Social media is now a major part of how people communicate online. It allows for conversations between individuals and companies on a massive scale. While many companies initially saw social media as just another marketing channel, it is actually a opportunity for public relations, customer service, loyalty building, collaboration, networking, and thought leadership if companies learn to engage authentically in two-way conversations rather than just broadcasting messages. The rules for success with social media are to listen to customers and engage with them while also measuring the impact on key metrics like audience, engagement, and loyalty.

2. Social media is like teen sex.
Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how.
When it’s finally done there is surprise it’s not better.”
Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist, Google
“
photo by Zellaby on flickr.com

3. Officially, though, social media
is not like teen sex.
* Phew!
*

4. Officially, social media is “an umbrella term
that defines the various activities that integrate
technology, social interaction, and the construction
of words, pictures, videos, and audio.”
http://www.wikipedia.org

5. It’s also
a fancy way
to describe
the zillions
of conversations
people
are having
online
24/7.
photo by Kris Hoet on flickr.com

7. BECAUSE 3 OUT OF 4 AMERICANS USE SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY.
Forrester, The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, 2008
REASON #1

8. BECAUSE 2/3 OF THE GLOBAL INTERNET POPULATION
VISIT SOCIAL NETWORKS.
Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
REASON #2

9. BECAUSE VISITING SOCIAL SITES IS NOW THE 4TH MOST
POPULAR ONLINE ACTIVITY—AHEAD OF PERSONAL EMAIL.
Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
REASON #3
photo by Bruno Girinon flickr.com

10. Because time spent on social networks
is growing at 3X the overall Internet rate,
accounting for ~10% of all Internet time.
Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
REASON #4

11. Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur
Technology is shifting the power away
from the editors, the publishers,
the establishment, the media elite.
Now it’s the people who are in control.”
Because social media is democratizing communications.
Big time.
REASON #5
“

12. BECAUSE SOCIAL MEDIA IS LIKE
WORD OF MOUTH
ON STEROIDS.
REASON #6

13. Because, dear friend, social media
is a force to be reckoned with.
photo by Balakov on flickr.com

14. 13 HOURSThe amount of video uploaded
to YouTube every minute.

15. The length of time it would take to view every YouTube video.
412.3 YEARS

16. 100,000,000The number of YouTube videos viewed per day.

17. 13,000,000
The number of articles available on Wikipedia.

18. The number of photos archived on Flickr.com as of June 2009.
3,600,000,000
That’s roughly 1 photo per every 2 people on the planet.

19. 1382%The monthly growth rate of Twitter users from January to February 2009.

20. 3,000,000
The average number of Tweets per day on Twitter.com

21. 5,000,000,000The number of minutes spent on Facebook each day.

22. 1,000,000,000The amount of content
(web links,
news stories,
blog posts,
notes,
photos,
etc.)
shared each week
on Facebook.

23. The word blog is irrelevant.
What's important is that it is now common,
and will soon be expected,
that every intelligent person
(and quite a few unintelligent ones)
will have a media platform
where they share what they care about
with the world.”
Seth Godin, Author
“

24. 5,000,000The number of active Barack Obama
supporters across 15 social networks.
photo by jmtimages (better!) on flickr.com

25. The number of views Obama’s
famous “Yes We Can” video got
on YouTube.
photo by EricaJoy on flickr.com
14,200,000
An additional 15 of the 1,800 official
and 139,000 unofficial Obama
videos received over 1 Million views.

26. The amount of money 3 Million online donors
contributed to the 2008 Obama campaign.
$6,500,000
photo by jmtimages (better!) on flickr.com

27. IF FACEBOOK WERE
A COUNTRY,
IT WOULD BE THE 8TH
MOST POPULATED
IN THE WORLD,
JUST AHEAD
OF JAPAN.
Mark Zuckerberg, January 7, 2009

28. But
wait,
there’s
more.

29. 93% OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS BELIEVE A COMPANY
SHOULD HAVE A PRESENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA.
Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008

30. Believe it or not, that doesn’t mean that 93% of social media users think
companies should treat social media as yet
another channel for broadcasting bullsh*t.

31. YOU SEE, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A DIALOGUE,
NOT A MONOLOGUE.

32. “Marketers don't understand channels
where you have to talk
and listen at the same time...
The marketing industry's idea
of a two-way communication
is to put an 800 number
or a web address in an ad
and take orders.”
Josh Bernoff, Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology, June 30, 2009

33. This couldn't be more obvious
than with email. Your company
has a chance to turn its email
list into a two-way
communication.
Except that most mass emails
from companies are "do not
reply".
"We want to talk to you,"
they say. "But we don't want
to hear back from you. Unless
you want to place an order,
and if so click here."
Josh Bernoff, Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology, June 30, 2009

34. Josh Bernoff, Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology, June 30, 2009
“
photo by Jamie Mellor on flickr.com
The people in charge of talking are in the marketing
department.
The people in charge of listening are in the research
or service or sales department.
They hardly ever talk to each other, let alone have
full-duplex conversations with customers.”

35. This won't fly in social technology
because the minute you talk,
people expect you to listen.
And if you start to listen,
you'll be tempted to talk.
It's a full-duplex channel that
befuddles one-way marketers.”
Josh Bernoff, Why marketers have trouble with full-duplex social technology, June 30, 2009
“

36. FACT:
Social media
playtime
is over.
*See http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47665,00.html for more on that topic.
*

37. SO, PLEASE.
*C’mon, I said please.
STOP PLAYING AROUND &
GET SERIOUS
ABOUT HARNESSING
THE POWER OF THIS THING.
*

38. 85% of social media users believe that a company
should go further than just having a presence
on social sites and should also interact
with its customers.
Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008

39. For companies,
resistance to social
media is futile.
Millions of people are
creating content for the
social Web.
Your competitors
are already there.
Your customers have
been there for a long
time.
If your business isn't
putting itself out there,
it ought to be.”
BusinessWeek, February 19, 2009
“
photo by Archie McPhee Seattle on flickr.com

40. Unfortunately, most companies
are still treating social media
like JUST another marketing channel.
*Oops.
*

41. When in fact,
it’s so much more.*
*Wait for it...

42. 1: PUBLIC RELATIONS

43. 2: CUSTOMER SERVICE

44. 3: LOYALTY-BUILDING

45. 4: COLLABORATION

46. 5: NETWORKING

47. 6: THOUGHT-LEADERSHIP

48. AND YES,
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION, TOO.

49. SO,
HERE’S
WHAT
YOU
NEED
TO
DO:

50. photo by cyndie@smilebig! on flickr.com

51. Hope is not
a strategy.
photo by quest for the heartstone on flickr.com

52. STOP THINKING “CAMPAIGNS”.
START THINKING “CONVERSATIONS.
photo by eye2eye on flickr.com

53. photo by Malingering on flickr.com

54. And because
I’D hate
to see you
mess IT ALL up,
I’LL ADD THIS
TINY BIT
OF ADVICE:

56. IF YOUR PRODUCT SUCKS,
SOCIAL MEDIA WON’T FIX IT.
photo by arlen on flickr.com

57. (HOWEVER, IF YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS,
SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HELP.)

58. IF YOUR REPEAT BUSINESS SUCKS,
SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HELP.
photo by gari.baldi on flickr.com

59. IF YOUR COMPANY’S WORD OF MOUTH SUCKS,
SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HELP.

60. Final words of
wisdom:*
*a.k.a. The dramatic finale.

61. Never
forget
the
basic
rules.

62. RULE #1: LISTEN
• Google Alerts
• TweetDeck
• SocialMentions
• RSS
(FOR STARTERS)

63. RULE #2: ENGAGE

64. RULE #3: MEASURE
• Audience
• Engagement
• Loyalty
• Influence
• Action
(METRICS SHOULD MAP TO GOALS. PERIOD.)

65. NOW
GO OUT
THERE
& GET
SOCIAL!

66. THANK
YOU
VERY
MUCH
Espresso
http://brandinfiltration.com
TORONTO
e: jacquelyn@brandinfiltration.com
t: @infiltrators
BOSTON
e: marta@brandinfiltration.com
t: @mzkagan
All photos in this presentation were purchased from iStockPhoto.com unless otherwise noted.