The Value of Social Media

In recent days I have read several articles questioning the value of social media. While many of their facts are probably correct, the implicit conclusion – that social media is overrated – is based on a false premise.

First we have an article from ZDNet entitled: “The hollow emptiness in social media numbers – most accounts are fake or empty.” Here, the author is says, and I quote, “With the possibility that nearly 50% of social network users could be fake or empty user accounts — this is a massive issue for social media marketing.” [emphasis from the author]

Second, Marketing Week (UK) says: “Social media “less useful” than thought.” The sub-heading says, “Almost half of consumers object to brand advertising on social networks that uses profile information, according to new research by YouGov.”

Assuming both articles are factually correct –  that empty accounts signal a problem for social media, and people generally do not like it when advertisements are shoved in their faces – both are based on a false premise.

Social media is not marketing.

Social media is a conversation.

Websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are forums to ask and answer questions, connect with brands, talk with other consumers, manage reputations, share information, engage in conversations and – perhaps most importantly – to listen.  Ultimately this conversation can, and does, lead to increased sales, improved reputation etc.  But it is not marketing in the conventional sense.

To be sure, the field faces many challenges, including how to deal with the aforementioned empty accounts.  And while the ROI of social media is oftentimes difficult to quantify, there are only two things I can be sure of:

(1) There is a real-time global conversation taking place right now on social media about topics that you are interested in; and

(2) These conversations are happening with or without you.

So, is social media overrated?  In my opinion, that is the wrong question to ask.  The right question is:  are you engaged in the conversation, or is it happening without you?

The Social Bowl

For the first time, the NFL streamed the 2012 Superbowl on the web.  Let’s all welcome them to 2008!  Since I am not a sports fan, I figured I would watch the game on TV and online simultaneously and compare the two experiences from a social media perspective.  Ah, ADHD nerdiness.

Image source: http://aaronmorsevoice.com/2011/02/15/social-media-and-sports/

There were definitely some good points to the online version. They offered a multi-angle feature where you could view the game from several different vantage points in a small window while watching the game on the main screen.  You could also make one of those angles your main view if you wanted.   That was kinda cool.  And there was a live Twitter feed which streamed commentary from Jimmy Fallon (?) and someone named “Tafoya, Florio” (???).  It also allowed you to ask questions to Mr./Mrs. Florio via Twitter, for what that’s worth.

Also, the online version provided instant access to the famed big-budget commercials.  They wisely permitted viewers to only see the commercials after they were broadcast.  No cheating!  I also noticed the commercials were timed differently.  It was hard to tell if they played the same commercials on TV compared to online.  But they were definitely not timed the same.

Other than that, the online version was, frankly, disappointing.  First and foremost it was hard to find the game on superbowl.com but I eventually found it on nbc.com.  Why wasn’t the biggest NFL event of the year streamed directly on the front screen of the NFL website?  Hello McFly!  Anybody home?  And apparently they sealed off the non-US market.  I’m sure the NFL had a reason for doing this.  But given the potential for global growth, could it possibly have been a good reason?

Additionally, the online interface lacked substantial fan interaction.  When the internet facilitates interactivity (i.e. it becomes more social) more people use the medium.  Such interactivity was almost non-existent on the nbc.com website, other than the ability to ask “Tafoya, Florio” (again, ???) a question.  Indeed, I found monitoring, and commenting on, my Facebook and Twitter feeds to be much more enjoyable than watching the game itself.

The website also said Twitter predicted “Giants 55%, Patriots 45%” without explaining what that meant, where the metric came from or anything.  More detail and context would have been appreciated.

Perhaps most disappointing was the one-minute time delay online.  People monitoring their Twitter feeds while watching the game online would find out what happened on Twitter a full minute before seeing the play.   Since a minute in Twitterland may as well be a lifetime, more needs to be done to improve real-time streaming.

As a non-sports fan I found this to be the best Superbowl ever: not because it was a good game (which it was) but because I spent the entire time in hyper-ADHD mode, bouncing back and forth from the TV to Twitter to Facebook, jotting down notes and nom nom noming on snacks.  Sadly, it was an interactive experience which the NFL did little to facilitate.  Social media offers an interactive platform that TV simply cannot compete with.  The NFL could, and should, capitalize on this opportunity.

Of course the big question remains:  did the NFL, NBC and/or the advertisers make more money because the Superbowl was streamed online?  When I hear something I’ll let you know.  Meanwhile professional sports need to come into the 21st century and, at the very least, allow fans to subscribe to their favorite games online.  Otherwise they look like dinosaurs.  And they need to make their online interface more social.  That way, people will want to visit their website.  In the long run this will, ahem, make them more money.

The best part of online streaming?  They did not broadcast the Halftime show.  Good Lord, what was that?  Anyone?

Don’t Do This on Twitter, Part Duh

(Note: I was going to call this Part Deux, but this one takes The Duh cake.  Mmmmm, cake.)

So my significant other and I went to a local bar/restaurant to watch the 49ers game, she being a San Francisco native.  In the middle of the game they switched bartenders.

Unbelievably, this new fellow ignored us:  he did not ask us if we wanted anything, never refilled our water glasses (!!!) and completely disregarded us for over an hour.   We had never seen, or heard, of anything like this. Rightfully furious, the Sig Oth Tweeted her disappointment, saying:

Bar X then favorited that Tweet.

Yup, you read that right:  this bar decided that her criticism, broadcast to over 100 million active Tweeters, is one of their favorite things.

Wow.  It is not every day that I find myself with a loss of words.  This is one of those days.

What can you do if you get criticized on any social media site?  For starters, here is what you should not do:

(1) DO NOT FAVORITE THAT CRITICISM.  

(2) DO NOT DELETE THE COMMENT. (Some tools, like Yelp, do not allow you to delete criticism anyway.)  If you can delete the comment and do so, you are sending the message that you do not care. And you are missing an opportunity to improve your brand.

(3) DO NOT IGNORE THE PERSON WHO IS CRITICIZING YOU.  Ignoring the comment implicitly validates the criticism.

What should you do?

Engage that person in a conversation!  For instance, you can reply with, “I am sorry you feel we did not provide 100% customer service.  What can we do to make things right?”  and/or “Please call us so we can talk about this.”

Remember: social media is not really marketing.  Rather, it is a conversation:  a place to listen, manage your reputation, connect with people worldwide about myriad topics and turn criticism into an opportunity to improve your business and enhance your brand.

So if you are facing a social media challenge, don’t ignore it.  While you’re at it, don’t brag about it either.

Don’t do this on Twitter

Here’s a great example of how not to use Twitter.

In an effort to further engage in the conversation on Twitter, I followed a whole bunch more people.  Sadly, one of them was this fellow, who thought it would be totally awesome to post at least 30 Tweets in a row.  I tried to zoom out as much as possible but I still couldn’t capture every Tweet he sent in a burst. I quickly unfollowed him.

So yeah, if you are looking to use Twitter, or any social media tool, it is important to engage in the conversation, not just talk about yourself. Especially 30+times in a row.

Social Media Marketing? Not quite

The interwebs are chock full of articles about Social Media Marketing.  Indeed, every day it seems I am inundated with articles featuring Five Amazing Tips to Increase your Social Media Presence.

The below infographic illustrates the mindset of many such emails I receive:

Clever, but not quite right

In my opinion, using Social Media to simply talk about yourself misses the point.  What makes Social Media different than, say, a newspaper advertisement, is that Social Media enables you to listen to what people are saying and engage in conversations relevant to you and your potential customers.

So instead of using Social Media to promote your company, treat Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn like huge, interactive phones.  In addition to talking about your business, join groups to speak to potential customers, listen to what they are saying and discuss relevant issues.  In this way, you’ll gain credibility as well as increased sales.

Got Hacked? Here’s what you can do.

Recently I have noticed a spike in the number of email and Facebook accounts which have been hijacked.  Indeed a day doesn’t seem to go by that I don’t receive an email from a colleague insisting that my personal, private parts are woefully inadequate and require immediate remedy by clicking on that link.  It remains unclear why my friend in Denmark would care about said personal, private parts on the other side of the Atlantic, but hey, maybe he really does care about his good friend’s, er, welfare.

Also, several people have sent me IMs via Facebook, exhorting me to click on a link of a picture they found of me using the aforementioned personal private parts in an inappropriate and not-too-private manner, and OMG I really have to see it to believe it.

Uh huh.

Internet security remains a big problem, and a little common sense can go a long way to protecting your online presence.  Here are a few steps you can take to combat online abuse.

(1) If you get a suspicious message, contact the person whose account was hacked and tell them to change their password.  If your account was hijacked, immediately change your email and computer passwords.

(2) If your or your friend’s Facebook account has been hacked, you can report it here.

(3) Only purchase items on trusted, secure websites. Pay with escrow accounts if possible.  If you get an email from ebay or Amazon, please make sure the link you are being taken to is in fact that site and not some mirror site.

(4) My good friend runs a website called Stop Badware, the premiere community and information clearinghouse for Internet security threats.

Please note I am not an Internet security expert, and this is by no means an exhaustive list.  There are many more steps you can take to protect yourself online.  Nonetheless surfing the web safely requires that you pay attention to what you are doing, just like if you were driving a car.

What else can you add to this list?

Thoughts on Social Media

These days companies are scrambling to understand what social media is and how they are supposed to use it.  The first question many business leaders may ask is, “How can we use social media?”

While logical, that’s not quite right in my opinion.  Instead, the first question should be, “What are my business objectives, and how can social media help me meet those objectives?”

Social media is a tool and can be used in many ways.  The analogy I like to use is a hammer.  A hammer can be used to install a window or break one.  Similarly, social media can be used to get you new clients or ding your reputation.

So the first thing you need to do is understand what you are trying to do:  do you want to recruit better candidates?  Improve your sales and marketing?  Bump up your website on Google search?  Enhance employee communication?  Something else?

Next you’ll need to get your messaging together, which I will discuss in a later post.  Meanwhile feel free to add your comments below about this new and exciting field.

More Social Media Abuse

Recently I launched a new website/company, SynergiSocial, focusing on social media training for people who have never used social media before.  Apparently I need to expand my scope of services to experienced technical people who can’t keep their e-traps shut.

First there is this gem about a guy trashes the city of Memphis on Twitter while visiting FedEx which is located there.  This condescending Tweet could have cost Ketchum a multi-million dollar contract.  Then I came across this post describing how, after accepting a job at Cisco, some guy Tweeted that he hated the job before even starting.

Folks, social media is not about you; it’s about everyone else who reads what you put out there, which is why it’s called social media and not me me me me media.  I previously wrote a blog post about topics people should generally avoid posting to Facebook and Twitter.  I didn’t think I had to say this but apparently I do:  in addition to the other things I listed in the earlier blog post, DON’T trash your employers, employees, clients, enemies or friends on social media.  The Internet has a long and unforgiving history, and these postings will probably end up biting you at some point down the line.   This is especially true in a terrible economy.

So please be careful when using your social media.  A good rule of thumb is to use your outside voice:  if you wouldn’t say something in polite company or at a dinner party, why would you put it on the Internet for the whole world to see?

iFail

At long last, today is finally here.  I will never forget today, because something unbelievable happened.

Did aliens finally arrive on Earth?  Have scientists discovered a cure for cancer?  Is there evidence proving, or disproving, the existence of God?

No, the Beatles are on iTunes.  This, my friends, was Apple’s big announcement, the thing they promised that would make today the day I never forget.

I’m not sure if I have anything to say here.  This is so pathetic, such a monumental flop, such a marketing fail of Appleian proportions that I fear saying anything at all would validate Apple and make them continue doing stupid stuff like this.  If this isn’t an iFail I don’t know what is.

This does leave me with a philosophical question:  if Steve Jobs makes a sound in the forest with everybody around to hear it, will anyone care?

Here We Go Again — More Hype From Apple

Today I discovered that  tomorrow will be a day I will never forget.  Like, ever.  How could I possibly know that I will never forget tomorrow when tomorrow isn’t even today yet?  Because Steve Jobs told me so!

Clearly, Apple has not learned anything about overhyping their stuff:  the iPad was mockingly compared to the Ten Commandments (no, seriously), the iPhone4 turned into an iFail before it was discovered to have problems, er, making phone calls, and so forth.

I can’t believe I have to tell this to an adult, but here it goes.

Dearest Steve Jobs: have you ever read The Boy Who Cried Wolf?  Yes?  Well, re-read it on your iPad or whatever.  You are that boy, and I don’t care about your wolves.   Your announcements do not resonate with me forever, other than in mockery or contempt.  Additionally, I don’t like being told about things I’m supposed to remember by anybody, much less some corporate brand.

I’ve had many experiences which I will never forget.  There was the time I was nearly run over by a giant pig.  (No, seriously.)  I remember the first time I set foot on African soil.  And there are far more personal memories which I will not share on this blog.  Of all my memories, both good and bad, none of them involved Apple or any kind of corporate announcement. Like, ever.

So ease off the rhetoric a little, yeah?  You’re starting to give me a rash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35105284/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/38793374