Social Media and the Recession

When is the next phase of the Internet going to present itself? We hear talks about Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 but when are we going to see social media adapt into it’s third phase? It could be after the recession.

I was reading a post by Chris Charabaruk about social media surviving the recession and he makes a comment about social media adapting towards the end of 2009:

“I think that social media will survive the recession. The idea itself is so insidious, so viral that it’ll never be stamped out. But how the world of social media will appear at the end of the recession will certainly be much, much different than it looked like going in.”

I always liked to dream that the next phase of the Internet or social media would be through innovation and a new form of communication. When will the next phase come? When does innovation and quick development happen? In what Keith McFarland calls Hard Times University in his book Breakthrough Company.

When we are faced with hard times and adversity… the survivors shine through. I think we will see the advent of a new form of social media because of the economic crunch. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace will have to learn how to monetize or die and because of that market stress they will evolve or die.

I am excited to see the transition. In like every market there are deaths, changes, and rebirths.

Unless you are Ford and GM… then you get a bailout.

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Myspace Dominates in Business

I have met my fair share of Myspace haters the past few years. Admittingly I have become a hater. I really do despise the overall design and the “trashy” brand name Myspace has developed… I do. Now, just because I hate using the tool doesn’t mean I don’t respect their business prowess.

Mashable recently had a post talking about the new Citiforward Myspace Credit Card, which is a great business tool for Myspace to increase their $600M revenue posting from 2008. Whether or not you agree with the concept of credit cards or offering a social-networking card is not the reason for this post. The simple fact is that Myspace is owning the rest of social networking sites in terms of revenue.

The question still stands: Will Myspace be able to hang on to the business model they have created? Will Facebook actually figure out how to monetize 130M users? Will Twitter ever make money (Good luck)?

I can give the people over at Myspace my respect…because in terms of business…they own the market.

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All Shapes and Sizes

Guest post by Social Media Consultant Colin Clark

I spend the majority of my day every day thinking up creative ways for businesses to use social media tools to improve their bottom line.  The one thing that I’ve found is that if I put together social media action plans for 10 different companies, all 10 would be very different, even if they were in similar industries.

The reason for this is that it’s extremely important to look at all aspects of your business before delving into social media, because once you do you’re baring your soul to anyone who you interact with online.  Since every business is composed of different types people, every strategy must be optimized to ensure those people will be successful in communicating with people online

So many consultants are saying ‘You must blog’ or ‘You must have a presence on Facebook‘.  It may or may not be the case.  The only ‘must’ is that you ‘must’ use good judgment and good marketing fundamentals to put together a strategy that’s going to be successful.

Getting Companies to Buy the “Social Idea”

What An Exciting Time! My company Brandswag had it’s 2009 Planning Meeting this weekend at our offices in Indianapolis. It was fun to have everyone together to talk about growing the business. One of the topics of conversation was the process of selling social media marketing to corporate America. Another way to look at it: How do you sell the idea of “viral/echo” marketing to companies between $10-$150 million?

Amazingly Seth Godin had a blog post recently called Selling Ideas to a Big Company. Seth always seems to save the day when I am debating something important like social media marketing to corporate America. In the post Seth talks about two things you HAVE to HAVE in order to sell an idea to BIG business.

1. They have to be in the business of buying ideas.

2. They have to trust you.

If there was one thing I took from the post it was the fact that…“if you have an idea for a company that doesn’t know how to buy it, move on. And if you want to be in the business of selling ideas, find an industry that has experience buying those ideas.”

The top two reasons are not debatable when it comes to selling social media to corporate America. They have to believe in the concept of social media marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. They also have to trust you as a social media advocate or “trust agent.” (You can hit me later for using coined terms)

You cannot force the idea of adding in social strategy to an overall marketing plan. If you have to CONVINCE someone to use social media….

they will not.

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Wouldn’t You Rather Shoot At Fish In A Barrel?

Image by israelavila via Flickr

With the launch of the NING platform it has been becoming easier to create niche social networks. As a user, you can join any network whether it is location or interest based. The membership could range from 500 to 20,000 depending on the network and the participants. I have been talking randomly about the power of using networks that are geographically based (if you are using social media as a networking and marketing strategy).

Chris Brogan has a post that further enforces my idea that SMALL is the new BIG in Social Media. His post entitled Do You Have To Touch Every Conversation? talks about the importance of fishing where the FISH are located. As a fisherman you would not try to cover the ENTIRE ocean. What would you do? Try and find the right spot with the majority of the fish. It doesn’t make sound business sense to cover the entire expanse of ocean.

The same applies to social media use. As a user you do not have the ability to cover every conversation online. You do not have to be on every social media platform. As a small business owner or marketeer it is extremely important that you focus on a set amount of networks and use them to the best of your ability.

You do not need to be on LinkedIN, Plaxo, Facebook, Myspace, Powne, Twitter, blah blah blah. Pick a niche geographic social network like Smaller Indiana (for the Hoosiers among us) and three global networks. Examples: LinkedIN, Plaxo, Twitter, and Facebook.

To quote Chris Brogan:

But is that really the goal? Or is the goal to fish where your fish are, to do what you plan to do, and to do it well?

Well said. I would much rather shoot fish in a barrell than cast a line in the entire ocean.

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“I Don’t Play on Facebook, Sir. I USE It.”

I am still surprised when many of my friends bring up the fact that they cannot use social media (Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIN, etc) in their offices. Most of them work for corporate America and their bosses still view Facebook as playtime.

Jason Falls has a great post today on How To Be The Social Media Champion At Your Office. What do you say when you are being made fun of for using Social Media? What do you say when you are constantly being beat down with this “new-fangled-fad”?

And what do you say when superiors and peers tell you social media marketing is a waste of time? Jason has six steps to help you along your journey. I am also going to add in a couple of my own.

1. Illustrate the Benefits

2. Make Yourself Available

3. Target the Right Co-Workers

4. Get To The Professional Through the Personal

5. Operate Within The Rules

6. Solve Business Problems With Social Media Tools

I would encourage you to go read Jason’s blog and learn from his expertise. I wanted to add a couple that will help my peers along the way of social media domination in the corporate environment.

1. Show Historical Data of Productivity Enhancement. I know that title sounds like something from the inner vaults of Forrester but I have found this method to work numerous times. I have used the success of Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation to champion the use of social media in the corporate environment. This adds to Jason’s first point and if you can show the success of peers…. it will be easier.

2. Work Behind the Scenes and Work Often. I am not saying go behind your supervisors back and start using social media for productivity and marketing enhancement. Ask to use social media for the companies benefit on your OWN TIME. Map and track everything you are doing to show management the value of all things social media. This will also show the leaders that you are serious about social media and SERIOUS about the companies success.

If you ask… you better hustle. Hustle hard and work your butt off.

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20 Reasons Why You Cannot Ignore Social Media

I will forever been an advocate for Social Media. If you want me to jump up on a soapbox and talk about social media marketing until I am blue in the face… so be it. What used to be a “fad” two to three years ago is fast becoming the premiere way to communicate.

I have been reading the Wave.3 Presentation from Universal McCann and they had the follow facts relating to the power of social media.

1. 394 million people watch video clips online
2. 346 million reaqd blogs/weblogs
3. 321 million Read personal blogs/weblogs
4. 307 million visit a friends social network page
5. 303 million SHARE a video clip (viral marketing anyone?)
6. 272 million manage a profile on a social network
7. 248 million upload photos
8. 216 million Download a video podcast
9. 215 million download a podcast
10. 184 million started a blog or weblog
11. 183 million uploaded a video clip
12. 160 million subscribed to an RSS Feed

Not enough reason to start the journey into connecting with your clients and consumers? Here are eight more reasons to continue on the social media marketing path.

13. Blog Reading has risen 66% on a global scale in a year
14.  60.3 million american have read a blog
15. 36% of consumers will think more positively about companies that have blogs
16. 32% of consumers trust bloggers opinions on products and services
17. Social Networking has an estimated 272 million users (Myspace, Facebook, etc)
18. 43% of online consumers belong to a social network
19. 74% of social networking users message friends as part of their daily routine
20. Video Uploading growth is 31% to 82% global reach seen in all markets

I am not sitting here writing this foaming at the mouth and demanding companies (both small and large) use social media marketing exclusively. It is important to combine both traditional marketing and new media marketing in your overall strategy.

If the numbers from Universal McCann do not convince you of the overall important of social media in the years to come….

I am at a loss for words.

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Newspapers and Music: The Market Doesn’t Care About You

Scott Karp over at Publishing2 has a great post entitled: The Market and the Internet Don’t Care If You Make Money. It opened my eyes to how some industrys feel the need to hold out there hands and demand for new media to give them money: Music, News, and Books.

Scott cites Seth Godin by saying:

You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It’s not “how can the market make me money” it’s “how can I do things for this market.”

I am going to type this again because we deserve to remember this: “It’s not how can the market make me money it’s how can I do things for this market.” Traditional entertainment media has persued new media with swords drawn ready for battle.

“This isn’t how we did it in the past. I am going to sue as many people as possible until they stop downloading our music” I’m sorry to break it to you big suit record label exec, the world is changing. The market is shifting to where music is not worth what it was in the past. You can no longer sell 10-20 million albums and fuel an empire.

The newspaper and music industry need to stop focusing on how to reap the same profit margins that they did in the 1980′s and start thinking about the new world. The world of lightning fast communication. The world where I can listen to a song and then download it. While getting a news story from a FRIEND in Seattle.

NOT YOU.

Scott says it best:

The problem with the newspaper industry, as with the music industry before it, is the sense of ENTITLEMENT. What we do is valuable. Therefore we have the right to make money.

Nobody has the right to a business model.

Ask not what the market can do for you, but what you can do for the market.

And let the market happen.

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LinkedIN and Social Media: A Powerful Business Tool

Anne over at Brandeo has some interesting information about LinkedIN users taken directly from Anderson Analytics and the SPSS:

60% of 30 million LinkedIN users have high personal incomes, hold executive level or consultant positions, are decisionmakers and likely to be active networkers.

The survey sponsors are quoted saying that social networks (social media) have become powerful business tools as well.

I am still running into business owners and professionals who dismiss social media and online social networking as a fad. It puzzles me that people can be so nieve to think that the interconnectedness of the web could ever dissapear.

Turn into a different medium in 5 years? Perhaps.

Disappear completely? Never.

Take this survey as an example. The communication world is changing. Jump on the wagon or be left in the dust.

Just jump on a little bit.

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What I Am Reading and Focusing On

We had a great event tonight at the Confluence Networking Corporate Blogging Panel. Thanks to everyone who made it out to the event. It was awesome!

I wanted to link some posts I have been concentrating on lately. I thought it would be a good digression from my daily rants!

1. 123SocialMedia: Social Media Politics – How Fast Things Change

I have been fascinated with the social media and marketing extravaganza known as the recent political campaigns. Barry Hurd talks about the transition from traditional media to new media by politicians.

2. Andy DeSoto: Social Media Basics Provide Necessary Spice

I love reading posts about combining social media with traditional marketing strategies. Andy is a genius at giving helpful hints on combining social media with the “real world.”

3. Chris Brogan: Communications in a Post Media World

Nobody can say it better than Chris.

Put up your first signal. Get your voice out there. What happens next? Do people respond? Because what comes next, I believe, is that you gather together the people who share your views. You reach out and connect with those who understand your goals, who share them, who breathe them in the same pulse.

4. Megan Glover: Blog Content is King

Megan at Compendium always has excellent posts around blogging, seo, and social media. This post is outlines the steps that Compendium Blogware has taken to measure the important of content and driving blog traffic. Excellent Post!

5. Lorraine Ball: If The Answer Is No, You Haven’t Asked the Right Question:

Lorraine is a mentor and a friend. I always enjoy reading her daily posts about small business marketing. The post is about Kenneth Cole refusing to let the answer of “NO” stop him from pursuing his dreams. What about you? What is the NO slowing you down right now?