Making sense of and understand Social Media better!

Communication on different levels are difficult and time consuming but a necessity for any enterprise company to send the proper messages to their costumers and partners who are the foundation of their business. Among the communication tools you as an enterprise can use is the Social Media platform. The Social Media platform gives you as an enterprise the opportunity to listen to the Word of Mouth from your costumers. The costumers will, if you are communicating the proper way – the collaborative/many-to-many communication – make you as an enterprise, create a forum which could give you numerous information of how your product and services affects your costumers and hear how costumers marketer and discuss your products among each other. 

The above model show how the interaction among costumers/consumers (red arrows) is leap forging the enterprise. This is why the enterprise should create a social room to be able to monitor the discussion, be able to respond to the discussion, be able to amplify the discussion and last lead the discussion by launching products which uses the discussion from the social media forum. (Source: Mikael Thorsen  2012)

What are the enterprises Social Challenges?

What an enterprise must learn is that the costumer has taken the control of the dialog! Costumers are learning from each other, getting to know the brand and its product and services and they are discussing it among each other, exchanging experiences – now the discussion is out of reach for the enterprise company. It is actually now the enterprise has the ability to show their costumers how passionate they are about their product and services. The opportunity and the social challenge for the enterprise are to interact in the word-of- mouth discussion NOT interfere the discussion. A starter is to have created the good story about your product and service – Nike has done that with the “running chip in the shoes” – another company who have created or reinvented their product is - Old Spice, they have created an universe of what men’s hygiene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE) purely made for Social Media. 

How can the enterprise get into the opportunities?

If the enterprise management should benefit from the Social Media trend, it is important for them not just use the entire marketing budget on Social Media ad once.  It is important to make a simple approach to Social Media starting creating a social discussion forum where employees also can participate and developed this start into having blogs, tweets and links on

Face book and linked-in.

Executives from enterprise companies understand that Social Media is important. But how do they realize the potential of Social Media, hand-to-measure, the costumer-controlled media and how to drive sales and strengthen brands?

Now getting the full advantage of the costumer discussion the enterprise must start going into action using the following means of getting knowledge and take part in the discussion. Enterprises must be able to react 24/7/365 on any kind of discussion good or bad with all the risks it includes. 

• The enterprise must monitor the discussion.
• The enterprise must respond to the discussion.
• The enterprise must amplify the discussion with relevant information.
• The enterprise must lead the discussion by launching products that have taken inspiration from the discussion.

This is not an easy task but the key word for the enterprise and the entire staff of employees is KISU – Keep It Simple Understandable for the employees and even more important for the costumers. Then the enterprise management will be able to experience how they can benefit from Social Media and understand the importance of the collaboration model it self.

Should enterprises encourage their employees to be available on company Social Media 24/7 on their smart devices?

There is no doubt that everybody with social media and new smart devices have gained a completely new world with a numerous possibilities for getting information and communication with who ever they want to get in contact with on any time in any geography. When you suddenly reach a level where you live and work 24/7 on your smart device getting tons of information and communication, from the Social Media private as well as business, will that give you as an individual a better work life balance,

and will you be more productive in your work?

Research has been published arguing that people who “take time off” from the social media and leave their smart devices disconnected at night feel more satisfied with their job, compared to people who stays on 24/7. A natural thing which happens when you are on 24/7 is that you believe that you should be able to answer all incoming “questions” private as well as business wise immediately. This creates a stress factor giving the individual the impression that he/she can not fulfill his/her duties private and business wise without always being connected. This feeling can lead to a decrease in working moral. Your costumers do not understand that you can not fulfill their demands and privately you will continue to not being able to absorb the information which you reach every day from your friends and the one you follow on the social media - a stress- full situation can occur.  The new Social World and the smart devices have managed to blur the boundaries between work and private life to make their work life balance out of balance.

Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow´s research in the phenomena of “how to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work[1]”. Her conclusion is that enterprises need to help their employees to unplug. She gets to the point that employees have to work smarter not blindly faster. I am sure that Leslie Perlow are right in the way that we need to get time off from our work to be more productive, but the problem is that our working and private life are melting together due to the fact that we work and communicate privately with the same smart device 24/7. We have reached a situation where we as private and on work are living in the “fast lane” and since everyone is doing it, it’s considered acceptable we need to change the way we work and the way we act on the social media privately. As a trial talk to your family and agree to shutdown all your smart devices tonight – you may feel the benefits in the morning both on your work but also on the private front!

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[1] Sleeping with your Smartphone : How to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work, publication date May 29, 2012

“We shape our Social Media; thereafter Social Media shape us”

The above headline is first time said by Winston Churchill in his wording concerning buildings, but the truth is the same analogy can be used on Social Media. If we discuss the rising mobile area and look at the development in Social Media on these devices the situation is as described. The users have shaped the Social Media and thereafter the devices which we use them on have shaped Social Media to fit these platforms. This also means digital content strategies for mobile social media will need to be reconstructed based on how content is consumed on these platforms. Unlike the PC/notebook era, mobile devices come in a dizzying array of screen sizes, platforms and user interfaces. Add to that the context in which the user is accessing the content. Context could be a mash up of any or all of the following:

Device: Smartphone or tablet. (Size of screen etc.)

Location: Where is the content being consumed...at home, while commuting, in an outdoor environment, in a noisy indoor area like a restaurant or a mall?

Time: When is the content being consumed and what would be the most relevant information at that time?

Social Relevance: What is their network consuming probably at that time and location? Also what are other people in their vicinity consuming?

Personalization: To what degree can the content be tailored to an individual? One way of doing this would be through data analytics of user and group behavior to serve up increasingly relevant content. It is going to be a tough game for corporations to get into the loop and create the proper platform to the user and with both right content and context we will need another shaping of how to present the content message to the user without making him or her out of focus and board. The reality is that:

·         You as a provider of content has less than tree paragraphs of text

·         You as a provider of content has less than 30 seconds of audio

·         You as a provider of content has less than one minute of video

Mobile social media has to be reshaped by enterprises to make sure that the consumer will embrace the content. The content has to be shaped to the device and give the consumer a compelling reason to act positively to get their message out to the proper users.  An example could be restaurants giving consumers details of its breakfast or lunch menus depending on the time the data was accessed. This could be followed by a discount coupon valid for a couple of hours and directions to the nearest restaurant. Today you do not see any restaurants trying to shape their costumers eating behavior to be on a specific time and location with a personalized touch to the individual and with a good social relevance.  We can all look forward to be shaped by social Media due to the devices used to bring us content in the right context.

(Smartphone user survey 2012)

Is Social Media blinded by few communication platforms?

Is the Social Media “revolution” limited to be placed on platforms like Twitter, Face Book, and LinkedIn and operated from Smart phones and tablets? If this is the issue, a lot of enterprise owners have been blinded and assured that only the new and fast moving platforms is only Social Media durable. The purpose of Social Media for an enterprise is not about which platform or device it is run on – it is a matter of how to get a proper content delivered to your target group. To state it more clear – The principal goal of social media is not to make friends but to tell other people what to do!

Which target groups do the enterprises have to turn to?

Most enterprises have to realize that the social era has changed the world and how we create value to our consumers. The 21^st century consumer searches the internet to gather information of what to buy and get knowledge of the new trends. The consumer’s uses, the fast growing platforms like twitter and Face Book to speak to their friends and get recommendations from them on products and knowledge of trends but other means of information gathering are used heavily. Consumer groups are still heavy users of on-line forums such as blogs and other sights where they could be told what to do and where to go with out being directly influenced by the commercial from enterprises.

What should the enterprises do to participate in the dialog and at the same time tell people what to do?

The recopy is simple for the enterprise, it isn’t the social media per se, that they should be attending to; it’s the media used by the target group of the enterprise that care most about what they do and what the could help to solve. The recipe is simple but the way to get there will demand changes in how the enterprise, want to communicate and how open it can and will be of its products and services. There is no doubt that you as an enterprise can learn what people think of their company on Facebook. And the enterprise can get followers on twitter. But do not make the potentially mistake of thinking that you have covered your social platform with these few medias. There have been stakeholder media before twitter, facebook and LinkedIn and they have been worked on other devices than smart phones, tablets and other fast moving devices. Be aware that the stakeholders are still expanding in reach and resources and you as an enterprise have to consider how to work together with these stakeholders to be able to create the value you want to sell to the market.

Is it possible to leapfrog mobile devices to enter Social Media topics?

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Today more than 40 millions Americans[1] are using their mobile devices to get social. Young people live with their mobile devices as a part of their social and knowledgeable network. People in the 3^rd world uses, mobile devices to get information and knowledge which their less developed infrastructure can not give them. Due to the fact that mobile devices are cheaper and easy to access the 3^rd world user are able to get the information from abroad. The fact is that Mobile Social Media (MSM) is already main-stream in the delivering of being social. MSM gives the enterprises the possibility to tap into consumers, intrinsic motivation and herby increase the influence of their buying behavior with extrinsic motivation factors. Last but not least all mobiles are going social.  

  

But how do we define MSM is it as simple as online social networks on mobile devices or are we talking about something quite different?

It all ends up in how the mobile user will be motivated and this is both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. One aspect which appears again and again in the blogs and papers written about social media is the importance of proper content. There is no difference in MSM intrinsic motivation for the user.

• The MSM users are motivated by:
• Share content via social channels
• Connect mobile sites and apps with social networks
• Sharing and streaming content
• Social gaming

The purpose for a marketer is to create a demand for his products and services and to increase this, the marketer offers extrinsic motivators (money, goods among others) to the consumer/user. What the marketer must take care of is the risk of depleting consumers, intrinsic motivators by overloading the consumer with to many extrinsic motivators. By getting the MSM user/consumer to seek only for “what is in it for me” will affect the consumer behavior to wait for awards instead of being attached by the content. The effect from the marketer will be short-lived and end in a dead-funnel of demand for more and more awards to react on information from the marketer. So the definition of MSM is not only being online it is also to create the right perceptions for the user of the mobile device and secure that he/she is motivated to use the mobile device on social media and networks.

What will increase the Mobile Social Media in the future?

Let us, state one important factor for the future – it is not possible to leapfrog mobile devices to get into social media fast. Second there has to be an increasing possibility of selling goods and services to MSM consumers to get increase the investments in the technology that can expand the future trends. Speed is an essential factor for MSM to be even more popular so;

·         5G faster broadband will accelerate MSM

·         Think beyond the phone and I-pads – the next generation of technology is the helmet    screen in a fighter pilots helmet – an eye tracking device which will get information even quicker to the user – actually with a blink of the eye.

·         RFID – Radio Frequency Identification Devices – the replacement for barcodes where you suddenly can store huge amounts of information that apps can bring to live by connecting your mobile device to the RFID tack. An example is: Marketers who are interested to promote their low fat products can give the consumer the possibility to check the product via the RFID tack and the mobile device for example fat percentage.

·         The increased MSM information that will be brought to the consumer/user will both bring advantages and scarifying information. The speed of information will give the consumer the opportunity to act on the right time in a buying/selling situation. The scarifying stories come with the same speed but not necessarily bring any benefits to the consumer.

·         Eventually all media becomes MSM.                                                         

The future will bring an increasing use of mobile technologies to a much wider range of devices and therefore the point is it will be difficult to leapfrog the mobile devices when you are talking of social media, the two things are closely combined.

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[1] From comScore press release October 2011

Social Media Mobile will grow in 2012?

The trend from 2011 has shown, if you want to have your content and context out to the broadest possible audience, no matter how they use the devices to get your content you have to make it usable on mobile devices. The South American region has taken mobile devices in use to get information and to get content from all over the world. The Arabic spring has shown how despotic leaders can not survive in a world where access to news and information is fast.

The success of enterprises social media production is to produce content that can easily, be used on a mobile device both in size and shape and without destroying the content. Mobile devices will be the winner in 2012. The devices are cheap and easy to get and easy to use. This creates the possibility to get in touch with an enormous market. The technology getting into place will be very interesting to follow.

Apple will continue to get the apps developed to their platform and continue the integration; they will try to stay in the high-end of the market, but will properly face a declining interest from the trend setters as their platform has not changed in the last 4 years. New platforms will be developed by Microsoft with the windows phone which will be more intuitive than ever seen before. Microsoft have developed a product which is a mobile with a Windows phone system to a price of 50$ for the Android market. Google has taken their apps and made them available to the phone market. Social Media has gone from the few to the many getting mobile and it will get even further.

Will their be any boundaries coming up – for sure but the development of new technology and the increasing use of Social Media on the B2B market will secure that these boundaries will be diminished and even disappear over time.

Social Media trends 2012 - Happy Social Media New Year!

During 2011, the second most interesting tech story was how social media, made the Arabic spring possible with as little violence as possible and how demonstrations all over the world have been spread by the use of YouTube and other social media. The use of small handhold devices such as mobile phones and I Pads and other such devices will be even more interesting in 2012. Getting social Media to grow in 2012 has to be looked, upon, as Mark Zuckerberg from FaceBook described the social media to come “We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues”

Having this in mind for 2012, we will see a lot will happen to expand the use of Social Media both in the area of C2C but also B2B and B2C. I have chosen to divide the new trends in two categories:

·         Social technology expansions trends

·         Social issues trends

Social technology expansions trends

One of the platforms that social technology will expand on is the mobile platform. This platform is a cheap way for C2C to be in touch with their friends while on the go.  As mobile devices will continue to get smaller and cheaper and the integration with provider services such as Twitter into IOS5 will bring social sharing on the mobile device and secure that C2C will be even more interesting in sharing. Tablet and mobile computing, empowering our ability to stay connected to networks in even virtually ways, this will change the marketing game, and you will have the ability to move products and service via social and mobile. The combination of Social and Mobile will be a new game changer.

The next thing you will see is Social Media as a Service – SmaaS. One SmaaS that will be able to secure more openness in the world is the rapid translation function. This is a technological landmark, which will ease the collaboration among people in different geographies and herby help both C2C and B2C to sell services and products with the “word of mouth” that is when, Social Media ends up as a service, a SmaaS. The transition into 2012 is going to be about social service and product selling and social media as mobile platforms. Mobil is about the ability to be anywhere, at anytime getting the proper information for the social content in the proper social context.

Social issues trends

As Social media creates demand for real time and timely response from companies, who want to sell products to their costumers the issue is to be the company in their segment to be their first (first mover). The next important issue for social media costumers is the relevancy of content and context. As in 2011 the more relevant the information you produce to your costumers the “word of mouth” you will get and the bigger interest for your products and services. An evergreen will be an issue again in 2012 – Think before you engage – if you want to be judged, on you influence in Social media it is not the quantity of information you engage with it is still the quality that will make you a winner. Another issue we will have to learn is convergence between the world of marketing and IT. We need to combine resources of the two to reach costumers with relevant content on the platform they desire.

2012, will be an interesting social media year focusing on speed and handheld devices having rapid translation incorporated to make sure that you as a consumer get the proper content in a context that suites you in real time. This is Social Media 2012 – happy new year.