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May 17 2012

Wheat

The latest developments in social media

I recently spoke at the Bath and Bristol Marketing Network regular event and shared some of the latest research in social media. The audience was a mix of small businesses hungry for social media lead generation tips and larger businesses and agencies looking for the next trends in social and how to apply social data to their business.

A very enjoyable event and some great questions were thrown my way to answer – if there are any more or you would further info on SDL SM2 or Social Intelligence services, please do get in touch.

++ Take a look at this blog post about some of my talk by @AgencyNurse >> Read ++

Tagged agency, analytics, data, draw something, Foursquare, insights, instagram, kraft, lead generation, Linkedin, pinterest, SDL, SDL SM2, sim city, Small Business, Social Intelligence, Social Media, Twitter

Jul 05 2011

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Wheat

Google+ stream of consciousness

Google+ or Google Circles or G+, as some are choosing to call it, is the new social network on the block. You can read great overviews here, here and here. The curious thing is that it gets no coverage in this month’s Wired magazine but is arguably the biggest thing in tech, networks and online right now. But that is surely for another blog about the pace of print.

Google+ then…

It looks good, there is no clutter. Gone are the days of generating your own html code for a terrible MySpace profile and the parasitic Apps that Facebook suffers from are (currently) not evident in Google+. Keep it simple never worked so good.

It is the myriad opportunities that Google+ affords that make it such a compelling social network. This piece about what Google should offer brands is near spot on. Moreover, it highlights the driving force behind what Google+ is and will be. A social network where user input is valued, changes, new features and yes, sweet sweet privacy are driven by consumer demand and not thrust upon the user a la Zuckerberg and his book of faces. The collaborative nature of Google+ and its features already sets it apart.

I can see that I will use Google+ as an internal comms network, no need for Yammer et al.

I can see that I will use it as a sCRM system to segment and communicate what I want and with the right people. Targeted comms were made for Circles or vice versa

I am using it to connect with (supposedly unreachable) people. I can be part of their conversation and not just a bean counted in their Twitter metrics.

Localisation is going to be more usable than ever, again via Circle based segmentation.

Could it be used as the main communication/website hybrid for business, big and small, why not? Im not saying websites are dead but I think it could sit pretty as destination 2 for a business, with Facebook pages 3^rd and Twitter 4^th.

G+ commerce…one day but F commerce isn’t exactly setting the world on fire right now

I find it is making me consider audience more, yet helping me reach more and wider.

I have spotted some netiquette issues already. This article, the one you are kindly still reading here, in essence, it is a blog post –arguably it is a Google+ based stream of consciousness. But where should it go? Not bound by a 140 character limit, it could go straight into my stream on Google+ (and get more comments) but I am still a stickler for the long tail benefits of content and blogs.

Game-changing, even if it just becomes a niche business/geeks/marketers network, yes. Challenger to Facebook? Not likely, I don’t really think it needs to be.

Sparks, they’re rubbish (at the moment)

Quora, now redundant.

Networking and online communication dynamics; Google+ allows varying dynamics under one roof. One user’s categorisation of individuals into a circle may differ wildly from someone else.

Can it enter the everyday behaviour of many? Can you G+ along to TV like you can with Twitter? I don’t think the dynamics of regular updates in the stream would be tolerated, unless of course you create a reciprocated Circle of those that tolerate fast and furious updates about XFactor etc

Scalability – just you wait for more people to get on board, will it be manageable? Time will tell.

I could go on, I want to go on. I want to write about the need for integration with Evernote, Buffer and Twitter. Heck, integration with other products that belong to Google.

Google+ is work in progress, no one refers to it as “in Beta” but you can beta your bottom dollar or Empire Avenue groat that this is early days, toe-in-the-water stuff before the invitation wall comes down. There is much wrong with Google+ but then there is a great deal wrong with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace…

Tell me what you think and do feel free to disagree vehemently with anything I have said.

Tagged circles, facebook, Google, myspace, scrm, social networks, Twitter

Jun 27 2011

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Wheat

Social media analysis of U2, Coldplay and Beyonce at Glastonbury

I watched some of the highlights of this year’s Glastonbury music festival from the comfort of my living room and as with any TV spectacle I had one eye on the TV and one eye on Twitter.

Let us take a look at some of the online data* generated by this year’s headline performances from U2, Coldplay and Beyonce:

U2 – Friday night

41% of the conversations generated by the three headline acts belonged to U2
The net sentiment score of the data about the performance was +1
Thematically speaking, Money was a common topic of discussion around the performance as a result of a tax related protest incident. Common clusters were ‘protest, security, tax’, but also ‘Bono, stage, band’ highlighting the frontman as driving force of band notion.

Coldplay – Saturday night

19% of the data relating to the headline acts was occupied by Coldplay and their performance on the second night.
The net sentiment score was +22
The themes and patterns that come out of the data about Coldplay speak of ‘live, good, best’

Beyonce – Sunday night

40% was the share of conversation owned by Beyonce as the third and final headline act.
The net sentiment score for the performance was -6
The language of the social data relating to her performance was notably sexual in nature but also spoke of the broad appeal of the music itself.

Which act did you enjoy the most and did you get involved with the Twitter discussions?

*Readings were taken for each act around a number of keywords and only looking at conversations on the day of the bands’ performance using Alterian SM2.

Tagged beyonce, bono, coldplay, concert, festival, glasto, glastonbury, glastontelly, live, Music, sentiment analysis, Social Media, social media monitoring, songs, television, TV, Twitter, U2

May 31 2011

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Wheat

You are NOT as good as your last blog post

“That blog you wrote, yeah, I saw it. It was good. But it was yesterday.”

Andy Warhol said “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Your flash-in-the-pan opportunity to be seen, taken notice of and talked about has now been considerably increased but the time-frame has been downsized when it comes to online content.

Consider your latest blog post. You have crafted a message that puts across your point of view, is informed of your experience in a niche and ready to be shared with an external audience. You have peppered it with keywords, linked to relevant sources of clarification or counter-argument and invited comment.

You hit ‘Publish’.

You blog post is out there. No going back.

You may have hooked up your publishing platform of choice to automatically tweet the title of your prized piece of content, you may prefer to pull out a champion quote and draw the reader in with a tweet that promises more, teases out the context or simply summarises what lies behind the link.

The promotion of the content enters the Twitter stream and in that snapshot of time – whoever is online with eyes pointing Twitterwards – will see it and have the opportunity to click-through, that is, until it falls off the stream. (Naturally, this depends on the number of people you follow amongst other factors)

All that work for a stab-in-the-dark, hope for the best moment of someone, everyone or just the influential one taking notice and sharing it further. Has content delivery become about timing the publishing, does the content itself matter or is it about setting it free downstream when there is a critical mass of users?

There are various conflicting pieces of research that suggest numerous optimum tweeting times. There is a line of thinking that the sweet spot is during the lunch break when internet access for ‘non-work activities’ is relaxed, but then people leave their desks for lunch too. Around 3pm – 4pm is also considered ripe for publication as daily tasks begin to wind down and clock-watching for 5pm sets in.

Of course, the long-tail of your content can be propped up with your SEO efforts, taking the content elsewhere and linking back to it as part of comments on the blog posts of others and elsewhere. Every blog has that one post that just keeps performing, nestled in a ridge of constant visibility, the traffic just keeps on coming to “Why social media is like a ripe Tomato” or other.

A poorly performing blog post may not be due to the content itself being a bit duff, it could just as easily be a timing issue but it is certain that for a good blog post to be noticed it needs a lot of nurturing external to its creation and a bit of luck too thanks to the fragmented attention mind-set of social media.

Good SEO is the saving grace of online when it comes to writing for the web. It brings longevity to the content that you wish to be seen, cherished and shared. If every blog post was only visible in that snapshot of when it enters the Twitter stream, the dynamics would be very different.

Are we now conditioned to view the ever increasing bulk of online content in the moment? Is it acceptable to retweet the same ‘new’ piece of content more than two or three times over a day, week or month without the fatigue of repeated links and the delivery of stale content? It is all a perception thing but what do you feel is acceptable?

Tagged Blogs, Content, SEO, Social Media, Twitter, web content, writing

Mar 25 2011

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Tips on how to make the most of Social Media World Forum: “Bring your A Game”

Next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the great and the good of social media will do the trade show thing at Olympia in London at Social Media World Forum Europe or #SMWF if you are looking for tweets and to keep your teeth in.

Alterian can be found at Stand 39 and we will happily talk to you about social media, monitoring and the value of social media data as a driver of business insight. Please do disturb us.

I have been doing some trade show research on the web for the best ideas of how to make the most of being involved or as one blog put it, “How to bring your A game to a trade show”:

Pack your phone charger – make sure you have juice for the day to tweet and add those LinkedIn connections. You may need to prioritise whether or not you check-in on Foursquare if battery power is likely to get critical by 11.30am…
Wear comfy shoes. Social Media World Forum runs for two days, no one wants a blister on day 2.
Have your business card at the ready, whether you are looking to meet people or enter a competition or two (Keep your eyes peeled and follow @AlterianSM2 for a BIG competiton at the show). Either way, business cards are essential.
Plan what you want to see and the workshops you wish to attend but be flexible. If they fill up quickly then you may need to sacrifice a session to get in to a later one on that key topic you wanted to hear about. Competition for a seat or a popular talk can bring out the worst in some people at trade shows.
Pre-arrange meet-ups with familiar faces and new on Twitter beforehand to give your day purpose and structure.
Set yourself targets. What outcomes do you want to get from your attendance? 3 new business opportunities, 10 new contacts, 2 product demonstrations, a fine collection of free pens, etc.
Ask great questions. Yes, there are people there looking to shift product and yes, there is an agenda for any business that has made the investment to have a presence at the show. On the whole, with a room full of people interested in social media, most people will be happy to talk about what they do. So make the most of the opportunities.

Got anymore you would like to add? Comment below.

WIN TODAY: If you would like the chance to be at Social Media World Forum Europe next week, we have three full conference passes to giveaway by 5pm today. Enter our simple competition to be in with a chance.

Competition now closed

Tagged alterian, competition, exhibition, London, networking, Social Media, social media monitoring, social media world forum, Twitter

Feb 07 2011

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Wheat

Social Media Week Enrichment Programme – Enrol here

Social Media Week returns and for the UK, predominantly within the confines of London, there is a significant amount of events and activities planned around the next few days. I shall be attending a few events on the Wednesday and Thursday, please do say “Hello”.

I agreed, to some extent, with this post over on the ShinyShiny blog and it is true that such a self-perpetuating scene, with the tools at its disposal, make it easier to spread the word about social media itself than the plight of A.N.Other industry (Here’s looking at you print.) but that isn’t to say that the opportunity is not worthwhile – you just have to make it and yourself work harder.

There will be a LOT of noise and a lot of content in the online streams of Social Media Week (The irony is not lost through this blog post – which shall be shared via Twitter, LinkedIn and more – worry not) How do you get value out of the sheer volume and not be put off by the echo chamber?

In order to make the most gain from this special week, I propose a Social Media Week Enrichment Plan whereby, we highlight the great and lesser spotted blog posts of the week and make recommendations of other Twitter users so that we broaden our online horizons.

Also, seize the opportunity to do something worthwhile with your interest in social media. Next month is the return of Twestival (March 24) and more towns and cities than ever are taking part in the global fundraising event. As a co-roganiser of the Bristol event, I can honestly say it is great fun, a challenge and makes you feel good about being online too much. Make this week of increased social media profile the week you do some social media for social good.

I shall update the two items below throughout the week and welcome your input in the comments section.

Social Media Week Blogroll – I encourage you to read these blog posts and ask that you suggest at least one more to me to add to the list:

Social Business Week

Top Influencers Challenge

Football: Social Network or Big Business

33 Digital: Secrets of Social Media

Social Media Week Commschat special Here is the transcript from the lively discussion: Transcript

LikeMinds Social Media Week Live Broadcasts

Best practices for creating new content

Social Recruitment Debate

Social CRM – Live Blog

Twitter Recommendation Engine – If you like these Twitter folk, why not try these?

(@EmLeary @Wadds @JoanneJacobs) Try @MacFack @NickWallen @eWilko

(@Armano @TheBrandBuilder @Mashable) Try @1000heads @TrueDigital or The Duffy Agency

(@JoshFeldber @GemmaWent @Mazi) Try @CraigMcGill, @CharlotteClark @Fergb

(@ScottGould @WisdomLondon @adamvincenzini) Try @ActionLamb @LewisWiltshire @iamluca

Tagged Blogs, smw, smwldn, social media week, social media week london, twestival, Twitter

Jan 24 2011

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Wheat

An ROI of social media in business case study via @NotFromBolton

Bath Ales | An ROI of social media in business case study
http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=bathalescasestudyslideshare-110123163707-phpapp01&rel=0&stripped_title=bath-ales-an-roi-of-social-media-in-business-case-study&userName=notfrombolton

A cold, hard ROI demonstration here that showcases the business benefits derived from social media and more importantly, through measuring and monitoring the right metrics to make the business case. (Also, good to see that SM2 has been of use in delivering the insight on slide 60)

Effective use of the relevant platforms, run in-house, has seen Bath Ales get closer to their target audience and find a new level of engagement and increased opportunities to have the conversations with their audience that both parties want.

Tagged ale, bath, beer, Business, email, Marketing, ROI, Social Media, Twitter

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