Social media and business

Why should I care?

What is social media?

“An umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, video and audio.”

Source:Wikipedia

What does it look like?

• Facebook• MySpace• Twitter• LinkedIn• Flickr• Blogs• RSS feeds and much, much more

By the numbers

• Facebook – 122,220,617 monthly visitors• MySpace – 55,599,585• Twitter – 23,579,044• LinkedIn – 11,228,746• Classmates.com – 14,649,224• Ning.com – 5,881,943• Bebo – 3,120,062Source: eBizMBA

Business the old way

• selling• pushing• advertising• talking TO the customer

What’s wrong with this?

• 18% of TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

• Average person subjected to 3000 ads a DAY

• 90% of people who can, skip TV ads• 14% of people trust adsSource: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising report, October 2007

Business the new way

• Dialogue with consumers• Two-way conversation• Listening• Engaging• Open• Transparent• Trustworthy

So?

• 78% people trust recommendations from other consumers

• (14% people trust adverts)• 34% people post opinions on products

and brands on their blogsSource: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising report, October

2007

Why should I care?

• 3 out of 4 Americans use social networking sites

• 2/3 global internet population use social networking sites

• Social networking sites• Time spent on social networks is growing at 3

times the overall rate of the internet – 10% of all internet time

Why should I care?

• 100 million videos viewed on YouTube every day

• 3,600,000,000 pictures on Flickr.com (June 09)• 3,000,000 Tweets every day• 5,000,000,000 minutes on Facebook every day

Source: What the F**K is social media? by Marta Z Kagan

Why should I care?

• 93% of social media users believe companies should have a presence on social media• 85% believe they should go further

and interact with their customers

Source: Cone, Business in Social Media, a study, September 08

Why should I care?

“Social media is only going to become more pervasive and as such, become a critical factor in the success or failure of any business.”

Brian Solis, The Social Media Manifesto

Resistance is futile

“For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating content for the social web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.”

BusinessWeek, February 19 2009

Power to the People

“Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now its the people who are in control.”

Rupert Murdoch

Pepsi’s social media touchdown

• Pepsi drops $20 million Super Bowl advert for social media campaign

Does this stuff work?

“Socially engaged companies are more financially successful.”

Source: Engagement, Raking the Top 100 Global Brands. Prepared by Wetpaint and Altimeter. July 2009

Does this work?

“While much has been written questioning the value of social media, this landmark study has found that the most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social engagement. The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are, in fact, more financially successful.”

Does this work?

• Starbucks and Dell most socially engaged brands in the world

Does this work?

STARBUCKSMystarbucksidea.com – putting the best

consumer ideas into actionFacebook – 3.5 million fansTwitter – 250,000 followersMini Starbucks card 1406 comments and 12,382

‘likes’ on Facebook

Does this work?

DELLDirect2Dell blogIdeasstorm blog1.5 million Twitter followers$6.5 million sales through Twitter

Social media and PR

Case study - REIN4CE• Niche PR business• Twitter• Blogging• LinkedIn

Social media and PR

Case study REIN4CE• BEFORE social media push• May 09 – monthly visits to website 50• AFTER social media push• June 09 to Nov 09 - monthly visits increased 91 to 507.• 207 non-bounce visits• 43% of traffic from referring sites – LinkedIn, Twitter, Imodules and

facebook• Average time on site 9 mins 9 secs• 467 high quality Twitter followersSource: Google Analytics

Social Media and PR

Case study REIN4CE• Member of 50 groups on LinkedIn• Set up 5 LinkedIn groups• Regularly blog and post answers on LinkedIn• 315 LinkedIn connections

Social Media and PR

Case study REIN4CEResults

• Asked to chair European Insurance Forum Conference in Dublin

• Sponsoring reinsurance conference in Arizona through Twitter

• Business enquiries from the Middle East, Bermuda, London, and the US

No silver bullet

• Social is just another tool• Technology that allows better communication

New part of the business mix

PR

Awards submissions

Profile raising – attending events

& conferences

Media audits

Building relationships

with the mediaSocial media: blogging, Twitter,

LinkedIn etc

Crisis management

Press releases, news stories and industry

commentary

Sponsorship & corporate social responsibility

Round tables &speaking

engagements

Annual reports & corporate

writing