Taming the Social Media Beast:The New Social Paradigm

April 11, 2013

Kevin MacKenzieMarshall Fenn Communications

“People will always talk about you, so give them something to talk about”

Brian Solis, The End of Business as Usual

“Social media is a lot like ancient Egypt. People writing on walls and worshipping cats.”

George Takei, Facebook Fan Page

“The new Web is…a shared canvas where every splash of paint contributed by one user provides a richer tapestry for the next user to modify or build on. Whether people are creating, sharing, or socializing, the new Web is principally about participating rather than about passively receiving information.”

Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams, Wikinomics

“A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies..”

Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger,

The Cluetrain Manifesto, 1999

The Cluetrain Manifesto

130MM active websites globally as of February 2013 - Netcraft

Digital Information Continues to Grow

How to Solve a Problem Like the Internet?

• Online publishing became easy• New content appeared regularly• Technology supported “clustering”

The Era of Web 2.0

The Conversation PrismBrian Solis & JESS3 ©2008

Technology had caught up to our desires…

• Social media allows us to interact with our digital network:

• Connect

• Share

• Engage

• Information and data flow is limitless

• “Network of influence” helps shape

• Information and media consumed

• Communication and message paths

Shift #1:Information Consumption

Social Media in Canada

7 MillionLinkedIn Profiles in Canada

1 in 3Canadian Workers hasa LinkedIn Profile

18 Million Facebook Users In

Canada5th

Largest Twitter Audience Globally

Our Consumption of Information is Digital

• Canadians spend a weekly average of 17 hours online

• Time on social networks grew 32% in 2011

• More movies were viewed online in 2012 than in theatres (not including Torrent sites)

• Digital is increasingly where we spend time for:

• Entertainment

• Information

• Research

Shift #2:Always On, Always Connected

Social is Mobile

Remember This?

Shift #3:Search is SocialSocial is Search

The Search Game Just Changed

•Google introduced “Panda”2011• Indexing and ranking based on

recency and frequency•Social content gains advantage•Recent updates support:– contextual evaluation– natural language– publication date monitoring– copyright evaluation

Implications for Business

What Should I Do?

• Businesses need to adapt to the shift

• Find their customers online and on the go, and be prepared for a social introduction

• Understand that your customer has different needs; they already have access to your information

• If you don’t participate, your next customer will have a hard time finding you

What Should I Do?

Keep Social Human

You Will Be Okay

Hey, let’s be social now

And answer your Questions