Social Media & Pre-Sliced American Cheese

A lot can be said about how we portray ourselves and our businesses through social media channels. Some advisers will recommend not to post anything that may alienate your audience (the “pre-sliced American cheese” or “greatest common denominator” philosophy).

But there is more to social media than being non-offensive or inclusive. The trick is to be non-offensive, inclusive AND CON¬CURRENTLY: interesting, available, current, occasionally funny, informative, and not-too-busy-to-pay-attention-but-not-too-idle-to-over post. Oh, and ditch the social media ‘I just opened my account’ generic page/avatar uniform as soon as you can (Need help? Give us a buzz).

Social Media & Baked Goods

A social media post is like a baked good. Imagine you and I are visitors to a bake sale. We walk past the first table: dry multi-grain muffin. We move towards the second table: over baked biscuits. Third table: two day-old cornbread. Are these things horrible? Maybe not, but we both know what we were really hoping to find: a freshly baked, decadent, velvety cupcake with half of a ripe strawberry wedged in the frosting.

The Recipe

1. Be ready to display excessive persistence.

2. Don’t find things to re-post. Find INTERESTING things to re-post.

3. Think about what your readers/followers/friends need: A laugh?
Product advice? Coupons and deals? A human behind a logo?

4. It never hurts to educate and inform – that’s where the web’s roots are.

5. Don’t annoy. It’s bad enough when a person is thought of as “spam”, it’s worse for a company or brand.

6. Please don’t annoy. (Don’t over post. Don’t re-post the most popular web buzz. Don’t only post external links without bait: good descriptions or pictures associated with the links.

7. Don’t let social media be a chore. Hundreds of people would love to spend time on Facebook or Twitter while at work. You have a valid reason to (believe me, you do), so, for the sake of the rest of us: enjoy it.

For those companies trying to figure out how to use emerging and popular social media as part of a new business model, General Motors may have found the answer.

The automaker giant, looking for new and cutting edge ways to connect with current customers and improve customer relations, has embraced Twitter and Facebook to connect directly with GM auto owners experiencing issues.

GM has created a team to scour Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks for comments related to GM cars and issues. The team contacts the poster, opens a dialogue about the issue referenced in the status update or post and tries to find an answer for car troubles the user is experiencing. This extends to cars and trucks far beyond their warranty expiration, and has already been a pleasant surprise for many GM owners.

The initiative has been successful enough that GM is adding additional resources to its social media team, including personnel and computing power, to help establish it as a cornerstone of customer service. Other large companies, Amazon and Dell for instance, are using social media to respond to customer issues and resolve problems as well.

Recent surveys have shown that 59 percent of social media users have “vented” on their site of choice about poor customer relations. They are quickly replacing other means of communication as a method for potential customers to research the reputation and customer care of their company. Technology, travel and retail companies can be sited as companies “ahead of the curve” (and reaping benefits already) in terms of utilizing social media, while utilities, health care and insurance industries have been noted by tech watchers as those quickly falling behind.

The more people rely on social media for their “word of mouth,” the more vital it will become for companies to not only serve their customers well in the first place, but establish a solid online presence to maintain relationships.

Go ahead, Google your company‘s name — do you like the results?

Organizations undergoing redesigns recognize the importance of their online presence, and managing it has become a full-time career for many. What’s the advantage of rooting social media directly into your website, anyway? Shouldn’t it be enough to show up in Google search results?

One advantage is centralizing and confirming all sources of your company’s online presence. This recognition enforces an image of complete transparency. Users need to know if they can trust you. They want to see how you interact with the public. By placing links to Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. on your site, you’re showing you’ve got nothing to hide.

Get people to interact:

• Put icons right on your homepage – consider Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be as necessary as the all-essential Home button. Don’t bury them in the design. If feedback and engagement is important to your organization, you should give people different options when it comes to talking.
• Our solution: Media Genesis has three icons that appear on every page with an invite to “Follow Media Genesis” as well as an invite to subscribe to our newsletter.

• Take advantage of Twitter – feature your updates in a Twitter feed on your site. Fresh content can only drive more people to find you and increase the number of people coming back for more.
• Our Solution: Media Genesis features Twitter updates right on our homepage, called “The Latest From Our Twitter” section. Including a time of posting signifies frequency to users.

• Incorporate your WordPress blog in your site – make it the news aggregator of your site, and feature recent news or ideas updated frequently.
• Our Solution: Media Genesis features top articles on our homepage. Our newsletter is linked as “News” on our website, and users can see fresh content every month as we generate new articles.

Barack Obama raised $500 million from his online campaign, garnering a total of 5 million fans on social media sites. Dell used Twitter to sell $3 million worth of computers with over 600,000 followers. Clearly, these are some extreme examples of hard return on investment.

Social media ROI has been largely overlooked by businesses, as a study by Mzina and Babson Executive Education revealed. Eighty-four percent of professionals worldwide don’t measure the ROI of their social media programs, while 40 percent weren’t even sure if they could track ROI with their social media tools.

Strategize!

If your company jumps on Twitter or Facebook, looking to turn a noticeable profit, the first step should be getting known. You’ll want to start a conversation with followers, ease them into even wanting to hear what you have to say about your work.

How do you measure something as lofty as brand recognition or your online image perception? Try these methods:

• Use SplitTweet to monitor when your company name is used online – track what people are saying about your product and services.
• Sign up for GoogleAlerts to get links sent straight to your inbox whenever your company’s name is used.
• Address client complaints or questions directly – full transparency and taking responsibility is always a good PR practice.

Perhaps you’re measuring an objective of direct-engagement. Try these statistics:

• Comments, feedback, video views and content downloads
• Amount of people sharing your company’s posts

Don’t launch a social media campaign without paying attention to the measures of success – these strategies will only help you get ahead, even with social media in its developmental stages.

Want more? Check out these resources and related social media ROI links:

Social Media ROI Examples & Video – Hard statistics and numerous corporate success examples.
Social Media Metrics Superlist: Measurement, ROI & Key Statistics Resources – Just what it says – a true superlist of social media ROI resources.

Not only are social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter becoming part of our everyday culture, but now blog posts, pictures and tweets are beginning to seep into our courtrooms.  They are even becoming a norm when it comes to evidence in a lawsuit. In general, social networks in general have brought about a whole new way of keeping in touch and expressing ourselves. With the ability to post comments, pictures and status updates, you can virtually get a minute-by-minute play of what your friends are doing at any given moment. But with the ability to share so much information there comes a catch – the information you just  posted is now out there in cyberspace for anyone to see.

It is becoming increasingly common for attorneys to search these social networks and use the content and information posted on these sites when legal issues arise. Even with privacy settings, you are still traceable online. A good example of this is a federal case in which two Yale students pressed charges against Matthew Ryan, a resident of Texas, who posted derogatory comments and pictures of the two girls on an Internet discuss board. Even though Ryan lived in Texas and all his comments were made in an online public forum, he was still tried for harassment in Connecticut and found guilty.

There are also plenty of examples of Michigan cases where social networks have played a large role as well. For example, this article describes police efforts to prosecute the creator of a Facebook group that led to a 2008 riot on the campus of Michigan State University. Also, another article describes a libel lawsuit against two MSU students for making edits to a County Commissioner’s public Wikipedia profile.

So the next time you make a comment online or post pictures, remember that it can be found and will be found. It’s easy to be careless when sitting alone in front of your computer, but try to consider how that bulletin or link you posted portrays you to your family and friends.

It takes no more than a quick peek at a list of the most popular and often visited websites to see how social networking sites reign supreme.  Facebook, Myspace and YouTube are all within the top five sites most visited, sitting only behind Yahoo and Google in popularity.  Sites like Twitter and Blogger are climbing rapidly. With social networking sites receiving such high traffic, it makes sense more than ever to include it in any successful internet business plan.

Media Genesis is currently using social networking sites to increase our client’s visibility, as well as our own, with a lot of varied and successful techniques.  We have set up Facebook pages for clients’ companies, and for some unique individual campaigns.  This winter, The Salvation Army and MG teamed up with Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock and player Darren McCarty to use their extensive social networks to promote the “Online Red Kettle” program encouraging donations to the Salvation Army.  Media Genesis created videos for Babcock, McCarty and several other advocates of The Salvation Army and the videos were then posted on YouTube.  By utilizing YouTube’s far reaching sphere of influence, we were able to reach more people than with traditional methods.

YouTube is proving to be an invaluable resource for those wanting to display videos without overhauling their website to allow for it, and with the ability to add information and new content in real time.  Facebook and LinkedIn can be utilized to present a fresh face and side to a business or non-profit – even a particular campaign – and reach new people in a fresh and more modern way.  Sites like Twitter, which sends out updates – short messages – in real time to subscribers via the web and mobile phones can be used to inform people immediately of news worthy events, promotions, or just fun information that creates a closer bond between client and customer.  MG client Belle Tire is currently utilizing Twitter to inform customers of new sales and promotions.

Lastly, more and more companies are building social networking features into their own sites.  Customizable profile pages, for example, allow people to have more of a vested interest in visiting a site more often, as well as interact with other users.

The numbers don’t lie – in the last year, social networking sites have continued to climb in popularity.  The most popular features for mobile phones are social network related, and in the last year, mobile phone visits to social networking sites has risen almost 500 percent.  For organizations trying to reach new people and keep hold of those they currently have, social networking has provided an answer.

To get a better understanding of how to use social media, contact Media Genesis at inquiry@mediaG.com.

Or, friend us on Facebook and Twitter!

We’re all familiar with the most popular websites for social networking, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and now Twitter. The key to social marketing is to remember that it should be used as a two way communication street. No one wants marketing messages being constantly blasted directly at them. Keep these principles in mind when starting out:

1. Be authentic and human. Feel free to share fun and entertaining info, and even some annoying aspects of your workday. Tell people about your latest big event, or complain about the weather. Anything that opens up a chance for conversation. Just stay away from things that would paint a negative or derogatory image of your brand.
2. Be consistent and choose the right networks. Just like in high school, you didn’t feel the need to be friends with every single clique. Find the ones that make the most sense for your business and your consumers. And remember to keep the same messaging and personality across each network. You shouldn’t be reinventing your marketing approach specifically for online traffic. Stay consistent with the values and principles of your business.
3. Set realistic goals and measure your progress. Don’t make it all about the numbers, but more about making an impact. You want your customers to feel like they have a connection with you, and ideally you want them to include their friends into your clique. That means that you will have to put some time into this venture. Don’t start off hot and heavy and then let your communications dwindle.

If you’re interested in starting a campaign, the best advice we can give is to jump right in. In the beginning it might be a slow process, but the more time you put into it the more it will pay off for you.