Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Can Social Media Really Make A Difference For Businesses?

// June 22nd, 2009 // Comments // Social Media Marketing, Thought Leadership

Right now many companies large and small are exploring the idea of social media.  Many are unsure about how to social-mediadevelop a strategy.  They don’t know where to start or who to trust.  Moreover, what empirical evidence can a business turn to help it determine the value of building a social media strategy?  Well, these are questions and concerns that I plan to address here.

Last week I raised the question, “How do you systemize social media”?  In terms of process and daily practice, I was hoping to spark a  conversation to understand and uncover other practitioners methods and systems of use.  Little did I know it would create a deeper conversation on a more strategic level.

If you click on the link above you’ll see embeded in the post a conversation stream that took place.  What I learned from a few social media colleagues is that in order for social media to make a difference in businesses, social media at a high level must first be understood.  With out understanding the value proposition of social media at a leadership level, a business or businesses will be hard pressed to allow a socialized media culture to be adopted inside the organization.

Say what?  Social media can only make a difference in a business if the company from top to bottom understands and believes in the value of such a dynamic culture shift.  THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL!

“SOCIAL MEDIA REQUIRES A CULTURE & MIND SET SHIFT”

That is a very BOLD statement but, for social media to really make a difference for an organization it is an ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT.  Why is this the case?

It is required because most business were not built on the fact that everyone, no matter what you’re title or position, has the power and opportunitiy to make significant things happen because of the power of the internet.  Everyone in the organization, has the power to produce content and build a following.  People’s voices are the new currency that drives the influence to exchange.

If you’re a company of 10, then you most likely have 10 able promoters and content creators on your team.  Now consider this, “It is estimated that the average person knows about 250 people. And each of those people knows, in turn, another 250 or so people. This means that for each new person you meet, you gain access to a potential pool of 62,500 people separated from you by just two degrees!” – Buzzy Gordon.

Don’t you think the ability to potentially influence approximately 625,000 people is pretty powerful for a small business?  I do.

Now, of course, influencing that many people to actually make a purchase is far fethched but influencing just a small percentage of that group of warm connections by practicing social media makes for a pretty compelling business case.  Would’nt you agree?

To accomplish this though requires leadership to adopt a culture of transparency and expression for the good of its customers and employees.  Giving up control and truly leading is what is required here.  And, leading with an educated understanding is a big step to social media making an impact on a business.  In a future post I’ll show you an example of how social media activities are just starting benefit me.

CONSIDER THIS VIDEO AS A 1ST STEP TO UNDERSTANDING

(Note:  A collaborative team I am working with are in the early stages of developing a resource to help companies understand and use social media.  This video is part of recommended material to be reviewed).

Now that you have a better understanding of how social media might benefit your business, in a future post I’ll show you an example of how social media activities are just starting to benefit me.  Do you have any questions that I might be able to help answer?

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Monitoring The Conversation Of Tribes

// June 11th, 2009 // Comments // Social Media Marketing

The other day I had a meeting with a local TV personality — Tanji Patton — and her husband Mike.  We discussed a few things about where she is headed with her site and web show, Good Taste With Tanji.  I was happy to find out how much respect she has for the web and value she see’s in the internet as a distribution medium for her content.

We talked about many things from Search, to Social Media to Online Video Sydnication and other things as well.  Even though Tanji has years of experience as a TV anchor and producer, she was very open about what she does not know and I was encouraged to learn this.  Knowing your expertise and domain focus is the sign of a great leader and I know she will go far.

One thing we touched on in the conversation was identifying and leading your tribe, Seth Godin’s principle.  Tanji certainly has the ability to garner a following and the capability to lead her tribe and I told her I would refer her to the video below but, I thought it was important for others that may be reading this to see it.

Watch this and then read below about monitoring the conversation.

Tools for Monitoring The Conversation

Picking back up from the conversation with Mike & Tanji, Twitter came up and blogging in general came up.  Tanji made the comment about how much time it takes to use Twitter and she’s openly stated this on her site.  Yet, most people that are new to it have the same reaction - I did too when Evan & Biz introduced it at SXSW a couple of years ago.

Twitter is great for connecting with people of all walks of life that have the same interests but, it takes some getting used to and there is a learning curve to understand how to listen.  Since so many others have talked about this already, here are three links to dig into it more: 10 Listening Tools , On Twitter & Listening , Twitter Is All About Listening .

Taking it a step further are companies like Sysomos & Radian6.  I had the chance to visit with Blair Cummings & Aubrey Podolsky with Sysomos yesterday who provided me with an in-depth demo of their MAP and Hearth Beat products.  Man, are these products amazing!

If you are trying to lead a Tribe, I highly encourage you to look at companies like Sysomos, Radian6 or ScoutLabs as the intelligence they can provide you about what is happening in web conversations is extremely revealing and valuable to your strategic business planning efforts.

For someone like Tanji Patton, these products could help her significantly grow her following.  By analyzing where the conversation is that’s relative to her Tribe, she could go there and jump right in and offer her opinion and value thus increasing her awareness and building new connections with people of similar interest and influence.

So, who’s your tribe - are you listening to them?

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