Five things bosses need to understand in social media

 
By Steve Keenan

Back when the days were long and warm (September), I was invited by blogger Ana Silva O’Reilly to hear a visiting speaker in London as part of Social Media Week.

Ana promised that the speaker, Mark Schaefer, (pictured) was one of the most influential she had heard when it comes to social media. So I went. And she was right.

He is very American, so some of the jokes predictably faltered. But that’s an aside. In any language, he argues common sense and a considered approach to SM (he also argues this in two books which you can find on his website). His latest post, An experiment in social influence, is equally thought-provoking.

Apologies for the delay in writing this post, but I’ve only just found my notes from his talk in a pre-Christmas blitz on the shed which doubles as my writing empire. In re-reading the notes, I remembered how spot-on Mark is. So I’m sharing the gist of his talk, which is the best I have heard in 2012.

 
FIVE THINGS BOSSES NEED TO UNDERSTAND SOCIAL MEDIA

“Bosses think ‘It’s like trying to drink water from a firehose. Where do I start?’”

1. Human imperative – it is back to intimate human contact after decline of traditional media. “It is a terrible time to be a control freak: the deer have guns.” SM is two-way, free, global, instantaneous, real-time – there are opportunities to humanize the company.

2. Social media takes place with one small interaction at a time. You go to them, comment on their blogs and eventually they’ll come to you because they’ve got to know your name. And they bring their friends. You can’t stop SM because your goal is business benefits.

3. People do things the same way they have always done it. People are sick of being advertised to – so the message should be, come waste time with me. So… it’s connects, help, network: that’s the ROI. Many benefits are qualitative, not quantative. It is part of the cultural change. The companies who understand qualitative will toast the companies that don’t.

4. Are you a shareable company, with meaningful content? Targeted actions, authentic helpfulness? And it’s not just a content strategy, but a network strategy. Surround yourself with people and companies who have a disposition to be interested in you.

Case history: Mark spoke of a plastic surgeon in Knoxville, USA, who uses SM to give video answers to questions on a weekly basis, has a ‘Truthometer’, a blog and downloads of health features – all with a link to his surgery at the end. He and his wife also produced a cookbook for the community with no mention of his practice. The results: conversion rate up, FB engaged with referral rates up from FB, also SEO as good original content – he creates useful content.

5. If you can measure moving content, you can quantify one aspect of online influence. ROI technology is still in the silent movie stage but people are using it. Look at Appinions.com – the latest firm to analyze linking and semantic search.

To summarise – spend time on your SM, focus, re-evaulate where to spend time and money on your market. Be relevant, timely and entertaining and you will get Return on Influence…

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