Intro to Social Media
v2.0 of the Conversation Prism is Now Available: http://www.theconversationprism.com
Originally uploaded by b_d_solis
I created a short presentation on Social Media for some lovely people. It’s just an introduction but since the web helped me (both here and here ) I thought I should upload some highlights. I’m not uploading the full thing cause I can incorporate video much better here.
By the way I used Solis’ Conversation Prism as the cover and it scared them sufficiently (does the trick every time)
SOCIAL MEDIA IN PLAIN ENGLISH
The point: I don’t have to explain Social Media to you. Common Craft has done it much better than I ever could. I use and promote their work to create new discussions. That’s one thing you should remember about Social Media. They sure are about original content but not neccessarily yours. Promoting good content does not have to be about advertising your own stuff.
THE WISDOM OF CROWDS
Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content; it’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.
Wikipedia (17 July 2009)
The point: Wikipedia is the perfect example of the Wisdom of Crowds (see more details on – yet again – Wikipedia)
Up for discussion: The fact that Wikipedia is at times considered unreliable makes us better users of information? Does it mean that we go on reading things over and above to form an opinion? Does that mean we might be moving away from authority and going for polyphony?
HOW I CREATED THIS PRESENTATION
Gave a bit of a story about the blog post and how people helped me with comments and discussions on friendfeed and twitter.
The point: I am not the expert. I trust my network!
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS & CONTENT
Gave a bit of an overview of Social Media platforms & content, concentrating mainly on
- Blogging
- Microblogging
- Media (podcasts – videocasts – pics – videos)
- Social Network Sites
The point: Know what is out there – connect everything. Understand what lifestream means and how people use many platforms and marry them up.
Yes, there were bound to be a lot of questions about Twitter and there were. Thankfully the crafty folk of Common Craft have tackled this as well.
Up for discussion: Who cares? Why would you do this? Any good examples?
They were a bit divided and one participant raised the best example I have ever heard off (and am I glad or what?)
The Mayor was inundated with tweets from disgruntled Londoners, after it emerged that many buses had their heaters turned up in the middle of the heatwave.
After a number of days of tweets and re-tweets, the Mayor’s transport adviser Kulveer Ranger was alerted to the issue. Ranger told PRWeek: ‘Boris stuck his head around the door and said: There’s a lot of stuff about hot buses on Twitter. What’s going on? … I immediately fired off a letter to Transport for London.’
(PR WEEK)
WHY BIG BRANDS STRUGGLE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Here is an article I can’t fault on this issue and we had a chat around the key points
1. Social Media is often viewed as just another marketing channel
2. It does not fit into current structures
3. Communities and content are global
4. Social media needs a long term approach
5. No guaranteed results
6. The metrics are new
(read the whole thing, it makes sense by Tom Smith on Mashable)
Up for discussion: Some in the room had PR agency experience and we chated about the difficulties an agency would have with ’selling’ such services. Also chatted around trust in the workplace, hierarchy, time management.
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
I chatted about promoting other people’s work and creating a network instead of simply broadcasting. Gave them the basics of my view basically
It’s not about the “I”
Find the good ideas and then promote them
We heard you the first time
Ask a question and don’t tell us why you are wonderful by way of an answer
Find an idea that is bigger than you
Promote the person sitting next to you
Global audiences equal global differences
(from an older post)
The point: They need to be clear that this is not advertising, PR as they know it or broadcasting. They need to understand that they will FAIL if they don’t engage.
THE TARGET IS EVERYONE
The point: You can’t control the message.
Up for discussion: Do you think the exposure and engagement made them rethink their products and wider company strategy?
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Final note: It was lovely to give a presentation to people who were so eager to discuss things. I swear I learned things from them today.
Let me know what you think.
