As a social media enthusiast, I was excited at the opportunity to attend the Social Media World Forum this week at London’s Olympia. There was a fantastic line up ranging from Trevor Johnson, head of Strategy & planning for Facebook to Jason Baker, head of CRM & Digital Media at Ikea UK. This was a two day event which provided me with the opportunity to immerse myself into a land of technology and social harmony.
Social media is about organically growing your online following and connecting with your prospects and customers with integrity. It’s even more important to meet your online network offline and to continue with the relationships in the real world and well as the virtual one. With that said, I did find some real gems and I wanted to share some of my key insights and what to look out for in 2010/11.
Top 5 Social Musts
1. Social media should not stand alone – it needs to be a part of a more integrated marketing campaign and factored in the over arching strategy to be most effective.
2. Be consistent – social media is not something you can switch on and off. Just like any relationship, you have to make time to nurture and build the relationship and it is a long term commitment.
3. It’s a team effort - The future of brands is employees, you need to empower your staff to use social tools and to have meaningful conversations. A more connected workforce means you are more likely to build a larger, stronger network of influencers. If all employees grow their network from the roots up then the natural reach of the company brand reaches more people in the right way.
4. Transparency is key – openness, communication, and accountability will make you more attractive in the online world. It’s becoming harder for companies to ‘fake it’.
5. You need to build trust – Social platforms are not hard sales channels where you can broadcast your message to your network without offering anything else. It’s about communication and adding value and that is when people will start to like you, and trust you and that is when you will start to see your ROI.
1. Geo tagging – Location based tagging where you can update your followers on where you currently are and where you have visited. One of the early favourites is FourSquare
2. Corporate sites becoming social sites – companies are actively pitching up tents to be closer to their customers (on their social networks) which questions the importance of the corporate website.
3. Some great new features are coming to the world of video - Split screens, voice channels and mobile interactive chatting. You will soon be watching your favorite programs with friends virtually.
4. Online gaming – With the great success of Farmville (1% of the world population now plays this on a daily basis) and COD on the Playstation 3, online gaming has become one of the most profitable channels on the web for advertising and sponsors.
5. Purchasing – An easy way to see and discuss what people are buying, in real time.Allowing people to see where they will find the best value for money.Take a look at Blippy
Overwhelmingly the message was that social is not a fad, it’s not a craze and it’s here to stay. It has dramatically changed the shape of how we do business now and in the future. It’s an exciting time and the social movement is giving small businesses a real chance to shine and flourish. We are going to be seeing a whole new wave of new brands in the not too distant future from the companies that embrace this change and see the value in being better connected with customers, partners and prospects.
Rebecca Hollis
Social media enthusiast
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