Is Your Company Making the Most of Social Media?
July 21, 2010
Choosing a Social Campaign
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Youtube, any corporation who decides to take their business aboard the World Wide Web should take a long, hard look at their social media campaign to see if it’s returning value. Many companies get on board a social networking site and expect a one hundred fold return almost immediately, as if just setting up an account was all they needed to do.
Growing the social side of a business requires focus and a dedicated effort to the process.
Social Media for Individuals
Becoming familiar with and participating on social media outlets can be a lot of fun. Interacting with people online who have the same interests and opinions can be a satisfying experience. Facebook for instance currently has over 400 million users online and are steadily growing. People join Facebook, send Tweets and update their photos to Flickr so they can be a part of what’s going on with their friends and family.
Social Media for Businesses
Part of the attraction for businesses to get on board social networking sites is the audience exposure that is available online. Social networking for individuals is a definite boon, however for businesses, social media outlets and interacting goes far beyond entertainment. It goes to the heart of why and how the business develops their brand online. When businesses begin building their brand and image, they need creative ways to make an impact on their demographics. Effective social media strategies are the key to unlocking the power of the system and getting it to work in their favor.
Maximizing the Outlets
Joining social media outlets is the first step. Finding relevant social outlets is very important. Many businesses will simply join each and every social media platform that becomes available, thinking that the more they’re a part of, the more exposure they will get. This is not necessarily so, which is why choosing the right ones to join should be a relevant issue, and more important than choosing what’s popular. For instance, for a photography business, a social platform like Flickr would be more relevant than a platform that did something completely unrelated to photography. This allows the media department to make better use of their resources and time spent on branding their image than if they joined and tried to work a platform that didn’t match the business’ personality.
After identifying the most profitable platforms for money expenses and time investment, it becomes important to work the platforms. This varies according to what platform you choose, but the basics are the same:
- Interact as often as possible, preferably once a day, no less than four or more times per week. This can be managed by one person or an entire media department.
- Post links to blog posts and articles that will appeal to your audience. Don’t oversaturate – just post the good ones.
- Be genuine in your feedback to others. They will learn to respect you and pay attention to what YOU say as well.
What are some things that you’ve done to increase your social networking exposure? What would you as a corporate entity add to the list of things to ensure that your company was successful in the social arena?
Begin With a Tweet? Foraying Into the Social Media Landscape
July 15, 2010
At 140-character increments, marketing your business has never been so easy. Twitter has made it simple and exciting for companies and individuals to interact, network and brainstorm on its platform.
How does social media fit into the grand scheme of things? How can a simple tweet change the way a media department is perceived?
Corporate Networking
Creating an environment that is conducive for social networking can be a challenge for some corporations. Perhaps many of the corporate executives think that the whole “social networking” thing is a fad that will pass. How can they be convinced otherwise? Sometimes, trying to convince corporate directors that a popular idea will work, doesn’t always work. Rhonda Sloan of American General Life Companies found out the hard way, but also found a way around the “no’s” to navigate her way to a “give us more” and at the same time, develop a strong company social media platform that saw growth. On average, public relations specialists may not have that degree of perseverance, but in the end, it can pay off in a big way.
Entertainment Networking
One fairly recent example of the power of social networking was when a Facebooker campaigned to get actress Betty White on the New York, USA-based comedy show, Saturday Night Live. The entertainment community was all abuzz about having the actress to appear and through Facebook and fans rallying to make it happen, the network decided to go ahead and have Betty White host the show. It was one of the most entertaining and impressive examples of the power of social networking seen yet. And, Betty White wasn’t too shabby on the show either!
Incorporating the Two
Although the corporate landscape and the entertainment world are two totally different, distinctively separate types of media, they both work on the same premise.
People.
Both genres need people-power to work, but the biggest difference in the two is the way that you get them to work, or to be effective. It may not be appropriate to have your company executive appear on a comedy-sketch show. It may not be the best idea to have a comedian give your corporate sales-team a virtual webinar either. But some way, somehow, there is a method to lift from both genres the things that work best and incorporate them into your media relations package.
What do you think would work best? I’ve come up with a very short list of the things that I feel would be conducive to it working, but I’d love to hear what you think also.
- Be creative, genuine. Don’t re-invent the wheel, just put your own spokes on it. Do something that hasn’t been done before, with your corporate personality on it.
- Utilize available resources. There’s no need to incur additional expenses. Use what’s at your disposal. Accounts with social networking platforms are free, upgrades at additional costs are optional.
- Engage the audience. Ask readers what they think and what they’d like to see. You’d be surprised at their responses and likely to get ideas as well.
Tell me what else you think would be ideal for social media outreach to work. What tools does your company use?
Is Monitoring Facebook a Good Idea? China’s Approach to Social Monitoring
May 7, 2010
Who’s watching you as you Facebook,Twitter and go on LinkedIn to talk to your friends and colleagues? Every word you type may be closely monitored if you live in China. They have recently begun new developments in their approach to social networking and the online community where they will start monitoring all social web activity.
According to this article by The New York Times, China has formed a special bureau that was organized solely for the purpose of monitoring social networking sites. They’re expected to watch and look for suspicious activity, study what the trends are and generally see what people are talking about. They are also tasked with regulating and monitoring online businesses and to spot any irregularities or oddities that may exist. There are mixed feelings as to whether or not this is a good idea.
The new bureau marks the latest outgrowth to a morass of agencies tasked with regulating online business and communications in China. (Source)
How will this new condition affect individuals who are constantly online and frequent social networking sites. How will this new bureau affect the way businesses do business?
As for individuals, there will likely be a decrease in their social web activity, or maybe they will watch what they say while they’re online. It may be that the Chinese government is not necessarily looking for anything in particular. Or are they? Most monitoring authorities employ these types of networks to search for certain patterns, activities or styles of communicating. It doesn’t always have to be bad activity, but their search and monitoring is diligent nonetheless.
Foremost, businesses will begin to monitor more closely what they put on their sites and how they engage their audiences. Businesses are going to be more concerned about profitability and their perceived involvement with other business entities. Again, although there may not be any cause for alarm in this area, there may still be slight apprehension with their business dealings.
What do you think about China’s new committee on social network monitoring? Do you think it’s something to be cautious of or that it’s not anything to worry about? How would you feel if your personal or business site were monitored? What is your comfort level on having your conversations monitored or monitoring someone else’s? Please share your opinion with me. Thanks!
Corporate Social Media Relations Challenges
April 12, 2010
Corporations face many of the same challenges as any other business. They too have issues in human resources, finance, management, administration, marketing, etc. There are often entire departments dedicated within these groups to deal with issues that arise. There may be “think teams” assembled to tackle the challenges that corporations face and to come up with a resolution to the problems.
The Internet Factor
With the popularity of the internet, there is a new challenge that corporations may also face. This challenge is in the area of social media and/or media relations and finding the cohesion with their corporate structure. The internet is a wonderful tool, but it can also be an overwhelming resource for corporations who may not be ready to face the issues that it presents.
For instance, corporations have sales teams that pitch and deliver their product or service to potential clients. Issues often arise in sales that may require the salesperson to visit the client. There may be a need to replace a product or to assess the level of customer service and quality on their account. These things can often be remedied with a person-to-person sales call or manager’s meeting. However, if the corporation is also doing business online, how does the salesperson make the uneasy online client feel confident in their buying choice? How can they smooth over a client who has received the wrong product, or worse, been over-billed for a service?
What can an online corporate structure do to meet the challenges that technology presents? While there are no hard rules to resolutions to corporate issues, there are a few guidelines that may work. They may not fit every situation or every corporation, but they can be applied to most any online situation.
Find the social media outlets that work
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or your in-house marketing team, find a social presence that matches your company’s personality. This is important in establishing yourself as a viable online presence and finding the customers for your product or service. All social media outlets work on the same premise but in different ways. Do you want to share photos? Share news stories? Interact with customers? Determine the outlet that best fits the corporation’s persona and maximize its usage.
Set measurable goals
It’s arguable that it’s hard to measure productivity through media relations efforts. How do you know if people are responding to your pitch or if they were just in the right place at the right time? Instead of looking for determinable milestones, measure goals internally. For instance, set goals to establish and grow your customer forum for feedback. You can gauge satisfaction results from the forum as well as tweak areas of needed improvement based on the client’s interaction and feedback.
Create trust
Nothing creates trust more than consistency. It is important to be consistent in all things related to social media relations and your target market. Especially when it comes to online functions, it is imperative to create a trusting relationship that your readers can depend on. Keep a consistent schedule of posts, e-newsletters and regular announcement. Readers and customers learn to trust you when they see that you are consistent in keeping your word in all facets of your marketing efforts.
Another important consideration would be to target those who are the decision-makers or the influential leaders. This may not necessarily be someone who is directly involved in media production, but someone who has the authority to make decisions. It may be difficult to find who your key contact is, but make diligent efforts to do so and communicate with them as much as possible without being overbearing.
What are some challenging social media issues that you’ve experienced in your corporate culture? What steps,if any, have you taken to remedy the situation?
How to Avoid Hurting Your Social Media Image
March 30, 2010
On Thursday, March 11, 2010, CNN.com published a news piece about how a soldier possibly leaked covert information about a military operation that could have tipped off the enemy and given them an advantage over what they were trying to accomplish. Here is a blurb of what the soldier blogged:
“On Wednesday, we are cleaning up (the village). Today – arrest. On Thursday, God willing, we will be home,” the soldier, who was not identified, posted on the social networking site, according to IDF. (Source: CNN.com)
No Harm, No Foul?
![Image Source [sxc.hu]](http://www.corporate-eye.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/socialnetworkingcorporate-eye-300x225.jpg "socialnetworkingcorporate-eye")
The division commander of the unit decided to cancel the operation altogether rather than risk any undue harm or surprise attacks from their enemy. The soldier was reprimanded for stepping out of line and divulging information that could hurt people and plans. Although it wasn’t a very smart move, wouldn’t you say that the soldier was just doing what the rest of online socialites and news hounds are doing? He was just reporting the news, what he saw, how things looked and what could be next. Surely there is no harm in that….is there?
Evidently there WAS some harm in what the soldier posted on Facebook, enough to have him sentenced to ten days imprisonment and for the entire operation to be scrapped. I’d say it was pretty darned serious and harmful.
Corporate Sites Should Tread Lightly
Although social sites like Facebook and Twitter are enormously popular and beneficial for businesses, there are some rough, unwritten (in most cases) guidelines that online businesses and corporate media departments should observe in order to avoid embarrassing situations like these. It’s also to ensure that the best quality and accurate information is provided in every post and in every communication that is made with their customer.
The soldier reported the facts, plain and simple. There wasn’t any conjecture or opinion, but he updated his Facebook status based on what he saw at the time. The only thing that was inaccurate here, if there can be such a thing, is that the IDF soldiers are prohibited from posting, tweeting and updating their status or in any other format that contains classified information. That’s also plain and simple, however it seems that the soldier refused to acknowledge that guideline nugget. As for corporate media departments, cases like this can also happen and can cause just as much embarrassing and sometimes irrevocable damage. How can this be avoided?
1. Corporate media employees
Assign one to two persons only in your corporate media department to work the social media angle and get news stories published on your website. There can and should be a committee if necessary, but only allow key individuals to actually make the posts or upload them to the site. This gives the site’s editors time to review the piece and make sure that it represents the corporate entity accurately and positively. Had someone reviewed the soldier’s post beforehand…
2. Develop Posts
Be clear to the editors what kinds of posts you want to represent on your site. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that they should “know”, but actually spell out to them your expectations and quality level that you expect. Although the soldier may have been aware of his disregard, it was too late after he had posted it. By making sure that everyone understands what is and what is not acceptable can save you a lot of grief and embarrassment for future times.
3. Resource Availability
Limit availability to networking resources within your department. Allow the writers and online executives to be themselves of course, but have a system in place that will block and allow the parameters that you set. For instance, do you prefer to read ALL blog posts before being published? Set this up so that there are several sets of eyes on the post before it goes live to the social networking sites.
Embarrassing situations can happen to any company, especially online. Has anything like this or similar to this ever happened in your corporate media department? How did you handle it? What guidelines does your corporate structure have in place regarding social media and how to handle situations when they arise?
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