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This post features a couple of recommended readings in plain English that should clarify (read as simplify) the use of social media by businesses.

What tools are being used the most?

Where Your Customers Are: How Facebook, Twitter and Others Break Down by Age

Facebook, the largest social media network, recently reached 300 million users worldwide — roughly the population of the United States. So do your homework before you approach your customers online. Here’s how users on the top social media sites broke down by age in August 2009.
View the graphs and original post at BNET.com

What should you keep in mind when promoting social media in your company?

Eight Ways to Ruin Your Social-Media Strategy

So you’ve set up a company fan page on Facebook and you’re letting your employees fire off messages to the world via Twitter — or you’re at least thinking about it. Well, congratulations! You’re part of the social-media revolution, which can offer unparalleled access to word-of-mouth buzz among those you most want to reach: your customers, current and future.

• Mistake 1: Pretend you can do without it
• Mistake 2: Play down the costs
• Mistake 3: Act like you own the conversation
• Mistake 4: Fear empowering your employees
• Mistake 5: Assume you have little to learn
• Mistake 6: Take negative feedback personally
• Mistake 7: Fret about return on investment
• Mistake 8: Underestimate the power of seemingly small efforts

Read details on each mistake and the entire article at BNET.com

Stop Looking for the Next Twitter

… if you’re in the trenches of an organization, my advice is to stop acting like or listening to pundits. Stop looking for the next Twitter. Why? It’s simple—because the odds are you already have plenty of projects and ideas with proven potential that you need to improve on without worrying about the next thing you’ll start. Here are a few thought-starters based on observations I’ve made about all of “yesterday’s Twitters” that need some care and feeding before you start looking for the next Twitter. Perhaps some may hit close to home for you…

• Your Website
• Your Blog
• Your Intranet
• Your Facebook, Twitter, Community Initiatives etc.

Read the entire article by David Armano at Harward Business Publishing

In August 2009 two companies, Sysomos and Pear Analytics, partnered to lead a study of Twitter audiences. Below is a great visualization of this study done by InformationIsBeautiful.net

We are not suggesting that this is THE solution to all “Twitter for Business” problems but it’s a step in the right direction of understanding the role Twitter plays.

A great networking event. Robin mentioned that he actually had a very productive evening talking to people from different walks of life.

Panel composition and the Moderator. A few of the guests at the event commented on the uniformity of the panel. I mean the panel was brilliant and we had a great discussion, but the panel composition could be more diverse next time.

• Moderator: Norman Leach
• Panel members: Lynda Brown, Sarah Blue, Roger Kondrat, Manoj Jasra

Major points Social Media and next 500 days covered by the panel and the audience:

• Social media is many different things. We have to be able to clearly define it, as well as its individual components such as social media marketing and social networks, platforms.
• Rene Smid (Executive Director at Digital Alberta) posed a great question about the average time investment required to reach success in social media networks. More in the video that’s coming up.
• Social media is just a new concept with roots in traditional business.
• Social media may not be the solution to every business problem.
• Companies should pay attention to their marketing strategy.
• Social media is about creating conversations and maintaining relationships.
• Social media is about sharing value with your network.
• Social media is here to stay.

The video compilation of the event by Roger Kondrat is coming up shortly, stay tuned!

Global Village / Global Neighborhoods

Much like Marshal McLuhan with “global village” in the 1960s, Shel talks about the concept of “global neighborhoods” today. Twitter, he says, is a tool that allows us to have small conversations with people of common interest. It’s like talking to your neighbor over the fence. Twitter is simply a tool to create and maintain those short conversations online. As Shel mentions, Twitter is the closest to face-to-face communication.

The importance of telling stories

Much like Seth Godin in “All marketers are liars”, Shel is emphasizing the art of story telling. His book, Twitterville, is in essence a collection of stories about people talking on Twitter and telling stories; something others can relate to. The entertainment component is part of any successful story we read, hear and share with our friends and colleagues. As Dean mentioned in his You don’t know how to blog post last week, telling stories is super important, if it’s not a story, he won’t read it.

Broadcasting Era / Conversational Era

As we are moving from the broadcasting era into the era of conversations and small talks, the value of relationships and value transfer becomes the primary concern. We are no longer pushing the message as it was done for decades by advertising and traditional media. We are engaging in conversations, trying to help people solve their problems. As Shel mentions, the media as a social institution isn’t going anywhere. It’s valuable and will continue to evolve. There will, however, be a transition, and it’s happening already. The key for media outlets is to get through this transition and emerge into a new format of media; a combination of traditional and social journalism.

As a side note, I purchased the last copy of the book at this event. 12 hours later still excited to have it and plan to read it within next couple of weeks before Shel writes his next book

They are centered around a theme, naturally, but the engaging part is the story that the person is telling, and rooting it in their personal experience makes them the expert – as though it is research that they have conducted. So, I offer up that blog topics are driven by our personalities.

For example, Dan (our lead developer) might decide that his central theme is “programming for the web” but he would give it a name like “Nerd Power on the Web”. Then each blog post would be a story from his personal experience, or an experience he can relate to and translate as his own, that eventually ties back to the central theme of “programming for the web”.

By this, we give ownership of each central blog theme to an individual – so if it sucks, it’s their reputation that suffers. If it rules, both the individual and the organization gain value. The point is that pride and personal interest will help maintain quality control.

The arching theme of this post is that the point of social marketing is to drive online relationships deeper before driving them wider. This is done on a person-to-person basis – socializing the way you would socialize at a party where you’re the center of attention – but with new tools.

Purpose. Before getting into the details of your blogging program, answer the question “Why?” How does a blog contribute to your marketing and communications objectives? Are you trying to increase awareness of your company’s activities? Is the point to create a community of readers?

Content focus. Knowing what you are going post is as important as why you are going post. A common reason for blogging is to share valuable information with members of your network; customers, partners, vendors. The goal is to make sure that your individual posts (and blog as a whole) deliver value to your audience.

Identify champions. These are the people who will become the voice for your company. They are employees that read, talk and breathe the industry. They are the experts. They also know a lot about your company and your customers.

Quality control. Although many are saying that your social media message should not be controlled, we believe that any communication that’s coming out of your company should be controlled for quality. A peer review process should solve the problem.

Frequency. Frequency of your blog posts will depend on resources available, your industry, and the goals you are trying to achieve. Based on our experience a weekly post should be sufficient in most cases.

At the end of the day, blogging is about delivering value as well as engaging with the reader, so 1) keep the reader in mind, 2) keep the message in mind, and 3) participate / discuss.