WHAT CAN YOU SAY?

I spend a lot of my time working to integrate design and technology in new, useful and interesting ways for the benefit of my clients. I am always interested in new ideas, but I am hesitant to recommend them until their advantages are proven. In my view, social media is making a persuasive argument, but not everyone is ready to listen. I think the best way for business to approach social media is to first get better acquainted with it.

Wikipedia has a long and involved explanation of social media that I won’t repeat here. My short and sweet definition is “technology that enables sharing.” This includes social networking (Facebook, LinkdIn, MySpace), blogging (Blogger, WordPress) micro-blogging (Twitter), photo and video sharing (Flickr, YouTube) and more.

My colleague Don Burnett, a longtime technology blogger, was responsible for my initial foray into social media a few years back. On his insistence I joined Facebook to be part of a site he set up for our group the Michigan Interactive Designers. The benefits of Facebook were obvious to me even then. It was simple to understand, facilitated a lively discussion among group members, let us easily control access, allowed us to quickly update the site with documents, text, images and video; managed event invitations, and so on. It was a great tool to help us run our group. But I could not yet see a business application for it.

So I responded to the occasional friend request, tried to ignore a slew of offers to take quizzes and complete surveys about my favorite 80’s music, and stored Facebook in the back of my head for another time.

In July 2009, I read the Wired magazine article Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network’s Plan to Dominate the Internet—and Keep Google Out. Three things caught my attention.

1. 200 million people, about one-fifth of all Internet users—have Facebook accounts. They spend an average of 20 minutes on the site every day.
2. [Google] concede[s] that Facebook represents a growing threat.
3. Facebook has yet to turn a profit.

My Facebook account had definitely become more animated over that summer. Several friends, family members, high school classmates and the like were finding me, friending me, and telling me about their day- to-day, (sometimes moment-to-moment) existence. Yet with all this positive personal activity, I still could not see a way that this would apply to what I do for my clients or how my clients could use it in their businesses. But I also knew that at some point soon, one of them would ask my advice about social media.  And I needed to be prepared to answer.

Just recently, Don entered the social media picture again. We met to discuss an upcoming speaking engagement in which we were both participating. As we talked about our respective presentations, he mentioned an interesting statistic. “Did you know that if Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world?” He then proceeded to tell me all about the new book he was reading: Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business. Don’s talk was going to focus on this topic. Some of the takeaway statistics from the book were:

• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.
• 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.
• 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.
• More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook daily.

I think the very nature of social media is what makes it difficult for business to understand. But with the burgeoning number of users engaging in social media we can no longer afford to ignore it. Conventional marketing culture espouses projecting a message to an audience. Blast it loud enough, long enough, and with enough frequency and it will get through and then perhaps elicit a response. Social media turns that prospect upside down. It promotes having a dialogue with consumers, gathering feedback on (listening to) what they want, and fulfilling those wants. Approaching social media in a traditional way, using it as just another advertising channel to push a message can do more harm than good, something akin to shouting in a library. Businesses need to approach social media with very specific goals and be realistic in what they hope to achieve.

An article in the April 2009 Denver Business Journal recommends six best practices for businesses to ease into social media effectively:

• Listen well. Starbucks launched the My Starbucks Idea website to solicit ideas on how to improve the company and then posted the ideas that were implemented. Remember the two-way nature of social media.
• Facilitate the conversation. Nike showed its love for runners by creating an online community where runners could find, post and share their favorite runs. Comcast wanted to create a more real-time, personal discussion about customer concerns and created a Twitter account that has attracted 16,000 followers.
• Focus on content. Urban Outfitters asked fans to post photos of them wearing Urban Outfitters clothing to a popular online photo-sharing community. The store received interesting content to help drive traffic and sales while fans received inspiration on how to wear the clothing. Always ensure content is interesting or helpful and is updated frequently. Don’t be afraid to seek content from your community.
• Be honest. Today’s empowered consumers are adept at sniffing out a fake. Authenticity is one of the key tenets of the digital age. Be transparent. Respect your audience, and admit when you’re wrong.
• Be responsive. The clock seems to tick faster in the social media world, and silence on an important issue can be interpreted as guilt. Kryptonite learned this lesson in 2004 when it was too slow to respond to multiple blog postings about major product defects.
• Measure differently. Evaluate your effectiveness based on the level of interaction you create with your community, not just impressions. Look at metrics such as the size of your direct community and the amount of brand-related content contributed by your fans.

So if one of my clients asks whether or not they should be involved with social media I’m going to tell them instead of talking, start listening. This whole thing is not really about getting our message across, but listening to what others are saying.

Additional resources

Social Media for Small Business
A series of “Social Media Guides” to help small and medium businesses effectively use these tools to grow and better serve customers.

Social Media in Plain English
A simple story that illustrates the forces shaping social media.

Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses
This report sets out to uncover the “who, what, where, when and why” of social media marketing.

10 Must-Try Social Media Sites for College Students
Here are sites that will help you network, collaborate, communicate, and make your daily college tasks a bit easier.

While I've known about social media for a long time, the recent talk about rapidly growing enterprises like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more makes me wonder if there is now a place for these services in business. And if so, what could a company contribute to that conversation?