The social network. It’s not just for the party-people. For business, it’s serious. The astonishing fact is that the higher a person’s position in a company today, the more time they are spending on business-related social media.* It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. The convention is on. Social media has arrived. Be there, or be square.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
“Over the past 60 years, marketing has moved from being product-centric (Marketing 1.0) to being consumer-centric (Marketing 2.0). Today we see marketing as transforming once again in response to the new dynamics in the environment. We see companies expanding their focus from products to consumers to humankind issues. Marketing 3.0 is the stage when companies shift from consumer-centricity to human-centricity and where profitability is balanced with corporate responsibility.”
Philip Kottler
“Determining who the members of your audience are is the most important piece in the business puzzle.”
Cendrine Marrouat
“In an age of constant live connections, the central question of self-examination is drifting from ‘Who are you?’ towards ‘What are you doing?”
Tom Chatfield
“Tweets about the mundane aspects of your life contain something that is vitally important to gaining followers and taking part in discussions: Authenticity.”
Ian Lamont
“These days. Most of us have the attention span of a meth-addicted squirrel.”
Kristen Lamb
“As an umbrella term, we should think about social media and mobile behavior as it’s related to psychology, anthropology, communication, economics, human geography, ethnography, et al. After all, everything comes down to people.”
Brian Solisli
SOCIAL MEDIA: TOP 5 PLATFORMS
Number of unique Australian users accessing social media each month expressed as graphic percentage of Australia’s working-age population:
Source: Social Media News (UUA report June 2014)
TIME SPENT ON ENGAGEMENT IN SOME FORM OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Senior executives and decision-makers spend 40% more time than those not in those positions.
This equates to about 4 hours per day.
Source: Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (OTX 2013)
SOCIAL TO QUALITY WEBSITE TRAFFIC CONVERSION
YouTube drives the most engaged visitors out of all social media. But Google+ and LinkedIn bring some of the best-quality visitors.
Source: Shareaholic – Social Media Traffic Engagement (March 2014)
Being social enhances authority and builds trust.
The power of blogging
“No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I’d start with is a blog.”
Chris Brogan
Every business needs a website with a blog component where fresh, socially-valuable, SEO-powerful content is frequently posted. Call it “news” or whatever you like, but content is king in the competition for higher visibility, greater credibility, more effective social promotion, and superior performance in search engine results.
The power of newsletters
How do newsletters fit into the social media picture? With behavioural tracking for real-time measurement, a worthy newsletter is also more likely to be shared around.
“If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.”
Wes Nisker
Welcomed newsletters help a business to remain top-of-mind with customers, prospects, and interested parties.
The power of commentary
The mutualisation of social media demands participation. Make a connection. Join a conversation. Contribute. Share.
“You are what you share.”
C W Leadbeater
The power of content marketing
Using the web to market your business effectively means continuous production of quality content, published in a variety of media formats, and promoted through various social media channels. There is no getting around it, really, truly – content is king. Here are some formats we can use to great effect with social leverage:
Videos
Slideshows
Images
Infographics
Newsletters
Articles
Announcements
Brochures
White Papers
Case Studies
If you wait until there is another case study in your industry, you will be too late.
Seth Godin
“Social media is essentially the engine of multi-touch marketing.”
Melanie Williamson
B2B Marketing Services
