social animals

SOCIAL ANIMALSNavigating the jungles of social media

SOCIAL ANIMALS - Alistair Fairweather

What do we mean by social media?

• Any media in which the majority of the content is derived from the users

• We are great apes – social animals

• Social media reduces the friction of distance and time

• Democratic8/25/2009

SOCIAL ANIMALS - Alistair Fairweather8/25/2009

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE




Why does it matter?

• It’s enormously popular...• If Facebook where a country it would be the

4th largest in the world (250 million users)• Twitter has over 20 million daily active users• There are around 25 million active blogs in the

world

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Why does it matter (cont.)?

• It’s enormously influential• Word of mouth on speed• Your brands are being discussed whether you

like it or not• It’s happening right here in South Africa:– Aprox. 60,000 people on Twitter– Approaching 2 million people on Facebook– Around 10,000 active blogs

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The attention economy

• People’s attention span is limited• In the last 20 years we’ve gone from dozens of

channels to a quarter of a billion• So you are in a war to win people’s attention –

and you’re losing• People no longer revere traditional media• People pay attention to other people

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3 Golden rules of social media

• You can’t fake it

• You can’t control it

• You can’t ignore it

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3 Must haves

• Your own site that you can easily update

• Decent stats tracking (Google Analytics)

• A daily / weekly / monthly commitment

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THE TOOLS OF THE TRADETackling Twitter, beating blogs and slaying social networks

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Good old-fashioned marketing

• Plan / design• Launch• Drive• Measure• Rinse (adapt) and repeat

• Timeline of days or weeks instead of months

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Twitter?

• A free flowing stream of content, conversations and questions

• Social media at its most immediate and raw• A “pure” social network• Totally meritocratic• The “pulse” of the real-time internet

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How do I use it?

• Same way other users do!

• Research

• Expression

• Interaction – instant feedback

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The lingo• “Tweet” (v) to say something in Twitter

– (n) a single unit of conversation – an update

• Retweet (v) to pass on a tweet and give credit to the source (like forwarding an email)– (n) see “tweet” above

• “@ reply” (v) to reply directly to someone using their Twitter name– (n) one such reply

• “Mention” (n) an @ reply directed at your account

• “Trending topic” (n) any subject that is currently in the list of the top 20 most discussed topics on Twitter (worldwide)

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How do I measure it?

• Followers

• Retweets and mentions

• Tweetmeme

• Snip.URL

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Case Study: District 9

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Case Study: District 9

• Virtually no traditional marketing• Starting tweeting two months before launch• By the time of the premiere was a trending

topic for an entire week

• RESULTS: $37 million in the opening weekend ($7 profit)

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Blogging?

• Independent• Niche• Personal• Opinion based• Less frequent and more thoughtful

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How do I use it?

• 3 modes: – Media channel– Reader & commenter– Blogger

• Much closer to traditional media• BUT require extra stroking

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• Blog posts• Track or pingbacks• Comments• Google Analytics– Incoming links– Readers

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Case study: Steri Stumpie

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Case study: Steri Stumpie

• A beloved but neglected brand• Started a blog based around “ambassadors”• Fun, fresh, friendly• Daily updates• Created an ecosystem with other social media

channels• RESULTS: Re-invigorated brand

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Social Networking?

• Any site or service whose primary purpose is to allow users to interact with each other on a personal level

• Yes, that means email and chat• The most personal form of social media• Horses for courses (Facebook vs Linked.in)

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How do I use it?

• Official brand presence• Representatives (personal touch)• Private messaging• Events (exclusivity)• Infiltration (aka research)• Custom applications

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• Fans / group members• Activity (comments, discussions etc)• Number of messages your reps receive• Number of people who attend your events• Analytics

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Case study: Rocking the Daisies

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Case study: Rocking the Daisies

• Built on two previous years of social media goodwill

• Facebook group with over 6000 members and 1000+ wall posts

• Event with 3000+ confirmed guests• 2008 event was oversold by 50%• 2009 has had to be capped

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERSEO, surface area and ecosystem

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Surface area

• Reach in social media is not determined by how much money you spend, but by how many people you influence

• Give your messages “surface area”• To maximise surface area you need to be: – On all appropriate channels– Shareable / portable– Approachable / reachable– Responsive

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Surface area (cont.)

Search engines •Google•Bing etc

Social media•Blogs and comments•Facebook page(s) and status updates•Tweets / mentions / retweets

Brand Site •Delight and surprise•Convert to sales

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The social media ecosystem

Brand site

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Other social media channels

• Video sharing (YouTube)• Social knowledge (Answerit)• Forums• Social gaming• Custom social media offerings

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Small is beautiful

• Don’t expect huge numbers right from the start

• Social media engagement beats traditional media engagement 10 or 100 to 1

• Niches are rich, mass markets are poor• Fail fast, fail often• Be present

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THANK YOUMuchos gracias

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social animals

Technology