Social Networking 101

Social Networking 101

• What’s social networking?

• How’s it being used?

• Business examples

• What might be in it for us?

Agenda

What is social networking?

Wikis

Podcastsdelicious

WIKIPEDIA

What’s All The Fuss About?

Lots of buzz about social networking

Over-30 perception:

For young people

Mostly useless babble

“Hip factor” driving it

Not much business application

Fad - people & companies jumping on

bandwagon

What’s All The Fuss About?

Another View:

Fundamental shift in way we communicate, buy, and work

Not a fad – not going away

Represents 20% of Internet time

No longer optional:

Customers are asking for it

Competitors are using it

Impt service & relationship building opportunities

What’s different about social networking?

Space defined by media owner Space defined by

consumer/client

Brand in control Consumer/client in control

One way, brand speaking Two way, a conversation

Repeating the message Adapting the message

Focused on brand Focused on consumer/client

Entertaining Involving

Brand creating content User created content/co-creation

Traditional media Social Networking

What is social networking?

Community of people tied together by interest, product,

service, event

A conversation among customers, business partners,

employees

For individuals, value is in their community

For companies, value is in harnessing the community

Business Benefits of Community

Inexpensive product research Idea contributions Inexpensive customer support Sales support Learn from customers/partners Turn customers into advocates Organize people internally or externally

delicious

What is social networking?

Podcastsdelicious

WIKIPEDIA

Wikis

What is social networking?

Podcastsdelicious

WIKIPEDIA

Wikis

Blogs

Short for WeBLOG

Website maintained by individual(s)

Regular commentary, may include graphics or videos

“Bully Pulpit” for anyone

Followers respond with own commentary

Participatory journalism, user-generated content

More than 200,000,000 blogs

Corporate Blogs - Status

Most stink

Predictable & formulaic (take “humanity” out of

blogging)

Mostly oriented towards self promotion

Focus on product & service announcements

Infrequent, boring postings

Few followers or responses

Often don’t allow comments

Blog Examples

Insurance Technology

No Risk Zone

Progressive Insurance

Progressive critics

Starbucks & Anti-Starbucks

Merchants IT Service

Corporate Blogs - Questions

Who’s the intended audience?

What are the goals of the blog?

Is content customer oriented (“outside in”)?

Is it engaging?

Does it encourage dialogue?

Does it emphasize human element?

Does it avoid corporate speak?

Are there frequent postings?

Business-oriented social networking

Professional networking & prospecting

80% of companies use Linked-in for recruiting

October 2009 : 50 million members, 170 industriesOct 09

Personal Profile

“LinkedIn Profile is the future of the resume”

Company Profile

Used mainly for recruiting & brand awareness

Content editing open to all employees

Groups

Many thousands

Connect with people in industry or profession

Networking & micro-blogging

service

140 character message

(“tweet”)

Roots in text messaging

58 million users (30% adults)

2 million+ tweets/day

Why ?

Personal Uses

Sharing news Variety Meeting new people Building community Real-time search Learning Entertainment

Why ?

Business Uses

Brand building Customer service Product / service feedback Monitoring trends Contests, Polls, Coupons Product / service reviews Real-time testimonials Competitive intelligence Selling

Twitter Business Accounts Multiple accounts & users Monitor keywords & trends “On Duty” notifications Tweet assignments Conversation threading Rich profiles Click tracking Tweet scheduling

Examples

ITG

Originally started for college students

3Q09 - 300 million+ active users #2 site in world behind Google

Greatest growth: age 35-49

Connect with friends & family, co-

workers,

business partners, groups

2nd most popular Facebook page is

Coke

Started & run by fans

Basic Stats

Facebook “profile” – info, photos, video

“Wall” postings, automatic notices &

comments

“Friend” & group networking

Notes, “gifts”, news feeds, events, IM

“Pages” & “Fans”

Many “apps”

Marketplace

Facebook Connect

Key Features

Target Marketing

Targeted campaigns

Customized ads

Links to other web

pages

Real-time reporting

Analytics

Refine ad & campaign

Modest cost

Analytics

Examples

For agents onlyMichael Tepedino Agency

1 billion daily views

4th most visited web site

200,000 videos uploaded every day

100,000,000 videos viewed every day

Basic Stats

Video upload & viewing

Comment, rate, responses

Video annotations & captions

Content management

YouTube Insight

Statistics by geography &

time

Key Features

Marketing

Presentations

Training

Customer service

Expert interviews

Customer testimonials

Events

Business Uses

Brand awareness – “face” to brand

Improve customer service

Move traffic to company web site

Corporate transparency

Apparent “intimacy”

Trust building

Business Benefits

Examples

Social Networking - Excuses

My customers aren’t asking for it

My competitors aren’t using it

I don’t want our mistakes announced

publicly

I don’t have the time

I don’t understand it

Social Networking – What’s In It For Us?

Communication

Engage with customers

Build our community

Attract new customers

Improve our reputation

Build our brand

Earn trust

Build customer loyalty

Social Networking – What’s In It For Them?

Networking

News & Updates

Knowledge & learning

Fun & entertainment

Supporting a cause

Sales opportunities

Product/Service

participation

Social Media Considerations

Why do we want it?

What do we hope to accomplish?

How does it fit into our strategy?

What are our goals?

What communities to target?

How will we measure success?

What are the risks?

How/who to staff it?

How do we get started?

Where to Start?

Listen – learn – experiment

First platform: a blog

Next phase: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Reach out - connect with others – gain followers

Experiment and measure

Rinse, repeat

Social media consultant