“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
This Week: Real-Time is Old Time, The Basics are Critical and The Coming Disruptions.
Read MoreThe Brave Ad World Podcast has reached the century mark with Episode 100.
This week’s headlines: NLRB Raises Questions on Social Media Policy Legality, Facebook Launches Conversion Measurement, Quora Will Host Blogs and Twitter Launches Vine.
The week’s news quick hits cover: Tumblr Allows Users to Share Panoramic Photos, Bing Gets Deeper Facebook Integration, Google+ Makes Push for Enterprise Use and Foursquare Partners with Voice Media Group for Content.
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Most organizations have two kinds of people when it comes to social media: the believers who are enthusiastic about the potential for social media to help solve business problems and the detractors who see the risks associated with social media and would rather steer clear.
Both groups are right.
The enthusiasts see the potential for social media to benefit the business in a variety of areas from product innovation and customer service to branding and advertising amplification.
The detractors, on the other hand, have legitimate concerns. An August 2012 study from the Altimeter Group found that 35% of respondents cited reputation or brand damage as a critical risk. Other concerns included release of confidential information, compliance issues, identity theft and others.
The Concerns are Justified…
Social media brings an unprecedented level of transparency, and brands don’t have a lot of control when it comes to what employees share. The platforms haven’t done a lot to alleviate fears with password leaks and questionable privacy practices.
The playing field has leveled and lines have blurred. Information moves quickly and can easily get out of control and cause issues for a brand.
The concerns are legit.
…But Overblown and Can Be Overcome
People don’t start discussing a company once it sets out with a social media program. They started discussing it long before that, but the brand at that time had no opportunity to make its voice heard, join the conversation, correct misinformation, embrace advocates and convert detractors. The bottom line is it’s just as risky (or even less risky) to have a brand presence in the social space than it is not to.
But that’s not exactly comforting news to those concerned with the risks of social media.
It’s important for pro- and anti-social media organization members to come together. Risk will never be nullified, but the two sides can come together to mitigate risk by:
Both voices are important. But it’s important for those voices to come together and find solutions.
“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
Social’s Power on Search – SmartBlog has one or two really good pieces each week, and this week didn’t disappoint as it breaks down some simple tips on using social media to impact search engine rankings, including: following your customers, encouraging sharing, and incentivizing participation.
Key Takeaway: Social media is not just social media. It’s starting to tie the web together, and marketers are missing the point if they think it’s just a series of platforms. Social media weaves throughout the internet as social signals are used to influence everything, including search results, which are a key factor in the purchase decision-making process.
Have You Checked Your Social Media Policy Lately? – Brian Heidelberger outlines important callouts for organizations to make sure they aren’t violating with their social media policies. Question to ask, include: Does your policy restrict “friending” other employees? Does your policy prohibit talking about workers? and more.
Key Takeaway: Social media policies and internal structures aren’t “set and forget.” They need to be revisited based on the changing landscape and company goals. Don’t let your policy be crossed off the to-do list for good.
Real-Time Social Media Use is Mind-Blowing – We’ve all seen the stats around social media, and they’re pretty impressive. But there’s a difference between seeing stats and seeing them happen in real-time. Gary Hayes has developed a real-time stat counter across social, mobile, games and heritage. Just try to hold your mind down.
Key Takeaway: The universe is expanding rapidly, and the amount of data being generated any given moment is staggering. Marketers that figure out how to parse the data for the information that matters to them and apply it will have a big advantage over their competitors.
In July, PhoneDog.com filed a lawsuit against its former employee, Noah Kravitz, for violating trade secrets and misappropriation of the company’s Twitter account.
Kravitz managed the PhoneDog Twitter account, which was also his personal account, while with the company. Well, PhoneDog filed suit to reclaim his 17,000 followers, claiming that they are actually PhoneDog’s. The lawsuit is for $340,000 or $2.50 per follower.
Owning Relationships
Now, the question has bee raised around who really owns the relationships. Kravitz continued to tweet about PhoneDog even after he left the company because he left on good terms. He put a lot of work into the account and built the following on his own. However, part of that growing following could be attributed to the fact that Kravitz was associated with the brand.
Was it his hard work or his association with PhoneDog that built the following? It’s likely a combination of both, so now the question of who owns the relationship is being decided by the courts.
Instincts tell me that the relationships are with Kravitz, not PhoneDog because people want relationships with other people. Kravitz was the one they interacted with and got to know, not PhoneDog. This is the danger of putting a real human behind a company’s social media presence. Even though it’s a danger, it’s still a very valuable way to build deeper connections with customers. However, I understand PhoneDog’s perspective as well.
Value of Relationships
The $2.50 per follower number is interesting. There’s certainly no shortage of studies out there that claim a follower or fan is worth a certain number, but the problem with this $2.50 number and any other value of each follower study is that they assume ever person is equal.
Not all followers are created equal. People follow and fan for different reasons, and many may never see the brand’s content. In addition, not every brand’s followers are equal. One person may be more valuable to one brand than they would be for another brand. It comes down to purchase frequency, size of purchase, business model and so on.
The outcome of this case will be very interesting, but the true value of each follower depends upon the brand. Every follower is worthless unless the brand does something with them such as converting them to purchase, providing customer service to maintain loyalty and turning their follow into revenue-driving actions. Don’t assume that just because they’re a follower, they’re valuable because that is not the case.
Establish the Ownership Before Relationships
The issue with PhoneDog and other organizations is that they didn’t establish the rules early on. Much of this issue could have been overcome with a social media policy that 1.) outlined who owned a brand account and the relationships with customers, 2.) who was authorized to engage on behalf of the brand and 3.) how social platform management transitions would take place if needed.
Thanksgiving has passed in the U.S., and Episode 48 of Brave Ad World is waiting as you come out of the food coma.
This week’s headlines: Facebook Adds Sponsored Stories to the Ticker, Cyberbaiting Becoming a Bitter Reality for Teachers and YouTube Gets Disney Movies.
The week’s news quick hits cover: Spotify’s Mysterious Annoucement, Zynga Launches Castleville, Google+ Further Intergates the +1 Button, Klout Adds Google+, President Obama Joins Google+ and Online Black Friday Sales Break Records.
You can find it on iTunes or in the podcast section to add it to your preferred podcast player.
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