Why your customers are turning to Social Media.

You may have noticed the way we communicate and engage with each other has changed. In no small part it is because of technology, though it’s less of a technology revolution and more of a communications evolution.

Better computers and high speed broadband connectivity has had a big influence on how we access the Internet. As if being wired wasn’t enough we have stepped into the science fiction realms of our own lifetime and taken broadband with ubiquitous wireless and digital cellular to the streets and beyond, it’s gone mobile. Smart phones and iPads are not only communications devices they give us access to email and internet, are entertainment centres, video recorders, cameras, satellite navigation systems, music players, word processors, and that’s just some of the features of the basic mobile phone. Try an iPhone on for size - 225,000 applications available and counting.

We have discovered in recent years getting information from online sources increasingly convenient because it was faster and reached further with a little help from a search engine known as Google. We expected more from this resource and it didn’t disappoint so we have made the World Wide Web integral to both our personal and business lives. No longer the domain of the technical elite and “other life” geeks it is now something that all the family regard as a must have rather than just a fashion accessory or passing fad.

We now use video and discussion forums, we share our experiences and concerns in real time and voice our opinions for all to see in a very public and global online community in an activity labelled as Social Networking. This shift in the way we think and use the internet is known as Web 2.0, the platforms like Twitter and Facebook are household names and known collectively as Social Media.

Social Media is redefining the way we share ideas, build trust and make our purchasing decisions. These rapidly expanding online platforms are able to provide users with a forum to get and to give real time feedback. Reviews and recommendations are fed instantaneously to our communities of influence, tribes, friends, fans and followers via Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wiki’s, YouTube and Blogs. Because of this high level of interactivity, real time information sharing and self-publishing of video, images and blogs which are now considered mainstream media, there will be - and can be - no looking back.

Our customers are no longer relying on traditional methods of broadcast marketing to be influenced; they are listening to each other and to engage as businesses or brands you have to be part of this conversation. Not engaging in Social Media for fear that someone may criticise your product, complain about your service or copy your ideas is counterproductive. If they have a complaint they will be complaining anyway, you just won’t know it, and worse can do little about it. If you don’t want your ideas heard and discussed, by not engaging you will get your wish, they won’t. Your customers will move on to those that have open dialogues, share their expertise and ultimately with whom they form a trusted relationship. As businesses trying to compete in an increasingly competitive and global marketplace we either keep pace with these changes, or we will become irrelevant to our existing and potential customers forever.

No-one said this was going to be easy. This article cannot create a one size fits all explanation because there just isn’t one; no form of human interaction and idea exchange could, or should be that straight forward. What we need to do as business people is plan. Many businesses have done too little planning as it is, so if nothing else this is a great excuse to start the ball rolling. It’s time to think seriously about whom we want to reach and for what purpose and engage all our team from senior management to the shop floor in the process.

What Social Media is not is a mechanism to sell or to broadcast, if used badly it does have the potential to create a negative impact on your brand, product or service. We must rethink how we are to communicate and how we will engage and how to encourage our customers to talk about us, as advocates and ambassadors. It is only then that the true value and potential of Social Media will be apparent.

It’s almost unimaginable how far we have advanced with communications technology alone in the past century. Yet philosophically we have almost come full circle since Napoleon Hill gathered the thoughts and ideas of the great business minds of his time and wrote the now legendary book “Think and Grow Rich”. Published in 1937 at the time of the great depression he talked about the importance of values, of knowing your customer and having a meaningful relationship. It also emphasised the importance of planning and setting achievable goals. It’s good to know that some things haven’t changed.

Use Social Media to communicate and build trust with your target market. Apply some strategic planning with common sense, and getting some professional help to better understand the technical and strategic implications before taking things too far would be highly recommended. Apply the same rules to your online engagements that you would to any real-life conversation and relationship and you are on the right track to transferring the return on engagement to a return on investment.


P.S. To help you get some experience and better understand these tools I invite you to join my networks here and start your journey by using the tools in a safe and trusted environment. No-one can know too much or too little, we are all here to learn and share our thoughts, ideas and experience. 


Twitter: twitter.com/MagpieMediaBiz (Join the conversation)
LinkedIn Grouphttp://linkd.in/MagpieMedia (Join the discussion)
Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/MagpieFacebook (Join the community)

Either you are going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant

It’s often the little things that we say that mean the most. Words can be extremely motivational and incredibly destructive. Ironically the less words we use the greater the impact and resonance.

I have been discussing and quoting a statement from the great thinker and communicator Seth Godin quite a bit lately…

“Either you are going to tell stories that spread, or you will become irrelevant”

This is not a philosophy but a fact that applies nicely to the global and social communications age we live in. If we want to get noticed we have to be part of the conversations inside Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, with our Blogs and beyond. It drives home the core ethos behind how we need to approach our individual social media engagements and online communications strategies.

It’s not what we have to tell people about ourselves that means anything anymore; it’s what people are saying to each other about us that will count. It’s up to you to give people content, information and resources that they can use, and for this we can and should be credited and recognised. The reviews, referrals, re-tweets and recommendations are what make one product or service stand out from the rest for good reason.

We believe each other’s advice before that of the provider itself because we know they are promoting, broadcasting and selling to us. When we talk to our networks about products and service we like, dislike or want to explore, we are speaking from experience with the all-important trust relationship already established with our chosen friends and communities of interest.

Be still my beating heart - the iPad comes to NZ today

How exciting, today is the day that Apple gives us yet another great product. I was going to say toy, but the iPad is so much more than something to covet and play with, it’s an amazingly simple, affordable and useful productivity tool that is the latest must have for rapidly expanding social networking fraternity.

We’ve seen the hype of the US launch for iPad on April 3rd and its promise to change the way we interface with the internet with its endless array of applications (apps) and so far the hype seems to be well deserved with over 600,000 units being sold there in just the first week.

A lucky few have already started to use the iPad here in NZ having sourced them from offshore, but with the release of the tablet style communication device in New Zealand today I am sure we will see many more adorning café tables and boardroom desks in the coming weeks.

I have to confess that I have only just recently got myself and iPhone. I say this like it was an expectation but it wasn’t truly until I got it that I realised what I had been missing. Getting my emails and checking my calendar, updating and referencing Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are not only a breeze but easier and faster than their online, and often more confusing versions.

I would go as far as to say I LOVE my iPhone. I get why people go on and on about them now, it is well deserved. One of the key resistance factors for me getting one in the first place was my mistaken perception of the cost. I was under the impression that the data fees would be crippling. The clever little iPhone and the larger iPad cousin have Wi-Fi built in so when you are in range of your home, work or other Wi-Fi network it connects seamlessly and avoids you the 3G cellular data costs.

The Wi-Fi only version of the iPad is expected to have a recommended retail price of $799 for 16GB, $979 for 32GB and $1149 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi plus 3G models cost $200 more for each model. Vodafone indicate its data plans for the Wi-Fi plus 3G devices would be $20 for 250MB and $50 for 3GB.

Having only seen an iPad in action on a couple of occasions I would expect the experience to be similar to the iPhone but with a larger screen, its huge array of free and affordable applications will make it not only fun but productive.

I know the initial availability will be limited, there is a definite Apple arrogance about the launch secrecy and product scarcity. Some have queued and been disappointed not to get supplied, that’s the cost and price of demand and supply, get over it. I’ll wait, but I can’t wait to get my hands on one.

Measuring the Cost of Social Media.

As we start to integrate Social Media into our business we need to consider ways to calculate and measure the return on investment it represents.

This on the surface is a reasonable request, there is an obvious resourcing cost to business, which initially will be our time - but where do we start to measure? We know that effective social media campaigns are long term, are about engagement and ultimately about relationship development; but can that ever equate to dollars and cents?

“To determine return on investment (ROI) for social we must put metrics around human interaction and communication – Is this even possible? “

To compare this with another technological innovation that is now integral to almost every business, the telephone, could we possibly measure its ROI? Most of us just factor it in as a necessary overhead and leave it at that, and we certainly wouldn’t consider being without it.

For any social media engagement to be undertaken successfully there is a great deal of planning and strategy to be undertaken first. Sure, a try it and see approach would be possible, and in some cases successful, but there are real risks that you may damage rather than benefit your brand or image. Clarity of purpose and a staged action plan delegated to capable people who buy-in and ultimately take ownership of your vision is a logical approach. Without this we will certainly waste valuable time and cause otherwise preventable roadblocks and frustrations moving forward.

If your goal is to achieve more online mentions of your brand or company then you must know where you stand right now, this is called benchmarking. It would also help considerably if you knew why you wanted to achieve this. You must find tools that can measure the impact of your campaigns (in this case a word search tool) and know how much resource is used to achieve this outcome in any given period. You should also apply a similar measurement to a complimentary or competing firm to see how they are doing over the same timeline.  It would also satisfy your financial controllers (those that will ultimately allow or deny your social media marketing budget) if there is a pathway to you sales funnel so this PR is converted to a tangible revenue stream.

As a standard formula, ROI is pretty basic, ROI = (X – Y) / Y, where X is your final value and Y is your starting value. In other words, if you invest $10 and get back $50, your ROI is (50 – 10) / 10 = 4 times your initial investment. In this financial sense, ROI is measured purely in the context of dollars and cents, however, the principles can be applied to other forms of investment (i.e. Time).

So to begin you must have the end in mind. Planning and having solid goals and concrete baselines is crucial to calculating this return on investment. Add to this the comparative measurement of your competitors’ performance as a benchmark and you have the basis of some valuable metrics. 

Are you a thought leader or just another dedicated follower of fashion?

“Thought Leader” is the new cool set in the online business fraternity pushing aside the passé entrepreneur for a trendier tagline. I cringe a little every time someone introduces themselves as an entrepreneur - what is it you’re trying to say? You’re a risk taker carrying the can for yet another start-up venture? Entrepreneurialism is a quality not a title, you can’t be taught it, you either are one or you aren’t, it’s that simple.

So when you suggest you’re a “Thought Leader” what is it you bring to the table? Much the same as the entrepreneur I would presume but with things only at the idea stage? Google “Thought Leader” and there are plenty of people giving advice on how you can be one. This is paradoxical given you should, by definition, have an ability to think without the direct influence of others to qualify for this status.

When trying to put a name to thought leaders of our time its people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy and John Lennon who spring to mind. I’m sure each had their fair share of advisors and mentors who filled in the grey areas of their speeches and lyrics; yet it’s the vision and conviction of the individual that gave a voice to once intangible concepts that in time influenced the way entire cultures thought and acted. It’s also tragic that all had a common fate due to this self belief.

In today’s instant information age we have lots of people telling us what we should to be doing. In an age of fans, followers and virtual friends the dedicated followers of fashion rush without hesitation to repeat the words of the chosen few, as long as it can fit the 140 character limitation bestowed upon us by Twitter.

It should make even the most relaxed amongst us a little nervous to know that the combined Twitter followers of Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears now exceed ten million people. That means there are 141 countries in the world who have smaller populations and only 82 that exceed it. “Oops, he did it again” gushed Britney, “Ashton just punk’d Europe”.
Social Media gives us the opportunity to connect with audiences like never before. Sure we need to nurture our tribe (Thanks Mr Godin) but we also need to build trust (thanks Mr Brogan). Conduct online conversation with the same values and etiquette as you would in the real world and remember to establish meaningful and ultimately profitable influence takes time (Thanks Mr Reality). Listen to what people say, do what you can when you can, and do the best you can with the time and resources you have available.

Don’t let the medium own you, it’s a tool and nothing more. Use it how you want to and forget what “they say” you should be doing. Fashion comes and it goes; if you want to be seen as a thought leader, be yourself. Your real friends and valued customers will respect and thank you for it eventually.

Blog Post from the Bush of Stewart Island

One of the fundamental rules of blogging is to keep on subject. My subject would be best described as “Communications Technology for Business”.

I’m sure that the irony of me writing this post with pen and pad while sitting in the bush on Stewart Island will not be lost on you.

The nearest town is a solid day’s tramp south; my two hunting/camping companions are at different ends of the Murray’s Beach block we have called home for two weeks and all I can see in any direction is trees, moss and fern.

I have forsaken technology for a more primal hunter/gatherer lifestyle. My cell phone is of little use as Vodafone have no coverage here, so the only real modern tools at my disposal are a battery-powered lantern to light my tent, an LED headlamp and a torch.

We cook our meat and other food by campfire and brave the elements as best we can. For early May, considering we are so far south and despite the rain, it is reasonably warm. One of my companions is my father – the reason I have made this trip. He brought me here at 16 and that was 30 years ago now so I thought it was well time I made the effort to spend some time with him again. He has made the pilgrimage to Stewart Island almost annually, this being his 25th trip.

Making the effort to spend some quality time with people certainly helps you to understand them better and more importantly, to appreciate them. Dad’s knowledge of the bush, its flora and fauna has amazed me. Where I see endless bush, he points out endless varieties of native plants and shows me how to use them for medicinal and other purposes. His skill has taught me a valuable lesson in how to make what would be to some, basic survival, into a relative luxury by the application of common sense and practical know-how.  This is something I will apply to my everyday and business life moving forward, we are all capable of so much more than the self-imposed limits we bound ourselves by whether deliberately to be safe or subconsciously because of fear.

My fathers bush dexterity also has extended to the cookhouse. A few tarps, a table built out of manuka poles with a thatch top and a campfire have produced meals consisting of venison steaks, stew, pot roast, scones, pikelets, “Billy” bread, and “Floaters” – which are reputedly a handed-down Maori version of fried doughnuts (complete with sugar and cinnamon coating with long-life whipped cream and jam). We’ve also dined on paua fritters on a few different occasions and we have yet to try our luck at fishing, given we are on the coast. Needless to say going hungry has been the least of our concerns.

The removal or escape from technology certainly has been refreshing. Its forced retirement has enabled me to temporarily abandon responsibilities (and stress) that used to take up the majority of my working day. Of course this has done little good for my business as being “off the radar” means that I would quickly become irrelevant in today’s fast paced, need it now society. I loved every second of the isolation I have experienced but would I forsake modern technology for it, I think not.

Paid Tweets Start Tuesday – Is the end of Twitter as we know it?

A little bird told me that we will soon be seeing Twitter move into revenue generation mode, it had to happen eventually. Before we throw our hands up and say it was all too good to last this may actually be a turn for the good, from a marketers and consumers perspective at very least.

According to Mashable the new platform called “Promoted Tweets” is to launch next Tuesday afternoon (US Time) beginning with promoted tweets appearing in Twitter search results.

The ability to pay to get your self above the rest of the conversation on the surface makes good sense. The roll out will start with search results then enter the Twitter.com stream and third party applications like TweetDeck and Tweetie with only one advertisement appearing at a time.

Like any good social media platforms they are basing the introduction and expansion on how users react. From where I sit now, being able to interact in real time with an advertiser on a product that is relevant to my immediate interest makes sense. Like we have accepted Social Media so readily I believe this advertising platform will give more value than we may credit it for. Time and social commentary will tell all.

Suggested posts to read on this topic: New York Times, Advertising Age and Mashable