Achieve Success – The demand for tangible results and a strategic perspective increases while results become achievable with proper planning.  The report includes survey data, interviews and in-depth analysis from 163 social media managers and their organizations, and analysis of trends from 2011.  All combined it represents one of the most comprehensive analysis of current social media trends now available.

To check out the full report read it online here: Social Media Trends by David F. Giannetto.

The report is broken down into three sections based upon the characteristics most common to organizations just beginning their social media initiative, those more advanced and those most advanced.  I chose this breakdown because it will allow readers to not only determine where they stand in comparison, but also create a rough plan of things they can focus on doing to move their initiative ahead.  Even with a report of this type, where it is more intended to provide information than direction, I believe it is still important to help organizations move ahead, get better, improve their initiatives.  That’s the real goal.

A few of the noteworthy discoveries include…

• There is very little oversight of those working on social media.  This doesn’t give them the freedom to create content, but it does give them the freedom to personalize their content, along with the “personality” of their social media program.
• If you’re in-charge of a new social media initiative and it become successful this means you (typically an analyst within these types of organizations) can have a greater impact upon the marketing message of an organizations that the entire marketing department or any other single person in the organization…  but check the report to see what happens to you then…
• Having a hard time getting traction for your initiative inside the organization beyond just the typical marketing messages?  Check out the report to see which departments become most influential first (sneak peek… customer service is first) and how social media analysts are finding success.  Unfortunately it isn’t a very efficient approach…

Check out all the findings and my top 7 recommendation.

See you in Vegas!

…Dave

They aren’t asking the questions they should be asking.  In most cases they don’t know enough to ask the right questions.  What they are really asking is how do we now integrate social media into the organization as they traditionally think of business? 

Year two social initiatives (if you have an aggressive program) are all about answering this question.  Year three might carry you into answering the right questions, but if nothing else, this keeps your personal chances of success fairly high (it’s a lot harder to answer and apply progressive social media approaches than intregrate it into existing businesses).

Here are four answers to their questions…

1. Create niche marketing messages

The year one effort probably consisted mostly of rebroadcasting standard marketing messages in a more personal manner.  Use the numbers you’ve accumulated to show them how many more people they are now directly reaching – the typical social media multiplier math.  This isn’t a truly new achievement but if they don’t know any better you might as well take credit for it…  I year two, create niche marketing messages that appeal more deeply to key segments of customers, and, to gather more friends, begin discussing topics that are highly related to topics that your customers care about, but are more specifically targeted to get people who influence the sphere your products or services appeal to involved.

2. Reduce costs through customer service

Year one: people complained on your social site and you responded that someone would contact them or pointed them towards a solution.  Year two: have true customer service via the site.  That doesn’t mean the solution doesn’t happen off-line, but you can solve customer problems right in front of other people.  This not only shows your sincere about helping your customers, but most customers have the same problems with your products (see item 4…) and for every one person vocal about a complaint there are sure to be a few more out there that don’t ask and aren’t the true advocates you want because they secret are slightly dissatisfied.

3. Improving your product

It’s nice to think your product is perfect but in reality it isn’t.  In fact, the better the product the more imperfect it often is because people use it in more creative ways than it was originally intended.  (Not every product is capable of this.  Some are so tightly focused that they cannot be used this way – the iPod – whereas some are more versatile and more readily lead to customer creatively – the iPad.)  In year two tie someone from your R&D department into you social media stream.  They will ask questions and illicit further responses that you as a social media or marketing person simply wouldn’t think to ask.

4. Engineers get social?

It is a little known secret that even the most reclusive of artists are actually highly social.  They all seek praise for their work.  Even someone who never shows or sells their work still wants their friends to say how great it is when they open the coat closet to leave the house together.  Engineers are no different; they create your product; they are invested in it.  The majority of social interaction on the average company site is simple advocacy – people saying they like your product.  This should give those recluses enough confidence to jump in.  Integrate them into the social stream and you will find they push new uses, tips and tricks with your product out to your customer base that you never thought of in marketing.  Just make sure you handle the complaints…

I’d like #4 to be giving your executives a more personal voice to discuss company performance, but that is still likely two years away – but I can’t wait for it!

Having success integrating any of these other areas of your business into your social media efforts?

…Dave

1. Update your Customer-Facing Policies

Nearly every company has a facebook and twitter page up and running by now, even if it has very little traffic.  Time to take a look at the social media policies that you’ve put up there and see if they are reflect your organization’s current attitude.  Many of them were written some time ago when the risks associated with social media were in the forefront and the language used was focused on legal issues.  My suggestion: humanize them.  Make sure they draw a clear line, but say it in a way that let’s your friends know their input, good and bad, is important.

2. Checkout the Competition

While you’re online check out what your main two competitors are doing.  It’s easy to see if there pages are customized and how many friends or followers they have, but take an extra minute and see how engaged their fans are.  Although there are strict, cumbersome formulas to determine how engaged their fan base is, for our purposes something much simpler will work.  The goal is getting you to thinking about where you stand in relation to their social media efforts and if you are behind, to get you taking action.  Simply count up the number of posts, comments, likes, ect. they have on their page per week.  Do it for a month or two of history and then count the same way on your page.  It isn’t perfect but it should help you realize if you are behind.

3. Update your Employee Policy

Just as you did for your public facing policies check your internal social media policies.  Again, are they all legalese or do they give the reader (your fellow employees who you are hoping will engage with your fans via social media) as sense for what social media is, how it can both help and hurt your organization, what they can and can’t do, and most importantly, how they could help participate?  Once they have the tone you are looking for get them signed off on (if necessary) and send them out to the organization in the New Year.  Reach out personally to the people that you most want to participate.

4. Find a Friend of your Own

This seems the simplest of the four but it is actually the most challanging and can yield the most benefit.  Most organizations do not have a deep social media skill set in house yet.  Search through your contacts and your linkedIn connections to find other social media professionals, even if they aren’t in your same industry, that you can talk through some of the larger issues we’ve discussed on this blog before (for example, things that will affect your enterprise internally or even the larger market impacts of social media).  Find out how they are approaching them and see if they have a social media strategic plan in place that you can compare against yours.  It might take some time, but having a group of peers will help you deal with problems when they arise, and take your initiative to new heights in-between.

Happy New Year… Dave
@dgiannetto

Enter social media.

Over the course of the next five years we will see the emergence of a new social economy where the basic rules of business have themselves changed.  Strategy, true strategy – how competing organizations operate relative to each other within industry – will be influenced by dynamics that simply did not exist just several years ago.  Organizations that fail to adapt to this new social economy will find themselves left behind; those who once dominated the landscape will be no more influential or relevant than dinosaurs when the ice age arrived – unless they adapt.  We previously looked at the changes social media has created within enterprises.  Today we look at those changes in market dynamics themselves.

1. A New Social Currency

Friends, followers, connections.  These are the currency in the new social economy.  Companies will be forced to first compete to earn this new currency before they can then compete to convert these fans into cold hard cash.  The brand that wins the hearts and minds, consistently and continuously, will be the brand that prospers.  The initial appeal of the brand will not be based primarily upon features and functions as it today, but upon their ability to connect with potential consumers.  There will still be consumers that buy based purely upon price, features and functions, but as time passes another important factor in the buyer decision-making process will be their connection to the brand.  Think of this connection like a current-day coupon – it will focus them in on your brand first, by-passing the competition, increasing your chances of a purchase and raising customer lifetime value.

2. The New Customer

Today customers are defined by anyone having a need that can be met by your product or service, or those that have already purchased.  Get ready to rethink that definition.  In the future your definition of a customer will have to include everyone that is interested in the activity, problem or interest that your product or service addresses.  Your communication will have to include things that impact the community of people who care about things that you might consider even tangential to your brand.  While these might not tie directly into what you consider your true value proposition, remember, in the new social economy, you must first win their hearts and minds before you will win their loyalty.  Showing them you understand and care about the same things they do is a necessary first step.

3. The Social Media Multiplier

Economists talk about the multiplying effect that spending creates as it trickles down through the economy.  The same will apply to branding as communicated through social media.  In fact this multiplier already exists but its power will increase as social media gains influence.  In the old days the multiplier was: you tell two friends, they tell two friends, ect.  Now, you tell your friends and they tell 10,000 friends, ect.  We’ve already seen the impact when videos go viral – both good and bad.  This is the foundation of why the basic currency in the new social economy has changed.

4. Calculating Market Value in the Future

Perhaps more than any other positive impact that social media will have on our culture, it has the potential to change one of the most destructive market dynamics currently in place – the focus on short-term gains that fail to properly gauge the true market value of an organization.  To a large part market value is determined based upon the perceived value of an organization as ‘experts’ see it.  Much of the insight these experts use comes from corporate communications and industry news combined with their own core beliefs and assumptions.  The greater the investors’ confidence that these experts are right the higher the market value a brand.  We have all felt the impact of those assumptions being wrong, either because these experts guessed wrong or executives intentionally misled.  The only way around these mistakes is greater transparency – something that social media demands.  In the future, organizations that allow executives to engage directly in conversations about their performance via social media will see higher market values simply because experts and investors will have greater confidence.  Over time, it will become mandatory.  Over time, it will create a very necessary cultural business change.

Are you seeing any of these changes taking place in your industry yet?

From Northern New Jersey… Dave

But let’s take a step back and actually look at how will social media will be changing your enterprise itself over the next few years.  Shouldn’t the mechanics you put in place now tie to the new social landscape your organization will be forced to compete on in the coming years?

Here are the biggest changes social media will be creating inside your organization in the coming years (we’ll deal with the biggest changes outside your organization next).  Plan now or pay later…

1. Exceptions Will Be the Rule

We all know the story of how one man and his damaged guitar bruised not only one airline brand but the entire industry.  Brands have come to fear viral videos, but they will be the least of your worries.  Social media builds communities – close communities – giving even the most unimportant unhappy customers direct access to your most influential supporters.  One complaint isn’t damaging, but over time they will add up and soon organizations with even slightly flawed processes affecting customers will find themselves working to add content to their streams simply to dilute the number of complaints present on their feed – a losing battle.   Social media will create the need for much greater process definition and process discipline than we’ve ever seen before.  Few organizations are prepared for this, and even fewer operations managers will understand social media’s role.

2. You Can Not Hide From the Past

Why are customer complaints a problem?  Can’t you just delete them?  Everyone says you can’t but in reality you can.  I don’t recommend it but if you plan to remove them just wait for the complaint to sink low enough in your stream for people to lose sight of it.  That works now; in the future it won’t.  Once online social analytics improve, complaints will have significantly greater visibility than they do today.  They will be more holistic.  The new metric will be not only the numbers of complaints brands get, but also the number of posts removed from their pages.  Get busted filtering the content people are allowed to attach to your brand and that surely will go viral.  Be prepared for the online love brands are feeling now via social media to end – when the honeymoon’s over the complaining starts.

3. Social Media Professionals Become Analysts

Right now the most difficult job in business is being a business analyst.  They live in the unpleasant space between operations, finance, information technology and unmanageable data that will do anything to avoiding becoming good information.  They are tasked with understanding business processes, the customer experience and comparing it to data that defines performance and customer preference.  And there you have the starting point job description for your entire social media center for excellence of the future.  If you’re hiring cheap college grads with no business experience to run your social media now, figure out how to get them understanding what drives your business before they become unskilled labor.

4. Social Media Joins the Round Table

As if social media professionals didn’t have enough to do understanding and integrating social media into their organization, selling it to executives and teaching managers in their organization how to use it without creating a disaster, things are going to get a little more complicated.  Expect executives to invite the head of your social media initiative to strategic meetings with increased frequency.  Not only are they going to invite you, but they are going to expect you to have answers on how social media creates an ROI for itself, helps them achieve their strategies, while at the same time differentiating your organization and providing a competitive advantage.   The upside?  It will take a few years still, but keep an eye out for executive incentives and perks if you’re successful.

Is your organization planning now for these changes?

From San Diego…. Dave