Month: February 2013

Looking to the future of social media by looking to the past

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As we round the bend to the end of another term of learning and applying the principles of social media marketing, I wonder what the future will bring to the social media world. I have spoken to my classes about the history of Marketing, the emergence of social media, and how we utilize social platforms and tools for B2C and B2B. But, now we need to consider what new tools, processes, trends, and gaps could appear as social media becomes more pervasive, effective, and required in business.

In the future, I think we will see a further evolution of how we produce and consume marketing messages as well an increase in the value of information produced via social (for business and consumers). Some points to consider:

Tribes

I believe the future of social media can be seen by looking to the past. Humans by nature are social creatures, however we have spent years relying on mass media. As time has passed, we are now relying less on mass media and more on our peers: we are once again turning to one another. Consider your friends on Facebook or those you follow on Twitter. Via social, I have surrounded myself with like minded people that I can have a symbiotic relationship with. Many of the folks I follow on Twitter I follow because I can learn from them and I value the content they produce.

Relevancy

Relevant connections, content, and communications will remain increasingly important in order to cancel out the “noise”. As consumers continue to be bombarded with tweets, status updates, mobile marketing messages and the like, it will be paramount for these communications to be relevant, timely, and personalized. This is true for the business as well. I see the future of social including smaller more niche social groups organized by brands to further identify consumer needs, research, and for crowdsourcing purposes.

Social CRM

If your business is on a social platform and engaging, good for you. If you are not utilizing it to facilitate customer service, shame on you. Obviously, this will take some planning on your part to prepare staff and get processes in place for customer service inquiries. Nevertheless, the benefits far outweigh the costs in this situation. Consider the company who is “on Twitter” and ignores customer inquiries made via tweets. This is the equivalent of having a customer at your business, asking you a question (with a store full of other customers and potential customers) while you stand there not listening with your hands covering your ears.

We have seen an evolution in Social Media. For those, like me, who have been on the social platforms for over 7 years… look at how LinkedIn and Twitter have changed. LinkedIn is becoming more Spammy and irrelevant (aka more like Facebook) with more users that are not as professionally invested and Twitter is now my go to source for the most up to date news. Leveraging socials “best self” is a worthwhile endeavor for business. However, there are still many challenges ahead as we embark in a new era of business and marketing where social no longer stands on its own but is part of the emerging digital marketing landscape.

2 Windows and 2 Apps in 20 minutes to share relevant and timely content

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The following is a brief and basic tutorial for my social media students on using 2 windows and 2 apps in 15-20 minutes to share Social Media content.

The biggest hurdle most of my first year Social Media MBA students struggle with is finding time to be involved in social media. Most of my students have families, work full time, and spend all of their free time working on their graduate degree. However, no time is not an excuse! Especially when we are studying Social Media Marketing. You MUST jump on social, observe, research, engage, and share.

Time management in social media is key!

What other topics or functions do you struggle with? Comment below!

The #Hashtag and other Basic Social Media 101 Concepts

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Previously, I shared with you 15 social media concepts to help make you a more marketable social media professional in 2013. These concepts are covered in detail throughout the three different social media graduate courses I teach. This next series of The Social Media MBA will introduce each of these concepts.

At the beginning of each term, I ask my students in my first of three levels of social media marketing courses to utilize our class wiki to list their name, blog, and Twitter handle. In the last 1.5 years (and 10 courses later), there are fewer and fewer students without a Twitter handle and LinkedIn account when they begin class. This is a great sign, and pleases me to no end! At the beginning of my journey teaching the Social Media MBA, many students had not used Twitter for personal or business purposes, with a majority not even having an account. However, I continue to spend the first week of class explaining the difference between business and personal use of social media. Many are still focused on only the personal side of Social Media. But these platforms offer so much more than sharing pictures with family and humorous memes. They offer brands a way to connect, engage, and nurture relationships with the consumer.

Concept 1: At a minimum, you should have an active Twitter account and LinkedIn account designed around your personal brand. Similarly, you should know what a hashtag is, why we use it, and how not to use or overuse it!

You cannot see what folks are doing in social media (this would include your customers) if you’re not in the trenches with them. Just as we integrate a marketing campaign for a product, you do this among social platforms. All of your social profiles should align to present a digital footprint- one that is of “you”. This may seem to be a very basic concept, but students sometime forget the over-all goals and objectives they have set for their own personal brand, and veer off into left field with tweets and blog posts. Your Twitter feed, LinkedIn profile, and blog etc. are a puzzle that when put together represents you and your brand.

Be the seeker and the sought after

Through Twitter, a user is able to search the social networking site using industry specific words to read posts, links, and even discover thought leaders for various industries. The user can follow these folks and also have relevant two-way dialogue. For example, a simple search using #smm would reveal all posts related to SMM (AKA social media marketing) using that hashtag (#), or the top posts (your choice). After viewing the posts, one can browse, follow, and network. This is a very useful took for those looking to network with others in the same field, or identify those you may wish to work for or work with. The #hashtag is a powerful tool in that it not only allows you to find the information you seek, and also allows the information/posts you share to be found.

To Hashtag or not to Hashtag?

One of the things I have noticed about the beginners in my social media courses, is the absence of a #hashtag in their tweets. I am not saying every tweet needs one, but it is a great way to filter out the noise. Your hashtags must be relevant in order to establish yourself as a credible and viable source of information. Overuse and misuse of the hashtag #pretty #much #negates # your #professionalism. Another blatant misuse of the hashtag is hijacking. Last year, we saw #McDStories hashtag hijacked and used for purposes of negative bashing of the brand as opposed to the sharing of happy moments and good things surrounding the brand. ANd now more recently Burger King and Jeep! I will admit as a social media marketer, I enjoy (for lack of a better word) seeing these scenarios because I want to see how the brand handles it. Grab a bag of popcorn and watch a live case study unfold. It is very unfortunate that there is such misuse. However, those of us in social media know once we expose ourselves via social, we open up a host of possible crisis situations that must be planned for. More on that in a few weeks.

Professional Connections

Also relevant for the social media professional is LinkedIn. This professional networking site allows you to post and view profiles. It is a great personal branding tool allowing the user to post relevant information, a photo, Twitter ID, and blog site etc. A wonderful feature LinkedIn has is that the user can make connections and be introduced through their existing network. In addition, LinkedIn offers many groups that are industry specific that can be used as a sounding board, advice, and even support. The Texas Young Professionals group would be a great place to start for my Texas students and The Social Media Strategies for Business Group for the professional interested in social media.

I am sure most of the readers of this article are already on Twitter and LinkedIn and active. Kudos. If you are not, and refuse to due to privacy issues and not wanting to go on to “yet another social platform”, I urge you to reconsider. Both Twitter and LinkedIn can be a huge asset in not only networking with like-minded folks, but also to research topics, news, and subject matter thought leaders. Similarly, it can be an asset for B2B’s to get to know prospective clients prior to meetings and to network, and for B2C’s to share valuable content and become more accessible. By no means is this an exhaustive list of benefits, but you get the idea.

Read the entire article at:
WindmillNetworking.com

Photo credit: misspixels / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

15 Social Media Concepts to Make You a More Marketable Social Media Professional in 2013

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Social media marketing know how is quickly becoming a must-have skill for marketing professionals. Approximately 73% of Fortune 500 companies have a Twitter account; 66% have Facebook Pages. However, many of these organizations lack experienced personnel to truly unleash the power of social. According to a survey by Harvard Business Review of 2,100 companies, only 12% of those utilizing media feel they use it effectively. Further, online job postings requiring social media skills have gone up 87% from 2011-2012; there is now demand for proven social media professionals. This is great news for all of my Social Media grad students! This leads me to believe that not only employers accepting social, it is now a requirement for business (a notion many of have been shouting from the rooftops). Along with this comes the need for employees who can accomplish social strategies for businesses.

Many believe that social media is simply having an active Facebook profile or Twitter feed. I assure you it is not, there is a method behind the madness! My social media MBA courses offer students the opportunity to learn and apply skills relevant to their career or career goals. These courses are part of a traditional MBA program, requiring courses in accounting, finance, management and more. Students utilize all of these classes together; not in a vacuum. They learn to be strategic and analytic. Upon their completion of the MBA with the social media marketing focus, a student should be able to demonstrate the below competencies. These are not necessarily individual skill sets, but cover a broad spectrum of skills that if used together, make the individual more proficient and marketable. These topics below are addressed more fully within the courses I teach, but are a great resource to look over and evaluate yourself. View this check-list and assess which you have conquered and which you can improve upon in 2013:
* At a minimum, you should have an active Twitter account and LinkedIn account designed around your personal brand. Similarly, you should know what a hashtag is, why we use it, and how not to use or overuse it!
* Do you know the logic behind utilizing social? Here’s a hint: Engagement. This is a broad answer, but if you have been following this blog, you should know that the common theme is “engagement” with external and internal stakeholders.
*Accept and embrace the importance of listening before you speak (via social) and having a social plan/strategy before jumping on the social media roller coaster.

Read the entire article at:
WindmillNetworking.com
Social Media Today
LinkedIn

photo credit: draggin via photopin cc
I had one of these Little Professors as a kid! Was a favorite gadget of mine!