CG's Ed Gould highlights the points of his recent lecture, "Dispelling the myths of Social Media".
I guess you've heard the news?
A brand new country has emerged unlike any other. With 500 million inhabitants it's one of the biggest and the population is more democratic and influential than anywhere else on the planet.
Its name? Facebook.
The king of social networking is now starring in a blockbuster film - The Social Network. And rightly so, with 50 per cent of active users (250 million) logging on every day and with people spending over 41,900,000,000 minutes per month on Facebook, the website is now a part of everyday modern life that demands to be taken seriously.
It's not just Facebook either…
90 million tweets are written every day and YouTube viewers collectively spent 71,424.7 years watching videos just last month.
Many believe that we are witnessing a 'digital revolution' and the biggest change in how we interact and do business since the industrial revolution. Too far? I don't think so. We've already moved the majority of our communication online so the rest will follow.
Everybody wants a piece of the action and many jump head first. Recently Nestle found itself on the wrong side of consumers thanks to a few misplaced comments on Facebook.
So how can we make the most out of social media?
What Nestle and others do wrong is to treat social networks as their own environment that they control and use to push out heavy corporate and sales messages.
They miss my number one rule: RELATIONSHIPS ARE KING.
Social media is less about how many friends, likes and followers you have and far more about how many good relationships you develop.
Before you plonk your company on Facebook understand it and become part of the community. Sign up and do research into what your customers do online, where they hang out and what they talk about. Then work out how you fit into their agenda. You need to understand the rules of engagement before you begin.
Next think about how social media can fit into your company's mix of communications. Make it part of an overall communications strategy. Support the activity with email, website and printed communications to increase its value and consider how it can be of most use e.g as a help desk, for advice or for recruitment.
Establish goals and expectations early and stick to them. Decide what you're doing and who is going to be responsible for the activity and give them time to do it.
Rather than trying to be everywhere straight away focus on just a couple of the bigger networks. If you deliver great content and conversations people will share them and they will spread to other networks.
Most importantly, focus on the relationships and conversations. Monitor the web and target conversations about your industry or organisation. Lead the conversations and be known as an organisation that speaks the language of social.
Learn more by viewing a short free video.
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