Have You Heard

There is a great post by a guy called Mikolaj Jan Piskorski from Harvard who has been studying how and what people use Social Networks.

He has a host of very interesting insights based on actual behaviours that you will find startling. He starts off by saying that the usefullness of on-line Social Networks is due to the shortcomings of real life, and providng solutions such as being able to connect with old friends and that 70% of all activity is related to looking at pics and profiles. After further insighs, he finished with these words of wisdom:

"People don't click through on advertising on social networks...To be successful, you need to shift your mindset from social media to social strategy," he continues. A good social strategy essentially uses the same principles that made online social networks attractive in the first place—by solving social failures in the offline world. Firms should begin to do the same and help people fulfill their social needs online.

To continue the earlier analogy, "You should come to the table and say, 'Here is a product that I have designed for you that is going to make you all better friends.' To execute on this, firms will need to start making changes to the products themselves to make them more social, and leverage group dynamics, using technologies such as Facebook Connect. But I don't see a lot of that yet. I see (businesses) saying, 'Let's talk to people on Twitter or let's have a Facebook page or let's advertise.' And these are good first steps but they are nowhere close to a social strategy."

There we go - now you have a strong directive to create your Social Media Strategy. Click on the image to view the full post.

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We should have seen this one coming!

Hasbro and Google have teamed up to create the biggest game of Monopoly ever, with the board being the entire world in Google Maps and they are calling it Monopol City Streets. The basic premise is that you start out with $US3 million. Then you can roam Google Maps and buy any street in the world to build property on and collect rent. The end goal being to “beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence”.

Most of the top property in South Africa already seems to be bought up and is being developed. We will keep you updated on how the games progresses and impacts society. Click on the logo to go to the site.

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Facebook Lite was introduced in India and the US last week and the response was overwhelmingly positive. It was first developed for countries with slow Internet connections, but when it was beta tested in the US, it became clear that Lite would be a smash anywhere. This may surprise many social media aficionados because of Facebook's reputation as a leader in functionality and aesthetics. One only has to look at Lite to see the advantages. In addition to loading quicker because of the stripped down design, the ads are smaller and fewer. The apps are gone. There aren't any chatting abilities, profile pics or status updates. Essentially, the clutter was cut. It's simple and streamlined. Your brain has less to analyze and can relax more. We will have to wait and see whether Facebook Lite will be successful enough to actually trim down the full version. Click on the logo to read an opinion of the site.

Article supplied thanks to WOMMA.

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Sean Carton, from Clickz, has provided us with a checklist for developing a brands Social Media Strategy. It is a really straight forward and helpful list that will get you asking the right questions, but wont provide you with all the answers. We would recommend that you check it out anyway, to ensure you have all the basis covered. Here are a few teasers from his list.

1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. What kind of social media will help us best achieve our goals?
3. What will we do to encourage participation?
4. How does engaging users via social media integrate into our overall marketing/communications strategy?
5. How do we measure success? What constitutes failure?

Click on the logo to see the full list and his explanations for each point.

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Paul Marsden has helped us out by detailing 10 Brands doing Social Media right. The big insight for me, was that the best campaigns are the ones that are built around offering the consumer value and understanding what they want and need, rather than just developing something just to have a presence. The campaigns range from Amazons Deal of a Day Tweet to P&G's Being Girl campaign that creates a forum whereteen girls can connect, discuss and share girl stuff with each other (measured to be 4 times as effective as TV). Click on Pauls smiley face to get taken to his list.

If you don't quiet know what Social Media really is, or want a better way to explain it to your boss who doesn't quite know what it is - have a look at this clever little video clip.

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The Parrele View has a definitive list of Social Media Case Studies - this is a great reference for anyone doing research or needing some inspiration. Click onthe image, make yourself a coffee and enjoy the reading.

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J&J asked the questions, 'Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can't we?  Here is a link to check out some case studies of how Pharma companies have got into Social Media - most of it isnt that innovative, apart from the example below. The best, however, are those that focus on providing relevant communication (rather than pushing brands) and allowing consumers to talk back - in essence create a dialogue as opposed to preaching to get sales. Click on the image to check the list of 10 case studies.

Here is my favourit example - by Beyers. They wanted to educate the youth about blood glucose levels and this is what they did.

"The tool, named Didget, connects directly into the youth's Nintendo DS and rewards the user for building consistent blood glucose testing habits and meeting glucose targets.  The Nintendo DS tool is supported by 'Didget World', a password protected social network where kids can interact with other users and build their own profile. Based on the popularity of online 'gaming' with young people, this is an ingenious use of social media to help monitor a health condition."

Click on the image to check out the site.

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Social Media is very much more progressed abroad, than it is here in South Africa - but you can bet your salary that in the next few years, we will catch up - as well as lead the pack in terms of mobile. Which means, the way you interact, speak, and sell to your target market will need to change. Not only that - these 'revolutionary principles' of marketing aren't actually that revolutionary and show more commen sense of how great marketers should be engaging with their consumers. Apart from all the stats shown - enjoy this thought-provoking insight: Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second (but every great salesman knows you need to listen first before you sell - otherwise you don't know what you are selling...)

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You may not be aware of this great presentation, but it won the coveted position of being the best presentation on Slide Share. Apart from it being put together beautifully/ effectively - it contextualises Social Media in a very simple and easy to understand way. A lot of the principles also apply to WoM - but keep your eyes open for HaveYouHeards copycat "What the F**k is WoM" soon to be released. Enjoy the presentation.

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