The Power of Social Media

The Power of

Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

The Power ofSocial Media

Barry AdamsDigital Services Director


What is ‘social media’?

Wikipedia:

“Social media includes web- and mobile-based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals.”


Social media is about conversationsconversationsconversationsconversations online about shared interests & ideas.

The old model:


BroadcastBroadcastBroadcastBroadcast

The new model:


ConversationConversationConversationConversation

Real conversations with real people

• People expect to be spoken to as if they are people

• Impersonal & robotic corporate communication is unacceptable


Authentic tone of voice

• Every company has a personality

• That personality should power the engagement with people on social media

• Stay true to your corporate personality

� ‘Fake’ personalities are easily spotted and ridiculed


� ‘Fake’ personalities are easily spotted and ridiculed

The user is in control

• Having conversations mean engaging with your users

• Conversations happen on the user’s terms

� You are ‘intruding’ in their social space, so you need to make sure the conversation is worthwhile to have

• The old adage ‘customer is king’ is 100% true


• The old adage ‘customer is king’ is 100% true

� On social media, the user is king

So what’s in it for me?

• Conversation – not broadcast

• Be authentic and true to your corporate personality

• It happens on the user’s terms


So why would we do social media at all?

Because that’s where your customers are

• Facebook:Facebook:Facebook:Facebook:

� 900 million users

� 3.2 billion likes & comments every day

� On average users spend over 5 hours/month on FB

• Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:


• Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:

� 550 million users

� 4o0 million tweets a day

• Others:Others:Others:Others:

� LinkedIn: 150m users

� Google+: 170m users

Be realistic

• Social media are social spaces;

� Commercial messages are rarely welcome

• Understand what each social media site is good at;

� Use what works for each specific platform

• Establish clear goals & objectives;


• Establish clear goals & objectives;

� What is it you want to achieve?

� What platforms should you use for that?


Source: Go-Gulf.com, May 2012

Facebook

• The biggest social network by far and the most mature platform for businesses;

� Facebook Pages

� Facebook Advertising

• Highest engagement levels of all social media platforms


• Highest engagement levels of all social media platforms

� More time spent on Facebook than on any other site.

Facebook Pages

• A Facebook Page is the primary presence of a business on Facebook

• All corporate activity on Facebook has to happen via its Page

• On average only 16% of your page’s fans will see your post

� Solution: promoted post:


� Solution: promoted post:

Facebook Advertising


Twitter

• Used to send 140-character messages

� Very good engagement levels

• Limited advertising opportunities

� Sponsored tweets are expensive

� Paid-for tweets by celebs need to be declared


� Paid-for tweets by celebs need to be declared

• Great viral potential

� Twitter Retweets are more powerful than FB likes

� Media pay more attention to what happens on Twitter

Twitter tools

• Main Twitter account

• Hashtags: #paralympics #justinbieber #followfriday

• Following the right people

• Engage with followers

• Average half-life of a tweet: 18 minutes****


• Average half-life of a tweet: 18 minutes****

**** Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/when-is-my-tweets-prime-of-life

LinkedIn

• The most popular ‘business’ social network

� Users create profiles which are more or lessextended CVs

� Connect with (former) colleagues & business associates

� Share updates


� Share updates

� Get recommendations & recommend others

• 150m users (May ‘12)

• Primarily used for business networking

� Groups

� Events

• A popular tool for recruiters

LinkedIn for business

• Company page

� Showcase products & services

� Add employees

� Post updates


� Post updates

� Advertise jobs

� Get recommendations

• Advertising

� Targeted ads

Pinterest

• Social image/video sharing network

� You can upload (‘pin’) photos & videos


� Like & Re-pin others

� Comment on pins

• 23 million users (Aug ‘12)

� 97% are female

Four Steps to a Successful Social Media Strategy

1. Set goals & objectives

2. Define your audience

3. Create engaging content

4. Measure & analyse


4. Measure & analyse

The Power of Social Media

Technology

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