Great Social Networking article ! Check it out!

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090310-082257
 

Social Networking and Blogs Surpass Email in Popularity

With 67% of the worldwide internet population visiting, social networks and blogs are now outpacing email in popularity. They've become the 4th most popular online category, according to Nielsen Online.

"Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience," says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online.
 

 

"While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large.

This study explains why."Here are some more interesting nuggets of information on the matter from Nielsen:
 

 

One in every 11 minutes online globally is accounted for by social network and blogging sites.
The social network and blogging audience is becoming more diverse in terms of age: the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 to "Member Community" Web sites globally came from the 35-49 year old age group (+11.3 million).

Mobile is playing an increasingly important role in social networking. Nielsen found UK mobile Web users have the greatest propensity to visit a social network through their handset, with 23 percent (2 million people) doing so, compared to 19 percent in the US (10.6 million people). These numbers are a big increase over last year - up 249 percent in the UK and 156 percent in the US.

Does this mean people will start responding to social media marketing over email marketing? Only time will tell. So will you when you leave a comment below.
 

 


E = Energize the Channel and Community Socially!

Continuing our series on the Angels framework, today, we will discuss "E": how to Energize your channel and your community, one of my favorites!

Check out the video (do these help?) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=DBUA7_hmi2k&feature=PlayList&p=0270CF7431B8451D&index=4

We look at how to choose the vessels available in social media based on your goals: dialogue, collaboration, sharing, etc. It all depends on your ultimate goal.
* Serious Gaming: Wii, DS: leverage the power of the games, a teachable moment. Example: Innov8, one of IBM's serious games is a great example: it progressed from education to customer interaction to forming relationships with partners.  There is a 80% higher recall from teaching with a game vs. in-class education and the average age of gamer is 33 and 47% are in the 18-49 year old age bracket.

Widgets: a virtual briefcase with a set of channels for demos, presentations, etc. Use it internally and externally with customers. They're great for sharing information and getting feedback on it.

Communities and Social networks: Per IDC, 50% of on-line Americans belong to a social network. Do you create your own or leverage existing ones out there? Both MySpace and Facebook as well as LinkedIn fit in here.

Sharing. I personally love the vessel of Blogging.  Blogging is great way to share information. My favorite of course is microblogs like Twitter. 
Dell created their own Twitter channel to sell excess inventory

There are lots of social tools - to energize your channel and community - here are the key steps to take:

  • Learn about the options
  • Experiment - try things out
  • Leverage them in your current plans
  • Plan and execute your social media vehicles

G is for your Go To market socially play!

We are continuing our series on the Angels framework. Next stop is "G": How to Go To Market socially and how to develop your go to market plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzIFVJTbh2s&feature=PlayList&p=0270CF7431B8451D&index=3

Some focus areas discussed in the video include:

1. As you add social media to your marketing plan, you need to remember the value propositions as they make a difference. Companies forget that the same marketing principles apply. The value propositions need to be compelling and differentiating - set your market apart.

  • How do you make it compelling? Represent the value of your company. differentiation
  • relevance
  • compelling nature
  • enduring

2. As you develop your plan, relationships are very important so remember the three C's:

  • customization - i.e. Sears - My Virtual Model
  • co-creation - how do you enable your customer to use your technology to shape the future
  • collaboration - facilitate discovery and take action - how do you engage the tools and images?

3. Master the wheel of influence

  • Target by audience - i.e. Twitter, Bloggers, Governance and Universities

N is for Nail the Strategy for your Business Using Social Media

Today, we will discuss "N" from the ANGELS framework. I am here at Wharton with a group of Chief Learning Officiers and Chief Process Officiers!  My topic is on the use of Social Media in Strategy and Analysis of the market.

( You can see the video by clicking here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9oNE7bSiDg&feature=PlayList&p=0270CF7431B8451D&index=2

In this video we look at how to insert new techniques in traditional marketing.

Corporate Social Responsibility is key - from a recent IBM study w/ 1100 CEOs, Corporate Social Responsibility is the # 1 priority for CEOs around the world. We need to demonstrate commitment to that strategy and live it.

How can you leverage that and nail your corporate social responsibility strategy? How you can use on-line tools to prove you are living your strategy?

An IBM example is "Project Green" where we leveraged Second Life to do demos. This allowed customers to view the demos without traveling, preserving our carbon usage, showing and living our commitment to green everyday.

Looking at branding, we used to control the message through a one way communication channel. Now with Web 2.0- two way communication, we need to realize we are the orchestrator of the brand, not the controller. We are conducting what happens and it is very successful on-line. You will see your brand on Twitter, Facebook etc.. you will influence that brand on-line by responding to your customers.

Look at roles - the way you segment your marketplace. If you segment by industry, one thing you notice on a global basis is that healthcare is different throughout the world. You should segment globally and look at roles on-line. On-line, you can gather a community using Web 2.0 technologies to form a group with similar roles.

For instance, Adobe and Rubicon Consulting have a group targeting bio scientists. IBM also formed a community on SOA - Role based segmentation.

Read the book for more case studies and check out my video!


The "A" - Analyze the Market using Social Media Marketing!

Yesterday, I provided you with a look at my 1st video.. hope you enjoyed watching it!

My second video highlights the "A" in the ANGELS framework. How to Analyze your market place (click on me!) - the whole premise is to insert Web 2.0 methods into traditional approaches.

1. How do you look at the globalization effect? The world is becoming flatter making the overall market place important. How can you use techniques to strengthen your market?

For instance..
Dove: they looked and leveraged the web culturally - exploring how to send their message in Europe and Russia in different fashions as there message went out - analyzing what was effective in both market places

Lenovo: Localized their message - taking what they knew from China & applying it in a new market place in India

Globalization is more and more important. The framework highlighted in the book looks at the ecosystem, how you manage those marketplaces w/ Web 2.0?

2. How to make sure you look at your distinct marketplace..
50% of marketplace is on-line per IDC
50% of marketplace is not on-line
How do you segment that market?

3. How do you leverage on-line tools?
Banter - allows us to measure the amount of times people use certain phrases..
On-line allows you to experiment and turn things much faster if you monitor the banter that is occurring

For example, Johnson & Johnson developed a new ad for moms. The feedback on Twitter was clear that mothers were not happy about it. From the bad publicity in the social media, the ad was immediately pulled and replaced with a new ad.

Experiment by leveraging web 2.0 techniques!

Let me hear from you!!


The ANGEL framework for Social Media!

I just developed a video series that is posted on YouTube for my latest Marketing 2.0 book! For the next few days, I'd like to highlight points from each video so please check it out and use them! My first video is an intro to the ANGELS framework:

We look at what is marketing 2.0? How do you combine social media w/ traditional forms of marketing? This is the right time to be thinking about Marketing 2.0. It reduces cost, is a great way to collaborate, allows us to be better connected, and generates results!

The ANGELS Framework is:
A-analyze market ~ how do you add social media elements?
N-nail the strategy ~whether its branding, targeted or role based marketing
G-go to market ~how do you do your planning, value prop, social relationships on-line, who are the influencers?
E- energize the channel & community~Vessels of social media that you want to add to your marketing mix, awareness through LinkedIN, Facebook etc
L - leads and revenue ~looking at your overall dashboard, social media that impacts you day to day
S- screaming at technology ~how to use technology to e-nurture make it more customer centric etc

The book is a marketing mix exercise, adding elements of social media/marketing to your mix so you have the most effective strategy


Social Media in Dubai and beyond!

I was just in Dubai and heard from some of our clients that they are facing challenges they’ve never experienced before. At the same time external factors in their environment are forcing downward pressures on their businesses, they must still achieve growth targets/metrics and reduce costs… and they must execute with even greater speed than ever before. They are still looking to invest in critical areas but they are urgently searching for clearer solutions that deliver results to the bottom line with immediate value for their customers.

Part of what I saw was investment in technology like SOA and BPM! But I also saw a lot of Social Media interest as well!

Take for instance this! http://socialmediame.h2onewmedia.com/node/21

“It took us less than three months and less than 10,000 USD of investment to get our social media platform working for our business, we estimate that it has saved us at least 100,000 USD in sales, promotion and advertising costs over the past twelve months and that is without calculating the time saved by receiving super qualified opportunities.  From the perspective of our business social media just works and delivers significant value to our operations” Alan Condron Concur “

Also see this! A Super Cool vision for a Green City! -- displayed on YouTube! Amazing! Marketing 2.0 goes around the world!


Social Media ReOpens A Murder Case!

An interesting one that came up today!

This is a book review that ended up re-opening a murder case.

The power of social media! Read it here!


A New Title? Conversation Agent

Over the weekend I was catching up on some of the new thoughts in Social Meida and came across a note from Dee Fleming. She was commenting on a training seminar I did internally for the Super Women of IBM and she included a link to a cool article.

In the article, the woman called herself a Conversation Agent. How interesting! A title on her business card to let all know that she was about the dialogue, not a push message.

Have any of you seen any other interesting job titles and new roles created from the force of this new Markteing 2.0 world?

Let me know! I can't wait to see what you respond with!