NetGen Blog

Social web design, social media optimization, search engine optimization, social networking, SMO, SEO, SMM, SEM, PR 2.0,etc - Most professions have specialized vocabularies but in the world of  "social media" it's still taking shape.  What's unique about this new language is that it's not just limited to a single profession - it's linked to the way all human beings connected to the internet are now starting to communicate.

As I converse with business leaders trying to make sense of not only the terminology and the technology but how it applies to them and how to harness things like social networking to do good things for their businesses  there is clearly a lot of confusion.  My advice: Adhere to the K.I.S.S. Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). I could write an extensive diatribe expounding upon the complexities of the new communication landscape and detail ad nauseum the statistics of various social networking platforms but in a world of information overload (especially when it comes to social media) I just want to present one take away.

"Markets Are Conversations" (from The Cluetrain Manifesto, a must read before embarking on any endeavor into the realm of social media.)

This is a question I think we fail to ask ourselves often enough.  With all the hard work we put into designing, maintaining, and marketing our online presence it's one we should be asking ourselves every day.  This list is by no means comprehensive and one that will be different for everybody but here are some suggestions to get started.

Why does your business/company have a website?

• To communicate with existing customers/clients/investors.
• As an online brochure to explain what you do.
• To sell products and services.
• To get more clients/customers/investors.
• To keep your existing clients/customers/investors.
• To build trust and credibility with existing clients, customers and investors.
• To build trust and credibility with potential clients, customers and investors.
• To build brand awareness.
• The more somebody knows about your company and the people running it the more they trust your company.
• The more they trust your company the more likely they are to do business/invest with you.

How can my company implement social media?

• The future of marketing is about acting how you want to be perceived rather than talking about it. Social media gives you this possibility by creating experience.
• Create branded content to be distributed across the global social media platforms. Consumers are doing it; well-resourced brands have no excuse.
• Develop widgets, applications, services and platforms that create a genuine consumer benefit and drives engagement. Provide consumers with tools to manage their personal brands online.
• Be inventive in connecting with consumers. Integrate it with offline communications and use social media as link or as a story to communicate.

What are the benefits of implementing a corporate social media strategy?

• Improve reputation of your business.
• Improve brand awareness.
• Drive customers/investor awareness of your business.
• Get your message in front of your target audience faster.

Why should my company consider using social media as part of its corporate communications strategy?

• The key technologies that underpin the social media revolution continue their assent. Social media is established everywhere there is an Internet connection and it has to be considered for all advertisers, marketers and content producers as a core part of their communications. Social media has impacted every aspect of the Internet and transformed the role it plays in our lives.

What is social media?

• Online applications, platforms and media that aim to facilitate interaction, collaboration and the sharing of content.
• Social media is not new. From the beginning, the Internet was founded on message boards, chat rooms and peer-to-peer communication. What has changed is the mass involvement that modern social platforms inspire.
• Contributing to the Internet has never been as accessible and less technical. Innovations in web development, computing technology and the proliferation of broadband have come together to drive monumental consumer adoption. This is why the phenomenon of social media is important now - it has the potential to impact all our media consumption therefore shifting the emphasis from professional content producers to the consumer.
• Key Social Platforms - Blogging, Micro Blogging, RSS, Social Networking, Chat Rooms, Message Boards, Podcasts, Video Sharing, Photo Sharing, Widgets.

• It's not just about traffic anymore - numbers are easy to manipulate.
• The best SEO in the world can get you 1000s of hits but it won't help your visitors stay.
• For people to buy or invest with you they have to find you AND spend time with you (your brand).
• "Build it and they will come" does not apply in the world of internet marketing.
• Raw hits, etc. don't mean anything unless they stay, buy in, sign up, subscribe, dig in to your content - otherwise it's a bounce - like someone flipping channels.
• It's about conversions - converting someone from a visitor to a follower.
• Friends, followers, subscribers, sign ups are all votes for your brand - an indication of interest.
• Brand equity today is measure by the number of people that are opting in to your brand - how many friends, followers, subscribers, members, sign ups, etc. does your brand have?

I am so excited that I have somewhere to put little fun designs that I come up with because there is only so much you can do with images of your own name, but I can't stop because it is so fun.