Thrudigital

[These posts are written from a presentation I gave at Mediapro 2009]

Social media. It can be confusing and undefined. It’s definitely a buzzword. It’s got its fair share of “gurus.” But it’s picking up sizable budgets from consumer-facing and business-to-business companies. And even at this early stage, it’s proving effective.

This first post will explore the concept. A second post will look at the ways that companies can engage. Then we will explore what are the major opportunities for brands. Finally, we will look at some case studies of industry leaders (as well as some obvious examples, I will show you a case study you won’t have seen – a small company with a small niche that has made £700k by engaging its customers). And hopefully a conversation will be sparked somewhere along the way.

So, firstly, the big question. What is social media? Rather than try and give a catch-all definition, here are the themes that underly the concept of social media. It is:

• The move from one broadcaster, to millions of voices.

• Media disseminated through social interaction.

• Where the audience is also an author.

• Enabled by very scalable and approachable technologies that facilitate the conversations.

And why should you care?

Well… this is not a fad. It is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Back in the late 90’s, brands were asking the ROI question of websites. “Is it worth it? Why should we bother?” Ten years later, having a website is not only one of the first things you do when launching a product or company, but it goes far beyond “marketing.” It is a platform for commerce, communication, research, tools, data, news, sales, and much more. The same will happen with social media in due course. It changes how businesses operate. Companies that engage early, will build competitive advantage, but in a few years, most industries will be exploiting the benefits.

The horse has bolted. Don’t bother closing the stable door.

The marketplace where you do business is now transparent, not controlled. It is consumer-driven, not product driven. It is no longer possible to broadcast messages and expect them to be swallowed by your audience, without uncontrolled conversation and feedback. Forget battling to hide your dirty laundry. It is already being examined, analysed, and discussed in minute detail, in thousands of distributed and very public conversations.

All humans have a desire for control. So this world sounds extremely worrying. And many brands are burying their heads in the sand to ignore the conversations they wish were not happening. But the upside is that in this new world your customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do, however, expect you to listen, respond, be honest, and do your utmost to serve them.

Your degree of openess, and your revenue growth, will be directly related. (Gerd Leonhard)

As a quick example to round this post off, recently we launched an application for ASOS (see site here), which aggregates the conversation around their brand, and classifies it as positive or negative. It’s a forward thinking move, which demonstrates a willingness to engage. And as well as the web version, it is now displayed on plasma screens in the lobby and cafes. This a method for enabling customers to become advocates, focus groups, marketers, product developers, and a community of interest.

The personal touch

Customers much prefer a personality to a professional facade. We are moving from a world of broadcast TV, PR-checked messages, and aloof corporate leaders, to one of scrappy, user-generated YouTube videos, public conversations with your staff on forums and blogs, and direct connection between your CEO and your customer via Twitter. Your personal face trumps your professional one.

Homework

I hope you are doing some of these already, but as a very first start, prove to yourself that there is a conversation worth engaging with online:

• Search Google, Facebook and Twitter for your brand mentions.

• Set up a Google Alert to notify you when more people mention your brand

• If you are a small company, search for related products, competitors, and topics to find out what is being said.

Over the next posts we will look at how companies, both large and small, can best engage, what the most valuable opportunities are, and successful examples of what others are doing.

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