Beware the Social Media Iceberg

With all the excitement surrounding social media and its obvious application to almost everything we do, it is important to bring a little balance to the discussion. As mentioned yesterday strategy should precede your presence. Let me explain.

I hope the iceberg analogy will help as you make a decision to add social media channels to your business.

As you know when you see an iceberg – the part that’s visible above the water mark is nothing compared to what is below the water! Social media for your business is exactly like this. The temptation is to only consider what is above the water, forgetting what lies below. If you are sailing these waters it’s extremely import to understand what is below.

So although you will definitely want to get to the points above the water – joining existing conversations and starting conversations around your business, there is a lot of work that needs to be done before you get to that point.

As we have said before when discussing the social media earthquake – will your business remain standing the best place to start this process is to take a careful look at your company’s communication DNA. Do you have a culture of free flowing communication? If not this is the first place to start. Then there is all the work that needs to be done in listening to and understanding those around your business both internally and externally and then developing a strategy based on those insights and what your business objectives are.

There are no quick-fix short-cuts. However, don’t be caught in the paralysis by analysis trap. Although this may seem daunting with help you can move pretty quickly through these levels. Remember once you get above the water you still need to give attention to what is below. You never ever stop listening, for example. Does this make sense?

Over to you. What are your thoughts?

Meeting the Facebook team – some insights

Today we had the opportunity of meeting 2 of the faces behind Facebook in the European/African Region at the Habari Media event at The Venue in Melrose Arch. Here are some stats about the state of Facebook in South Africa. (The picture of the slide didn’t come out that well so we are repeating the stats below:)

• In the Facebook world we currently rank 29th
• 1.18 billion monthly page views
• Over 51% penetration of the online population
• Over 46% of users return to the site daily
• South African users have an average of 134 friends on Facebook
• Over 1.58 million users access Facebook on their mobiles
• Over 78% of users come back to Facebook every week

Here is info on the South African audience demographics:

Based on the above (and trends from Google Insights) Facebook is growing fast in South Africa. Did you notice how many people are accessing Facebook on their mobiles? Interesting that people who use Facebook on their mobile devices are almost 50% more active on Facebook than non-mobile users! With our mobile penetration this bodes well for Facebook in this country. Blake Chandlee mentioned that a major Facebook mobile announcement is coming at the Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona. (Speaking of announcements expect a User Interface change on the web in the next week or so)

In response to questions about the Open Graph API and notifications for page admins we were assured that more features and announcements will be made by the latest April this year.

One thing is certain Facebook has taken the term “move fast” to another level. Here is an eye opening glimpse of Life at Facebook

I agree with Blake’s comments that Marketing has fundamentally changed as a result of platforms like Facebook and social media in general. As he mentioned in his conclusion:

“To win in today’s world requires a different mindset, different approaches, different ways of working”

Obviously as with any social media channels you use in your business you need to approach your business presence on Facebook strategically. In our experience for you to be successful in this environment strategy precedes your presence. More about this tomorrow.

Just spotted new “Block App” feature on Facebook

Just spotted this new feature on Facebook which is a welcome relief for those who are looking for an easy way to control people posting apps onto their walls.

When an app appears on your wall like this one….

If you click on Block app you are taken to this screen:

Also on this page is the Apps Privacy Policy which is really a good thing so that users are aware of privacy issues. This is a great move on Facebooks part to make this easier to do. I know LOTS of people who are going to be seriously happy about this adjustment!

Well done Facebook.

This is HUGE: Google social search beta arrives

Yesterday I made this status update on Social Media IQ’s Facebook Page:

Trend: social search is going to grow rapidly in 2010 – if people use the social networks to search for your business and/or product/service will they find you?

This morning Google announced that Search is getting more social This is another major indication what a huge impact the communication revolution is having on the way we use the web and how we find information. What the people we are connected to are saying and sharing is becoming increasingly important to us.

Here is an overview of what Google Social Search is all about:

Based on the insights we have on where the majority of internet users go when they log on it would be the course of wisdom to ensure that you are visible there. In case you missed it here are the the worlds most trafficked sites

1. Google.com
2. Facebook.com

So how visible are you on those? Remember out of sight is out of mind. Back in October when discussing how social search works I made this comment:

Now that social networks are becoming powerful sources for information that you care about and Google is paying attention to them, it would be a really good idea for you to develop a Google Profile

I would strongly recommend that this would be a good time to follow through on that suggestion!

Trend: Real-time is the new Prime-time – what it means for your business

At the Le Web conference late last year Queen Rania (yes that is the Queen of Jordan – and yes she is on Twitter) gave a keynote address entitled Real Time Web for Real World Change. During this keynote she said something that has been repeated often “real time is the new prime time.”

This was a very accurate description of a trend that is impacting business. Here is the thing if your business is not visible in the real-time web, your relevance will fade quickly. Why? Because we are interested in what is relevant now not what was relevant last year. How is relevant information delivered to us? Well let’s take a look.

Let’s begin with Facebook. Do you recognise this:

If you don’t appear in the Live Feed, well you will be invisible on this platform.

The situation on Twitter is no different:

Do you see the trend? If you are not consistently visible in the stream of information that is flowing past people, you won’t be given much attention. Is this a big deal you may ask? You bet! Real-time information about everything is rapidly becoming a very valuable resource of information for millions of people.

To help you understand that this is not some passing fad, take a look at how seriously Google the world’s No. 1 search destination is taking this:

There are a few key things here:

1. Google now allows you to filter the item you are searching according to time relevance and using the “Latest” filter allows you to see results as they happen.
2. The information arrives in Google seconds after it is published.
3. No static outdated information here!

In this example I am really interested in what is being “spoken” about now. What would happen if I was searching for information relating to the product or service you offer and I clicked on “Latest?” Will I find you “talking” about it? Here is the thing, if you are not seriously putting a plan in place to start conversations around your business you will not be relevant in the new real-time world.

Social Media earthquake – will your business remain standing?

The recent earthquake in Haiti was characterized by the collapse of hundreds of buildings. The extent of the damage was, as news reports indicated, a result of poor construction. Earthquakes around the world wreck havoc on structures, however, when precautions are taken when building in earthquake zones, damage can be minimized.

Social media (or the communication revolution as we like to call it) is causing “earthquakes” and businesses are beginning to be shaken.

Let me explain:

Most businesses have a management structure that looks something like this:

In these structures information primarily flows from the top down and very little filters up from the bottom to the top. The reason for this can be varied but in many many cases, the executive at the top who may welcome innovation and would love to hear from those at the “bottom” of the organization who may have some great ideas on how to do thing better gets stifled by middle management who feel threatened by innovative ideas coming from subordinates.

This business model is sometimes referred to as a “horizontal organizational structure.” Although this structure worked in its time – today a more powerful and enlightened organizational structure is emerging and it’s being pushed forward by social media.

The above structure does not mimic the dynamic ecosystems we see all around us in nature. In nature communication is ubiquitous. Vibrant living ecosystems are in continuous exchange with their environment and are called open systems which are constantly changing and evolving being able to respond to changes in the environment immediately and effectively.

I am continuing to see how communication, that social media tools or the modern web now enables, mimics nature’s ecosystems much more than outdated business structures.

In his book Intelligent Enterprise: James Brian Quinns illustrated it this way:

This kind of communication in an organization flattens the “horizontal” structure that we all know to well. Can you see why this is shaking up many businesses?

In his book James Brian Quinn speaks of the organizational structures that are the most effective in an environment where there is an ubiquitous flow of intelligence. The structure above he called the “spider’s web” organization, which he describes as operating with little or no formal order-giving hierarchies. The independent nodes of these organizations, he says “contain essentially all the accumulated knowledge of the organization and work to a great degree without formal authority interactions most of the time.” There may be a “center” to this organization, but it’s one more akin to a “city center”: it exists to bring people together, not necessarily to tell them what to do. The center collects and transfers information from and for the nodes.

For an organization with a “horizontal” organizational structure to want to operate in this environment will require an internal cultural shift.

Recently BL Ochman while discussing what businesses need to know about a social media strategy said: a “lack of internal collaboration and contact makes any kind of social media involvement virtually impossible. A company that hasn’t learned to listen to its own employees, and encourage them to collaborate internally, is not likely to succeed in integrating social media tools into its marketing mix, no matter what agency or consultant they hire.”

As social media adoption becomes universal, businesses will feel the “earthquake.” Those that are able to adapt and change the culture of their business to reflect a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem will flourish in this new world. Adapting often begins with an internal social media strategy. Are you ready to make the shift?

What do you think? How else is social media shaking businesses?

Why your boss should really think of allowing you to work from home

Yesterday the traffic between Pretoria and Johannesburg was probably the worst this year. 2 accidents on the N1 put heavy strain on that and alternative routes. We were scheduled for a workshop which started at 9am in Morningside. We left Pretoria at 6:45am and arrived at the venue at 9am. While stuck in this traffic jam I saw this tweet from Gareth Cliff:

A little later there was a tweet in answer to this linking to this post on the Fin24 site entitled Traffic jams cost R15m per hour. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry actually feels that this is an underestimate of the real costs.

This led me wondering why more people don’t just work from home? We have got to a point where technology can absolutely make that a reality. Telecommuting is gaining more and more support across the world and I think more companies in Gauteng should seriously consider this. Here are some benefits as listed in the Wikipedia article I linked to above:

“For communities, telecommuting can offer fuller employment (by increasing the employ-ability of proximal or circumstantially marginalized groups, such as Work at home parents and caregivers, the disabled, retirees, and people living in remote areas), reduces traffic congestion and traffic accidents, relieves the strain on transportation infrastructures, reduces greenhouse gases, saves fuel, reduces energy use, improves disaster preparedness, and reduces terrorism targets.

For companies, telecommuting expands the talent pool, reduce the spread of illness, reduces costs, increases productivity, reduces their carbon footprint and energy usage, offers an inexpensive method of complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), reduces turnover and absenteeism, and improves employee morale, offers an continuity of operations strategy, improve their ability to handle business across multiple timezones, and hasten their cultural adaptability. Full-time telework can save companies approximately $20,000 per employee.

[most of the above is from research done by the Telework Research Network. Thank you Kate Lister for pointing this out!]

For individuals, telecommuting, or more specifically, work from home arrangements, improves work-life balance, reduces their carbon footprint and fuel usage, frees up the equivalent of 15 to 25 workdays a year–time they’d have otherwise spent commuting, and saves between $4,000 and $21,000 per year in travel and work-related costs (not including daycare).[10] When gas prices average $3.00 per gallon, the average full-time employee who commutes 5 days per week spends $138.80 per month on gasoline. If 53% of white-collar employees could telework 2 days a week, they could collectively save 9.7 billion gallons of gas and $38.2 billion a year.”

Found this amazing resource: Making your case for telecommuting: How to convince the boss

What do you think, is it time for you to work from home instead of the office? Would be interested in hearing what challenges you would have to overcome, if any?

Why feeding Facebook data into Google Reader has been a great idea

Just before the new year Jamie Zawinski wrote a piece entitled “How to use Facebook with a feed reader” This really got my attention as I filter lots of information through a RSS Reader (in my case Google Reader.) In the post Jamie outlines how to create a RSS feed for your Notifications, Status Updates, Notes and Links.

As mentioned, I really liked this idea so I ran through the steps and now have all that information feeding into Google Reader. This is what it looks like:

The data has been feeding into Google Reader for almost a month and here is what I discovered, I suddenly found that I was able to keep up with my network much more efficiently than before. Notifications wasn’t such a big deal as those were coming to me via email so I was semi aware of them before this. Links have also been interesting to watch. But I have gotten real value from Status Updates and Notes. I realised that there was so much that I was missing as a result of it being shared at times when I was not on Facebook and they were – time zones etc.

With this data feeding into Google Reader I miss nothing! Plus it’s really easy to search just this folder which makes it that much more valuable.

Here is another thing, I use Google Reader’s mobile interface A LOT and it’s made it very easy to keep up from there which is a huge time saver for me as I usually get up-to-date via my mobile long before I switch my PC on.

So give this a try and let me know what your experience is!

Should you outsource your social media initiatives?

On Monday Paul Jacobson shared his thoughts on whether a company should outsource their social media initiatives. In a comment on his post I shared this:

Paul you are spot on with this. We have been involved in numerous discussions on this topic with several businesses. Because it happens on the web, the mentality is well “let the web people handle this” or “this is too much work, who can we outsource this to?” This displays a fundamental lack of understanding as to what this new communication shift is all about and how it impacts a brand. As these tools dramatically change the relationship the business has with clients and potential clients the concept of outsourcing this does not make business sense at all.

I would like to add some more to this in this post. It is very important when you are making your decision to move your company onto the social web, that you take a step away from the tools (which are web-based) and understand that what you are about to do will dramatically change the way you communicate with your existing and future clients. This is going to alter the relationship you have with these people. Should this be outsourced? I think not.

In a recent blog by Chris Garrett entitled Outsourcing Social Media: Good or Bad Idea? Chris made these interesting observations on why he thought this is not a good idea:

• External people do not have all the facts – There is a limit to how much you can train someone who is outside your organization and more than likely sat in an entirely different building. If they are constantly checking information and requesting answers, how much time are you going to save?
• You could be locked in or even held hostage – The deeper you get into outsourcing the harder it might become to extricate yourself and take it in house. Can you be sure that if the relationship with your outsourcer goes bad that you can continue as if nothing has happened? You might find your following is not your audience at all, or that with a few clicks they can make you look very bad indeed.
• Outsourcers are not empowered to make decisions or take action – If someone contacts someone within your organization with a problem they can usually get the issue sorted pretty quickly. An outsourcer on the other hand might have limited options or be little help outside of their “script”.
• Company culture should be communicated accurately – It is hard to communicate a company culture that you are not part of.
• Internal staff have more motivation – When you work for a company you feel more ownership and loyalty than someone who is outside and detached.
• Industry terms and details can confuse outsourcers – Customers of the company, media contacts and real niche geeks will all use the industry jargon and shorthand. How much of this can the outsourcer pick up, and will they be convincing?
• A large benefit of social media is networking – If someone is only there to look like they are engaging a niche, then your company will not get the full networking benefits that social media provides. Do you hire an actor to go to industry events and exhibitions for you?
• You might risk your brand on the communication of a freelancer – Can your outsourcer be trusted to say and do the right thing when it counts?

I agree with these observations completely and I think this requires very careful consideration before making the outsource decision. Naturally there are things that you can outsource, however, as Chris concludes in his post: Avoid outsourcing your relationships.

At Social Media IQ when we assist you to develop a social media strategy one of the major elements is to help you adopt social media as part of your company’s DNA and to manage your social media voice internally even if it means assisting you to hire someone with the necessary skills to become an integral part of your company.

What are your thoughts? Should you outsource your social media?

There is NO reason not to be up-to-date in your profession

There has been such a dramatic change in the world of information. What sometimes took months to filter through now happens in hours. Whatever your profession, are you up-to-date with what is happening around the world in your niche?

Do you head up communications in your company, or PR or Marketing or HR? How up-to-date are you with the trends that are shaping your profession? For example, are you aware of the dramatic changes social media (modern web) is having on your profession or the business functions you are responsible for?

In a rapidly evolving world one thing is certain: waves of change wash over every single industry and profession and today that process can happen in a few short weeks! Obviously being aware of the trends and the evolution can help you adapt and grow. How valuable a skill will you have if you have the ability to see change coming and take the necessary steps to adapt?

Here are two great tips for you:

1. Learn how to use a RSS Reader (I wrote about using a RSS Reader in April 09 – Creating Your Own News Centre) Here is the thing, with a RSS Reader (I use Google Reader) you can subscribe to some of the most respected blogs in your industry or profession. You are able to keep up-to-date with conversations and discussions that are taking place which are shaping the future of what you do. We keep in touch with 100’s of blogs this way. Sure it takes time to set up your Reader, find the blogs that are relevant and read them but the pay-off is huge. HUGE. Here is an excellent Google Tutorial to help you understand how to use a Reader.

   
   

2. Subscribe to Lists in Twitter (Here is an excellent guide: HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists) Twitter like no other service to date brings you as close to the source of trending topics in your profession or industry than anything that was possible before. I follow several lists with an average of 300 – 500 users per list. There is a wealth of information being shared as it happens in real-time. That information is immensely valuable and current. A really valuable resource to find Twitter Lists to follow, is Listorious

These are just two examples of how you can use technology to keep up. Now it’s over to you. Do you have any questions? What’s your plan to keep up in 2010?