IDC ITpartner.net on Social Media!!!
Well– you can’t go too far these days without reading or hearing about Twitter, or LinkedIn, or Facebook, or blogs, and the list goes on.
And it’s fun it seems. But is it for business use? Or is this all a big waste of time?
I’d argue that it’s worth looking at – but there has to be a business case on the use of each.
Let’s have a look at some very recent survey results about how solution providers (VARs, RSIs, ISVs) are using Web 2.0 sites and technologies for business use – both today, and what their plans are in the future. Current Use is in Yellow. Planned Use is in Red. IDC split up the responses so that they were either in Currently using, future using, or neither.
LinkedIn , for networking use has the most users at over 50% of all those surveyed. This makes sense. LinkedIn has become very pervasive in the last few years.
Not for business use in this case – but a good benchmark – is the use of Facebook for personal reasons. Almost 40% of solution providers were using Facebook for personal reasons.
Something that IDC finds is very useful is LinkedIn Groups. A new piece of functionality within LinkedIn that allows people to participate in communities of interest.
From the Social Media for IBM Partners talk -- Part 2
@: At reply. A public tweet directed at a fellow Twitterer, such as @Barack Obama, that shows up in their Twitter stream.
DM: Direct Message. A private message that appears in a Twitter inbox. You can only direct message people who follow you.
RT: Retweet. A tweet that you like so much that you are resending to your followers. Usually includes credit to original tweeter, such as RT @BarackObama, followed by the tweet.
Whale Icon: The iconic blue whale that pops up when Twitter is down. It appeared frequently in Twitter's first year and a half.
#: Hashtag. Used to designate a topic such as #SanDiegoFire so that people can easily search for tweets on a topic. (It is totally unnecessary, though, because a search on a keyword without the # returns the same results).
Nudge: A feature that lets you send a note to a Twitterer encouraging them to tweet more frequently. You can only nudge people who are tweeting from a mobile phone.
Definitions from my Social Media Presentation to IBM Channel Partners! Part 1
Virtual World: Immersive social experience
Facebook / Myspace: Social Networking
LinkedIn: Career-focused networking
Viral: Leveraging pre-existing social networks in self-replicating process
Serious Game: New way of education and enablement
Widget: Mini-web app
Wiki: Users freely create and edit web site content
Blog: Web-based discussion tool
Twitter: Micro-blogging web and mobile-based
Yammer: Corporate micro-blogging, segmented by enterprise domain name
RSS: Web-feed format used to publish frequently updated content
Podcast: Series of digital media files distributed over the internet for playback on portable devices
Videocast: Online delivery of video clips
Survey Monkey: Online Survey & Polling platform
SEO: Search engine optimization – maximizing exposure on search engines
Sunrise at a Crator in Hawaii! Consistency yet branded!
While on Maui, we also went to see the sunrise at the Mt. Haleakala ! You get up super early -- yes, 2AM -- and drive up a very curvy road to see a breathtaking sunrise over a crator. But a sunrise? Haven't you seen a sunrise? (Take a peek!!)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoD1UxXDvac]
The beauty of this sunrise was amazing to me. As I talked to my tour guide, he was busy snapping pictures. I asked him why? Doesn't he see this same view everyday? He said something impactful .. while he does see it everyday, it was that consistency of beauty (Haleakala's brand!) that attracted him and made this tour what it was today! One of the most popular in Hawaii!
So while we tend to think that consistency is boring, his view was it was that consistency that made him intrigued. As I watched this glorious event, I thought again about my passion of Social Media. All of us have a multitude of tools, but the consistency of our brand in each is appreciated and celebrated. In a way, the consistency makes us unique.
For example, is your picture -- part of your brand -- consistent in Twitter, your Blog, your Blogher profile, your LinkedIn account. What's the value of that consistency? Well, your brand is repeated. That consistent repetition makes your brand known -- in this case, for your first impression! As I walk into a room to keynote, people know me from that repeated pciture!
What elements should be consistent?
As you look at your social media strategy, note your common "branding" elements. Things like taglines, pictures, resumes, should be consistent so that you are instantly branded.
What do you think? Anyone disagree?