Greenwich social networking (3hrs)

Social media...social
networks
An introduction

www.pleasewalkonthegrass.com

Philip R Holden

Senior Lecturer at University of Greenwich
& author of „Virtually Free Marketing‟


Image from http://www.zazzle.de
Don‟t just sit there...

...DO IT


At least four things to

THINK ABOUT...


The web Free stuff!

Your sense of direction Marketing in a
recession


What’s so
great about
the web?


A lot of links

A helluva lot of links

Quick

Cheap


Conversation

“The world is in the middle of a
...conversation....[the] challenge ...is to enter
that conversation...you‟d better be prepared to
add value. If...all you‟re doing is interrupting
the conversation...”

John Hayes, American Express


Give it away free…


Conventional measure don’t
work
...at least not on their own
But social metrics are complicated...
www.iab.net/socialmetrics

“Authenticity reigns. Conversations cannot
be controlled, they can only be joined, so
marketers have to be willing to listen and
learn from the consumers they engage
through social media” Randall Rothenberg, IAB

Understanding

NETWORKING AND THE NEW
WEB


How many people

DO YOU KNOW?


The power of weak ties

Photo from Woodsy, Stock.Xchge http://www.sxc.hu/photo/745155
• Small tight
networks
• Strong
connections
v
• Extensive
open networks
• Weak
connections
Scott, John. 1991. Social Network Analysis. London: Sage.
See also Wikipedia entry on „Social Networks‟ www.pleasewalkonthegrass.com

Old web New web
• Static • Dynamic
• One way • Two way
• Specialised skills • Everyone does it
• Advertising • Teaching
• Impact • Involvement
• Spend • Friend
• Bull**** • Truth


Involvement…


Big business is no longer in
charge
• Participation
• Collaboration
& sharing
• Co-production
• Richer/faster
• Weightless


A fundamental
truth of the new
web…
You have to
be in there

Photo from Ight at www.flickr.com
…to know how it
works


“...bold, persistent experimentation”
“Try something. If it fails, admit it frankly and
try another.”

FRANKLIN D
ROOSEVELT


With a partner, explain what your customer looks like, what they
value, what they want out of life. Clue: don‟t discuss what business
you are in, think about what business they are in. What is their
passion?
...in just five minutes each.

EXERCISE #1


Live the life
of your
Photo from J0mammma at www.flickr.com

customer


The Sip ‘N Snack, ...Val runs the
place with help from his niece
(the hostess, waitress, do-everything-else
person). There are no frills here –
no fancy lattes, gourmet muffins or WiFi.
There is a menu of sorts, but no one
seems to look at it. Sal sees Uncle Mike
walk in, he starts cooking what they
call “Mike‟s breakfast”. They take
Photo from J0mammma at www.flickr.com

cash only (no credit cards or checks). If you don‟t
have the money on-hand, Val lets you pay him the next time you come
in. There are times when Val isn‟t really up to cooking. During those
times, he takes a seat at one of the tables and „the regulars‟ just help
themselves. After all, they aren‟t really there for Val‟s cooking
(although, don‟t get me wrong, Val can cook some eggs). They are
there because ...the Sip ‘N Snack is NOT Burger King!
http://strategic-ranking.com/blog/


Jedi
salesman
Not:
“how can I make you
buy?”
But:
“how can we achieve this
together?”

It’s not
rocket-
Photo from Quadrophonic Wingnut at www.flickr.com

science
…you don‟t just
get one shot


fail…

good idea
to

…in fact it‟s quite a
35lbs of
You‟re allowedclay


http://www.lifeclever.com/what-50-pounds-of-clay-can-teach-you-about-design/
Photo from Samyra Serin at www.flickr.com

Explore: your customers
• Where are your customers now?
• Explore other blogs, fora, websites
– Start compiling your list, links, contacts
• Who, what, where, how?
+ your existing customers

What are they DOING?


Not all customers are equal



Ladder of Loyalty

Partners

Advocates

Client

Customer

Prospect

Social Technographics

Forrester Research
Ladder of Loyalty

Creators
Partners
Critics
Advocates
Collectors

Client
Joiners

Customer
Spectators

Prospect Inactives

Influencers


Explore: your brand
• What are people talking
about?
• Is there anyone talking about
you?
• Should you be in on the
conversation?
• How can you keep track?


There are many paths...
• Google or Yahoo alerts 
• Google blog search 
• Google Trends 
• Technorati 
• Nielsen‟s BlogPulse 
• Twitter
– Twitterfall, Hootsuite and many others


Explore: your competitors
• How?


Some
questions... We‟re
What do we want great
at...
to achieve?
What do we do
that‟s great? Does it work?
What do we do We want to be... Does it feel
right?
that our
customers need
and value? What
people
really
value
is...


Take the card and turn it into something you could give to a
potential customer that would make a difference to their life.
In five minutes.

EXERCISE #2


Clear idea of your core values and strengths
Continuously listening to consumers
Being in the „datastream‟ – gathering from everywhere*
Taking part in natural conversations, naturally
Monitoring and measuring
Flexibility
Sticking at it

= YOUR STRATEGY


Test your strategy

INSIGHT PURPOSE


TRUTH

INSIGHT PURPOSE

BEAUTY

There are hundreds of social platforms...

SO WHICH ONE IS FOR YOU?

Philip R Holden

Facebook
Youtube
Twitter

TO NAME BUT THREE


Who‟s on

FACEBOOK?


Facebook
• Comscore data from October 2009: over
800m social network users worldwide that
month
• Facebook alone claims to have more than
400m users, with 50% logging in on an
average day
• Over 23m of these are based in the UK.
• Facebook accounts for around 45% of all
time spent within browsers on the mobile
internet.
Source: http://curiouslypersistent.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/can-
social-media-become-a-mass-media/

Facebook 
• Designed to support interaction
– Create pages (or groups?)
– Encourage support/fandom/engagement
• Word of mouse
– Continuous updates
– Create polls – learn
– Advertise
– Create applications to share
– Guess how many friends the average user
has?

Checklist
• Look at competitors and subject related
pages
• How many FB members are already
interested?
• Make a point of updating every...day?
• Experiment
– Think about applications
• Use Facebook Insights 

Youtube

IF YOU WANT TO


Youtube 
• Owned by Google
• 20 hours of video uploaded every minute
= 28, 800 hours a day
• Big changes, bringing bigger audiences
• Much more TV and film content
+ Youtube Insight


Youtube Insight 
• Views and popularity
– How many views in which countries
• Discovery
– How viewers find your videos
• Demographics
– Age and gender
• Community
– Ratings, comments, favourites
• Hot Spots
– Audience attention span!


Source: 360i social Marketing Playbook

Checklist
• Try it
– Can you communicate something of your
service by video?
• Can you invite video responses?
• Can you comment on others?
– Upload the simplest video and link it
somewhere
– Try the „insight‟ features
• Follow the links, users especially „Discovery‟


Why should you

TWITTER?


Twitter
• 3.5m + in the UK
– 6 out of 7 are on Facebook
• 90% moderate to heavy web users
• It‟s instant – it‟s current
• It‟s (becoming) mainstream
• It links other places on the web


How does it work?
• It‟s not for building an audience
– At least not on its own (and not quickly)
– But you might get a committed audience
– You might develop multiple connections
• It‟s another way of monitoring what‟s going
on
– Who is in conversation about what?
– And joining in


Checklist
• LESS than 140 characters – 100 is perfect!
• “What are you doing?” is the wrong question
– Think: what‟s interesting to my audience?
– Respond to them
• Link to the story
– You want followers to follow – to DO something
• How about a longer version on your blog/site?
+ others as well; don‟t try and fence them in
• Bit.ly allows you to shorten URLs and track them
• Listen and learn
• Be human...be interesting
– It‟s LIVE!
• Rewrite it before you send
– But be ready to send a correction...re-re-written
• KEEP GOING!!
– Two or three times daily?


Why not

MAKE IT SIMPLE(R)


...and don’t forget
• Facebook
– With Google feeds, Youtube, Picasa, Flickr
and Twitter all feeding in
• Microsoft
– Windows Live
• With....
• Google (of course)
• With....


Remember where your
customers are?
• They‟re in the real world
– but... you can bring them online where they
want to be
• Don‟t ask for a telex...


You
tube Fac
ebo
ok
My
Spac
e

blog

?
?

Building an

AUDIENCE


Can you link...everywhere?


Brainstorm(hoek)..
Try and identify a cause that‟s close to your heart
...and close to your business
...and close to your customers
In other words, what passion do you share?
Knowing what you know, how could you make this into a
conversation, a location, campaign, an event, an application?

EXERCISE #3


Sustaining your audience...

THINKING LONG-TERM


Creating markets
• Once „embedded‟ you begin to create
conversations
– „places‟ where like-minded people gather
– you position yourself at the heart
– you enable exchanges
• Increased engagement (two-way)
• Loyalty
• More fans/followers...customers

Summary
• Watch and listen, be involved
from day one
• Keep thinking about your
objectives/purpose
– But don‟t be a slave to this
• Hold onto your values/truth
• Build and link, build and link
– Don‟t expect overnight success
• Keep checking the
measurements

Exercise #4
• Over the coming weeks, as you explore,
develop a sketch plan


A word about

MARKETING IN A
RECESSION


“In a recession,
dare to invest
What strategic investments
aggressively in should you make during a
marketing, recession to gain competitive
advantage in the recovery?
innovation and Roberts K. Strategy and
Leadership, Volume
customer quality”, 31, Number 4, 2003 , pp. 31-
39(9)
is the clear
message to be
drawn from PIMS
(Profit Impact of
Market Strategy)

Invest in … Using…
• Promotion
• Marketing
• Branding
• Product development
• Customers

Picture from Saavem at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1086908

Old web New web
• Static • Dynamic
• One way • Two way
• Specialised skills • Everyone does it
• Advertising • Teaching
• Impact • Involvement
• Spend • Friend
• Bull**** • Truth

Adapted from
Neo-marketing v old-school marketing, Kathy Sierra
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating _passionate_users/


It all adds up
Value of networks
+
Investing in conversations
with customers
(especially in a recession)
x
Lots of free stuff
=
Great SME opportunity

Virtually
Free


What you can do now…
• Start a blog
• Get a simple website
• Start networking –
Facebook, Bebo, MySp
ace, LinkedIn, Youtube,
Twitter etc
Virtually
• Refer to all these offline
• Connect them all
• Promote yourself –
Free
Squidoo, Twitter, Slides
hare, Youtube etc
• Read, Listen, Learn, Sh
are

Keeping
on the
right
Photo from lusi at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1101337

track…
Photo from Bilbao58 at www.flickr.com

(Simple principles
…and possibly the next
book!)


insight
Knowing what your
customers really want
because you live with
them (online)
+
You talk to them and
listen to them

purpose
because you know why you‟re
in business
+
what you can do for those
customers (that no-one else
can)


truth
the truth is out there (whether
you like it or not) so tell it
+
Your own, unique, compelling
truth (integrated and
consistent)

beauty
Looking good isn‟t optional
+
The best products and services
just work better

Some sources –
www.pleasewalkonthegrass.com – Virtually Free by Philip R
Holden. Published by A&C Black
http://blog.360i.com – social marketing playbook
www.iab..net – various definitive documents on measurement
www.insidefacebook.com – Facebook Marketing Bible by Justin
Smith

THANK YOU

Greenwich social networking (3hrs)

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