Social networking dominates the time Americans spend online. In a big shift from just a few years ago, Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time on social networking sites and blogs, according to research released today by The Nielsen Company. A year ago, only 15.8 percent of time spent online was devoted to social networks. Online games came in second in terms of time spent online, accounting for 10.2 percent of time spent on the internet, compared to 9.3 percent a year ago. One of the big losers in the survey was email, which now accounts for only 8.3 percent of time spent online, compared to 11.5 percent a year ago. Another loser was portals, 4.4 percent now compared to 5.5 percent a year ago.
Instant messaging was also down at 4.0 percent, compared to 4.7 percent a year ago. Americans spend about a third of their online time communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal email and instant messaging. All of this news is great for social network companies such as Facebook and Twitter. Top Ten Things a Brand Must Be to Go Social. So often we hear that a brand wants to go social – that is, to be organically shareable, a hub for substantive conversations around mutual concerns and values, a place where customers return as a focal point in their lives. Yet in my experience that often isn’t possible because a brand hasn’t done the basics, the simple things that must occur before any social media strategy can succeed. Here are my top ten. 1. BE DEFINED: Brands don’t know who they are. There, I said it.
If I had to name the number one problem I encounter among brands, and the single most effective way to overcome any number of marketing problems, it’s to take the time to interrogate who you are, what you stand for and what your goals are. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. There is no end of reasons not to make these ten commitments (a few are listed below), but once a brand does, its chance of going social is exponentially increased. Credit: cpworks.com.
Old Spice: The Man Your Content Could Smell Like. [Update: EEE! Old Spice Man read our post and sent me a personalized video of my own. Check it out on YouTube or see the embedded video below.] The stars, they align. Yesterday we chatted about the lack of remarkable content on the Web and the “good enough” ideology that’s been adopted. Two words: Old Spice. It started yesterday with one cryptic message from the Old Spice Twitter account that read: “Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter,” it read. The result was amazement. There was a mass halt in productivity on the Web yesterday as all eyes were on the Old Spice Twitter and Old Spice YouTube account. The content Old Spice created yesterday wasn’t “good enough”, it was remarkable. Why was the Old Spice campaign so remarkable? It was all done in real-time The genius of yesterday’s campaign was that users could submit questions to the Old Spice man and, within minutes, watch a video response to their question.
It created personal connections You can’t watch just one.
SM ROI. SM Resources. A Simple Blogging Formula. In all my years of blogging, I’ve put together what serves as a very simple formula for what I think about when I sit down to the keyboard to type. This might not serve everyone, but it might be a great start for you to consider when thinking about blogging. Also, let me know how close this relates to your own blogging methods. A Simple Blogging Formula I try to blog almost every day. I believe that daily gets more people back more often and keeps attention levels high. Many people will disagree with this, saying that it’s important to only blog when you have decent content and something worth saying. Here’s the thing: I always have something I feel is worth saying. Let’s go through the formula: Step 1: Decide WHAT the Post Should DO for You I write posts for several purposes: To get a call to action. But I don’t do all of those things in every post. Step 2: How Can I Be Helpful? Every post that gets real traction on my blog comes from the mindset of being helpful to others.
Repeat. 11 Lessons For Social Media’s Future. We talk a lot about needing to “educate” people about social media. And at recent events and meetings I’ve attended, I can confirm that companies are asking themselves how they educate their teams and colleagues about social media, too. But the real question: WHAT do we need to be teaching? Some of it will depend on the environment, context, and specific applications and strategies of course. But here are some areas on which we need to focus teaching and learning in order to take social media from a circular conversation into something that can be substantially and effectively integrated into business. 1.
Clarity of Purpose I want so desperately for us to stop using words like “transparency” and “dialogue” to communicate our goals for social media, and instead pick those apart into their elements and really say what we mean. What do we stand for? 2. We know by now that social media can’t live in a bubble. 3. 4. 5. Oh, and that includes internal audiences too. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Cannes Advertising Festival Seminar: Social media as an instrume.
Credit: Campaign Brief For those at the seminar who want further information, or for those who couldn’t make it, here are a synopsis, a list of key points and links to the case studies that I mentioned in my seminar at Cannes today. SYNOPSIS: The advertising world is reeling from change – and it’s not just because they have yet to fully embrace social media in their brand campaigns. The problems in advertising are much more profound—they literally extend deep into the heart of capitalism. The core issue is that advertising and capitalism are dying the same death. Today’s talk addresses what the advertising industry needs to do to reinvigorate itself, if not simply to survive. The most powerful tool in this transition is social media, the focus of this talk. Ultimately, the future of advertising lies in making capitalism sustainable. Here are the case studies used in today’s presentation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Technology: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. Understanding the Three Primary Goals of Social Media. Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the need to build a social media strategy around specific goals instead of simply launching a presence because "everyone else is doing it. " Today, I'm going to map out the three primary goals most social media outreach campaigns fall into. If you're still trying to figure out how and why to get involved in social media outreach, consider these three categories and ask yourself how they might apply to your business. Three Primary Social Media Goals When we look at online marketing, there are three broad categories into which nearly all social media related goals can fall. They are usually either aimed at: Building/Strengthening the Brand Driving Conversions Increasing/Monitoring the Presence Starting at this broad level and thinking about the goals you have for your business can help you begin to write up a list of realistic ways in which social media might help you reach those goals.
Goal #1: Build the Brand marketing tools available. Top ten reasons social media should not and will not kill tradit. Image Credit: Easy Art I spent the week at the Cannes International Advertising Festival and came away greatly encouraged. Not only did the Festival team (led by Terry Savage and Philip Thomas) do an amazing job but I was impressed by how well the event captured the latest expression of the marketing world. With all the excitement (and, yes, hype) around social media, one might expect this bastion of traditional advertising to take a defensive posture and shun social media, or at least to be a little out of touch.
The opposite was true. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. With that said, there is still ground to be gained. How do you think traditional advertising agencies are doing? Social Media Employee Policy Examples from Over 100 Organization.