a broad generalisation, Aussies prefer more shared experiences with their partners. Whereas in the US, they’re more content with a partner with whom they don’t need to share that many hobbies and experiences with as long as they come home at the end of the day, and are happy in that sense. A lot of it comes down to cultural differences and nuances, and finding out the kind of personality profiles you see more in a country, as opposed to focusing on that culture on its own.

How did you go about marketing and advertising eHarmony in Australia?

Chuck: We’re definitely a marketing-driven organisation. We use both traditional and new media to reach our audience. For instance, we have TV ads, but we also use digital channels such as SEM (Search Engine Marketing), and social networking sites for not only advertising the service but also for building up our network. We found out that a lot of people are curious to learn more about our service and how it has helped people find their lifelong partners, so we invite a lot of our success couples to come onto our Facebook page or Google+ page and share their experiences with people and give people helpful tips as well as hope because for some people the magic happens on the first date, but for others it may take seven or eight dates or six or seven months, or even if doesn’t happen we want them to understand that they can still be great friends.

But overall, we’ve just had a relentless focus on customer experience and we’re making sure that we keep a strong pulse of not just our singles, but also success couples because they’re not only the best marketing channel for us, but also the best feedback channel in terms of what’s working well product-wise, and what we can do better in terms of education. After all, it’s a complicated product and it’s a different process to what people are used to.

So what is the science behind compatibility and how are you incorporating that into eHarmony?

Chuck: It’s really about finding that balance between science and that spark, that magic. The company’s been around for over a decade and we’ve analysed tens of thousands of relationships – not only married couples, but also unmarried couples and just a wide range of relationships because we needed to have a broad spectrum of understanding.

We essentially put these couples through different types of questionnaires to understand what works and what doesn’t in that relationship. And over time, we built what we call our Compatibility Model which is part of our compatibility matching system. The dimensions of compatibility include things like your values, your energy levels, your need for sharing interests, how you resolve conflict and your sexual passions, which we realised are very important for long-term relationships.

When the user joins, we get them to fill out their profile and we compare it to the rest of the users. We pre-filter the user base at the beginning. After that, we have something called the Affinity Model and over the years, we’ve tried to understand the likelihood of communication between two matches. The Affinity Model takes into account your hobbies, your interests, which is not necessarily needed for long-term happiness but it’s going to create that spark a lot faster. So we pre-filter it again on the Affinity scale and we then pass the matches onto you and it’s up to you to choose who you’re attracted to and go on dates to find out who you have chemistry with. At this point, we can only do so much so it’s up to users to take that plunge. But we do try to encourage our users to go out and get coffee and meet the people as fast as they can.

Do you think people are more open to trying online dating these days?

Chuck: The stigma has taken a huge dent from where it was even just 3 or 4 years ago, let alone a decade ago [when eHarmony first came into existence]. As people get older and more comfortable with what the Internet can do for them, they also realise that the online space is full of normal, everyday people who are professionals. They just haven’t met anyone yet. Online dating is just another way of meeting people. It’s an extra tool in a single’s arsenal, essentially.

What other social and cultural changes have impacted the eHarmony model?

Chuck: eHarmony was originally founded by a clinical psychologist who had been analysing couples for 30+ years, and now we have a team psychologists who do the relationship research. They bring couples in and hone in on the compatibility model and are constantly tweaking it. We also have a number of partnerships with universities like Harvard, Oxford, UCLA and we work with the professors there to better understand how relationships are developing as society changes.

We found that marriage, which was a big thing 15 years ago is less of an end destination for a lot of couples these days, and we’re learning about how this may affect the relationship in terms of commitment. So we’re constantly trying to evolve and make sure that our compatibility models adapt to society. You also see a lot more of interracial relationships today and we’re researching how that may impact the relationship dynamic.

We also have a lot of machine learning in the background that is constantly analysing users’ actions on the site to help predict the Affinity side of things, in terms of what’s going to drive people to have more conversations, to take a leap and reach out to their matches.

What does the future hold for eHarmony in Australia?

Chuck: While Australia has been doing quite well, the dating market is one that is always replenishing itself. There’s always a different group using online dating services, so you can’t really rest on your laws. For us, it’s important that we keep improving the user experience as society evolves.

Right now, mobile technology is a big thing and we’re trying to understand how to leverage all of the features on a mobile device to the best use of our product, because at the end of the day we also don’t want to be too creepy and we don’t want to promote friday night flings like you often see on mobile dating applications. But a lot of our users would find it handy to have a mobile app they could use to chat with their matches. One of the products we have on the desktop is called Secure Call which allows you to telephone your matches without giving away your phone number, so maybe in the future we could turn that into video chat without giving away too much information.