Why business should join the social media conversation
Social media has redefined the rules of marketing your business and communicating with customers. But with so many new tools available, how can SME owners effectively utilise them to meet business objectives?
1. What is social media?
It is irrefutable that technology has had a profound impact on the business environment over the past decade. Whether your business is a multi-national organisation, an SME or a home-based micro business, social media is the buzzword from boardrooms to kitchens. Yet, not since the introduction of the printing press has there been an intervention that has potential to revolutionise the nature of business.
It is estimated that there are currently 475 million internet users, worldwide aged between 16 and 54. Of these, 5.1 million are Australian. Social media provides businesses with the opportunity to connect directly with their customers (and suppliers), while extending their geographical reach into a broader community, creating a distinct point of differentiation from the larger organisations that are restricted by policy decisions on how to effectively respond and protect their brand.
Social media (or so-called Web 2.0 applications) such as Twitter, Skype, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, wikis, RSS (really simple syndication) and aggregation of content, social networks, photo or video sharing sites, Google searches, or web-enabled mobile phones, are empowering consumers—geographically dispersed, but connected by technology—to gather information, make choices and decisions, and interact with many people without the boundaries imposed by traditional business models.
Why has social media become so popular? The underlying concepts attributed to the rapid uptake of social media applications are:
- Ease of use (you can sign up and start participating within minutes)
- Creation of networks (you can quickly and easily connect, share and communicate with others)
- Ability to participate in a variety of ways (you can rate, review, comment, write or simply read or watch).
Social media supports conversations and interactions between people, while building a personalised social network that creates connections and allows shared experiences and shared knowledge.
2. Why should your business consider using social media?
A fundamental concept when considering integrating social media into your overall business strategy is that: The information is not important in itself—it is the relationship with other people with shared interests.
Recent research has identified a fundamental shift in the behaviours of consumers; how we research products, how we share opinions, rate and review products and the influence word-of-mouth marketing is having on purchasing decisions.
A report released by Universal McCann in September 2008 called When did we start trusting strangers? says: “The result is an influence economy that is forcing everyone in the public realm including the owners of products and brands to become more transparent, open, conversational, and honest. They have to rethink the way that influence is distributed and the role of marketing communications in an information landscape dictated by consumers.”
3. What are the risks of not taking part in ‘the conversation’?
A current case study still playing out across the social media landscape is that of the the Motrin Moms. Backlash against an advertising video on their website spread across hundreds of blog posts, Twitter streams, a dedicated Facebook group, YouTube, and the traditional media. Within two days, the crisis was almost unstoppable.
The advertisement was pulled, the manufacturers apologised, but the Moms aren’t stopping yet and it will remain to be seen how the scenario continues and how it concludes.
Follow the story here: http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2008/11/the-groundswell.html or do a Google search for current comments.
There are a number of local Australian examples currently in play, with yet to be determined outcomes. By the time a story appears in local media, it’s already gained significant attention in the social media landscape!
4. What is ‘listening’ and why is it important?
The ease of use has enabled the rise of mass influence channels where consumers share their experiences and voice their opinions, while others make comments, rate and review your products and services. The written complaint sent directly to the manufacturer has been superseded by social media platforms with a wider international audience.
The social media landscape requires a new, more conversational approach that allows a less controlled, open and transparent platform to engage with your customers and a wider audience. Your target market can be encouraged to discuss and share their thoughts openly, while businesses can become part of these conversations through actively listening and responding.
- What do you already know about your customers?
Find out what your customers are already doing online, what sites they regularly visit, what are they talking about and what information they are sharing. If you think your customers are not online already, think again! Niche communities are springing up everywhere, and all generations are now actively participating. What you need to know is where they are!
- Build a radar, not simply Google analytics
Social media monitoring can be set up by subscribing to various channels of popular sites where your customers are already participating. Use keywords or brand names to search for and subscribe to these activities. Remember, it’s not just about clicks and hits, it’s the nature of the conversations that are occurring, so simple analytics are not going to provide you with enough information to understand your customers’ behaviours.
5. What are the next steps?
Understanding the online behaviours of your target market is just the beginning! If you are serious about participating in the social media landscape, then you need to develop clear objectives and a strategy that recognises the allocation of resources, particularly your time. Starting a community, for example, then expecting lots of activity while you sit back and watch will be doomed for failure.
You can’t be expected to know everything, so working with social media consultancies who can guide you with strategy development and implementation plans is strongly advised. However, be wary of the social media “expert” who does not regularly use social media themselves.
And finally…
If we accept the premise that social media is creating a fundamental shift in the nature of engagement with your customers, then if your business strategies are to recognise this, the challenge will be how to embrace the new technological developments and embed online communication and interaction tools to empower your customers and create an enriched business with a social media landscape.
—Anne Bartlett-Bragg is managing director of social software consultancy Headshift (www.headshift.com) Australasia, which offers practical advice on how business owners can employ social media tools.
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Great post, Ann. Let me add to the conversation by taking it in a slightly different direction.
Critical to the success of any social media strategy is the TYPE of person you appoint to implement it on a daily basis. Above all else, this person needs to have a FEEL for it; they need to be more of an artist than an engineer.
Try this metaphor for size: when you think of ‘social media’, think of ‘jazz’. In particular, think of improvised jazz. Yes, there’s some structure, and some rules may be followed, but at its very heart is the ability to make it up as you go along.
The best jazz musicians have a ‘feel’ for what works; they aren’t robots enslaved by ‘methodology’. The way they play their instrument is guided by their mood … by the mood of the audience … by the atmosphere. What actually happens on that very night, in that very room, can’t be predicted. And can’t be controlled.
So it is with social media. Whoever executes your social media strategy, day to day, should have more in common with a jazz muso than a classical pianist. Both highly talented, agreed, but send the classical guy to work in Accounts.
Running an effective social media campaign is about ‘living in the moment’ … ‘going with the flow’ … ‘being in the zone’. Why? Because the fans fiddling with Facebook, and the tweeps tweeting on Twitter are all doing just that. It’s all about NOW.
Like the mood of the jazz room, trends are transient, fads are fleeting, and only the player with the gift of intuition can ‘play to the crowd’. Heard of ‘Susan Boyle’? ‘Fair shake of the sauce bottle’? ‘Utegate’? In the nanosecond world of social media, such trends skyrocket then crash and burn, while the mainstream media is still stammering, ‘What happened?’
When you’re choosing someone to make your social media campaign happen on a daily basis, if they have a clarinet in their hand, give them the job. If not, ask them if they know the meaning of ‘bohemian’ or ‘zeitgeist’. If they don’t, wish them well and shout, ‘Next!’
I can’t improvise with a saxophone; I just do it with comedy at product launches and other corporate events. But there’s always that same magic … that same warmth … when moods and ideas connect. Jokes … jazz … whatever ignites the right connections between brands and people. That’s what you’re after. You can’t hold it in your hand … you can’t exactly plan for it … you can’t really measure it. But by God you know when it’s there.
Happy improvising.
Good post.
With regard to Graeme’s note above above getting the right person to implement the strategy on a daily basis I believe that person in fact needs to be the client.
It is therefore important for the social media strategist to include training and mentoring rather than simply taking over the process for a client. Sure their skills are ‘the big picture strategy’ but everyday conversations and listening needs to occur by the client for an authentic/real dialogue to occur.
Cheers
Aside from the ease of use and mass influence, social media also offers a lot of features or application a business can take advantage of. Facebook, Twitters and so many others continue to develop apps that are helpful to your business and this is why social media is such a great tool in making your business a success.