The convention for creating financial opportunities is evolving and changing the way we seed prospects, promote our expertise and prowess, and connect with those who can help us learn and advance through the facilitation of strategic and mutually beneficial alliances.

Digital capitalization is laying a foundation for expanding the need to cultivate and participate, not only in the real world, but also in the online networks and communities that can benefit us personally and professionally.

In an era of democratized publishing and equalized influence, it can be said that engagement and participation are a new, powerful and effective form of “un” marketing. At the very least, this is an epoch of empathy.

Social capital is a strong ally, an elite catalyst for lucrative relationships, and now a metric for qualification, consideration and ultimately success (however you define it).  This is a state of human economics that is thoroughly discussed in Tara Hunt’s book, The Whuffie Factor. Our “Whuffie” or social capital and intellectual assets are defined by both online and real world conduct and its “balance sheet” is available for anyone with a web browser to review, assess, and analyze.

Reputation, trust, and relationships, are each earned at varying levels, through our action and words. Our interaction reinforces impressions and engenders experiences. As such, our personal and professional brands are essentially reflections of our contributions. In the end, we get out of it, what we invest in it.

By participating in relevant online communities and publishing content that promotes our expertise as it empathizes with those seeking information and direction in a way that literally speaks to them, we begin the process of building and shaping our online reputation, brand, and persona that traverses virtual, augmented, and actual realities. The ideas and wisdom we share and the relationships we forge only fuel its proliferation and stature.

Like any form of capital, Social capital rises and falls with the market and the individual to which it’s governed by the state of the industry and affected by the state of corresponding affairs. As it escalates, however, it unlocks opportunities that are commensurate with the community’s assessment of its value. In the same regard, the community will not support or reward lackluster, opportunistic, also-ran, or hollow engagement in the long term.

Again, social capital is measured by individual value and collective perception.

The Human Algorithm

But trust and reputation are only as valuable as their ability to represent you in your absence. And as in anything online, perception and presence are the focus of proactive programs that enhance the discovery process and steer recognition and stature in your favor.

As search plays an increasingly important role in the investigation process of surfacing qualified candidates and social objects around relevant topics, we quickly become brand managers for our intellectual and personal assets. Our livelihood now pivots on our ability to connect dots between who were are, what we stand for, and the value we offer.

You will be Googled.

You will also be Twittered, Flickrd, YouTubed, Facebooked, and LinkedIn’ed.

While Google is the standard by which all search is measured, those active in defining their presence in traditional search will do so through organic as well as through optimized techniques such as SEO. However, as search becomes social, the role of queries disseminates beyond Google with content sought and channeled directly within Social Networks as well as new breeds of real-time search platforms. As such, prominence is then ascertained by the digital shadows we cast across the traditional and social Web (yes, there is a difference) and also through our investment in driving strategic visibility. Essentially, our brand as defined by our views, opinions, thoughts, observations, and actions, becomes a social object that requires dynamic cultivation and placement.

The Human Algorithm becomes our lifeline to regulated exposure while also providing a foundation for constructing and enhancing our presence directly within the channels where prospects are seeking information.

Social Customer Hierarchy

As social media becomes ubiquitous, businesses will no longer possess the means to effectively scale and sustain participation across all conversations on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other online communities. Whether you agree with this or not, brands will face the need to prioritize who they engage based on what I refer to as the Social Customer Hierarchy. The level of influence and authority a customer or prospect holds determines their placement in the chain of preeminence.

Yes, we earn prominence and amass social capital through productive contributions to online societies. In the process, we increase our stature and amplify our voices and it will escalate consumer matters when other traditional means are exhausted. Brandishing this distinction however, erodes value, and over time, ranking and credibility are diminished.

Our online reputation and the activity that contribute to its definition are investments in our social capital. The return on these investments is evident in the opportunities and relationships that ensue and proliferate. Our social graph, the connections we forge and actively nurture, represents a very public testimony. If you’re not actively investing in its significance, you may actually take away from its net worth.

via http://www.briansolis.com/

Negli ultimissimi anni in cui i social media sono stati un veicolo di marketing, hanno già avuto un effetto enorme sul modo di fare business delle aziende. Negli anni che verranno ci saranno ancora più cambiamenti, dato che il social media marketing si estende dal dipartimento di marketing a quasi tutti gli aspetti di business di un’azienda.

Debra Aho Williamson, analista senior di eMarketer, in un suo articolo dà luce ad alcuni trend a cui bisognerebbe ispirarsi negli anni a venire.

“L’advertising – riguardo al quale alcuni potrebbero dire che è fallito come modello di business per le aziende social media – non sarà la fonte di revenue principale”, afferma la Aho Williamson.

Il modello di business più forte per il futuro invece incorporerà l’analytics, dato che i social media diventano effettivamente integrati in tutti gli sforzi del marketing. Inoltre, la TV diventerà più sociale, come anche la ricerca.

La localizzazione diventerà più importante per i social media e il brand monitoring diventerà più sofisticato così che le aziende potranno iniziare a capire il “perchè” delle chiacchiere dei consumatori, ma anche il “chi”, il “cosa” e il “quando”.

“Le conversazioni che succedono naturalmente saranno utilizzate nell’innovazione del prodotto e del design e le compagnie creeranno incentivi destinati all’attenzione e all’engagement delle persone mentre la rifinalizzazione e l’analisi del contenuto e l’engagement in nuovi modi porteranno preziosi input.” —Ravit Lichtenberg, fondatore e chief strategist, Ustrategy.com, in un articolo su ReadWriteWeb.com, 11 Dicembre 2009.

Quello che non cambierà è la fonte della trasformazione dei social media oggi: gli utenti.

“La voce del consumatore diventerà solo più alta e più forte”, ha detto Debra Aho Williamson. “Definirà che cos’è un social media e che cosa diventerà. Non troppo tempo fa, un’azienda poteva fare i più grandi cambiamenti al suo prodotto o servizio basandosi su piccoli focus groups, un po’ di pianificazione finanziaria e un minimo d’istinto. I social media hanno già cambiato tutto questo. E molti altri cambiamenti arriveranno.

Uno sguardo al futuro che potrebbe togliere i presupposti all’attitudine di certe realtà aziendali in cui il ROI si calcola solo in base alle vendite. E che deve far riflettere sui nuovi orizzonti in cui vanno ad inserirsi dei progetti di senso volti a creare la reputazione di un brand , e di conseguenza attorno alla percezione che i consumatori hanno di fronte ai suoi prodotti o servizi.

In questo panorama, è necessario pianificare e organizzare le proprie azioni ad hoc.

I social media sono maturati al punto in cui i marketers non si domandano più se questi debbano prender parte al loro marketing mix, si chiedono piuttosto dove dovrebbero essere inseriti.

“Il basso costo dei social media può portare i marketers a soluzioni improvvisate.” ha detto Paul Verna, analista senior di eMarketer, in un suo articolo. “Ma considerando il tempo che spendiamo discutendo, formulando, gestendo e mettendo in atto le campagne di social media – per non citare quello dedicato alla creazione di contenuto – è evidente che ci sono dei soldi in gioco e che è necessario un piano ben pensato.”

“Invece di cercare i migliori modi per l’engage, molte aziende creano account su social network multipli e pubblicano i contenuti senza un piano o un obiettivo. Tuttavia, le aziende che svolgono attività di ricerca troveranno un’ampia e gratificante gamma di opzioni e opportunità.”—Brian Solis, fondatore e direttore, FutureWorks, in un blog post su Mashable, 11 Gennaio 2010

Una strategia è critica anche perchè gli utenti dei social media si aspettano che le aziende abbiano buon senso sugli spazi social. E questo include l’assicurarsi che le iniziative di social marketing siano in linea con le strategie di marketing degli altri brand.

“La crescita del numero di aziende che si immergono nel social marketing, implica un innalzamento del livello di sofisticazione per tutti”. ha detto Verna. “Si crea così un ambiente in cui solo il più organizzato può competere”.

Una parte critica nella pianificazione dei marketers è quella del determinare come integrare i social media nelle loro aziende. In un suo articolo Verna ha analizzato come i marketers intessono i social media nelle più grandi aziende tessili.

La maggior parte delle aziende trovano utili i social media come strumenti di marketing e comunicazione, ma molte aziende usano i canali social anche per le vendite, i servizi al consumatore, per l’IT e altro ancora.

Nonostante le aziende potrebbero usare i social media per molti e diversi obiettivi di business, dovrebbero lavorare mirando all’integrazione delle competenze sui social media in team funzionali. I silos di competenze dovrebbero essere evitati.

“Una promozione su Facebook è tanto utile quanto l’informazione che questa rimanda alle vendite, al CRM, al marketing o ai senior management executives, che possono ritrasformarla nuovamente in business.” ha detto Verna.

Proprio in questa ultima citazione risiede il valore aggiunto creato dalle campagne sui social media : senza questo reinvestimento di valori viene a meno la potenzialità delle informazioni.

I social media dovrebbero essere ascoltati ex ante, per capire appieno la realtà di riferimento, durante la relazione che si instaura con le persone che partecipano alla vita sui social network ed ex post, da un lato per monitorare gli effetti della campagna, dall’altro per reinvestire il bagaglio di conoscenze – informazioni – che sono state acquisite attraverso gli input dei consumattori e fare in modo che questo reinvestimento sia proficuo ed orientato, ove possibile, alla soddisfazione dei loro bisogni espressi.

L’articolo è tratto dalla traduzione di due articoli di eMarketer:

What is the future of Social Media?

Why you need a strategy for Social Media?

via http://www.ninjamarketing.it/

Burson-Marsteller,  agenzia di PR, fa il punto sui social media e le aziende con lo studio “The Global Social Media Check-up 2010″. Focus sulle top 100 della classifica Fortune Global 500, di queste il 79% utilizza almeno una delle piattaforme social più importanti (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube o corporate blogs).

In percentuale Twitter è lo strumento più utilizzato, seguono le fan page di Facebook, Youtube, quindi i corporate blog (utilizzati da 1/3 delle aziende del campione). La presentazione chiarisce anche modalità e finalità di utilizzo di questi strumenti in chiave marketing.

Si scopre, ad esempio, che AT&T ha più accout Twitter per differenti pubblici di riferimento (consumer, corporate news, business community ed altro ancora), che Sony ha fan page differenti a seconda dei prodotti offerti, BMW  passa spesso attraverso Youtube quando vuole catturare l’attenzione dei consumatori con video di intrattenimento. E i corporate blog? Sono particolarmente diffusi tra le corporations asiatiche (50% di quelle censite nella top 100 Fortune) particolarmente a loro agio con questo strumento che consente di gestire e forse controllare meglio la conversazione.

Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine ROI for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasn’t necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didn’t yet exist. And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue.

The debate over ROI inspired certain brands to cannonball into popular social networks to join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards and established authorities, unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.

But that was then and this is now.

In 2010, we enter in to a new era of social media marketing, one based on information, rationalization, and resolve.

Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics.

Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernize business practices, improve products and services, and effectively compete for the future.

ROI: The Return on Ignorance

Where the “I” in ROI represents return on investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement.

Adaptations included:

Return on engagement – the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that’s worthy of measurement.

Return on participation – the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.

Return on involvement – similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.

Return on attention – In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.

Return on trust – A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.

But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution.

For many businesses, the case for new metrics cannot arise until we have an intrinsic understanding of how social media engagement affects us at every level. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance.

ROI: Return on Investment

Sometimes we simply need ROI to signify a meaningful return on investment.

In 2010, Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. Where that money goes and from where it’s borrowed varies by department and by company usually tied to where champions reside internally today.

In many cases however, new programs are introduced without an integrated strategy. Money is allocated from existing programs, and if we’re going to take away from something, we should therefore determine whether or not we’re justified in doing so.

According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84 percent of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI.

Source: eMarketer

In 2010, executives are demanding scrutiny, evaluation, and interpretation. Even though new media is transforming organizations from the inside out, what is constant nevertheless, is the need to apply performance indicators to our work.

The Business of Social Media

The CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation, regardless of the allure and seduction of social media.

MarketingProfs recently published a study performed by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club that revealed the true expectation of chief marketing officers. Bottom line, they want measurable results from social media.

Elusiveness continues to prevail however. The study found that the exact impact of social media tactics evade the grasp of CMOs.

- 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter

-50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn or industry blogs

More specifically however, roughly 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook.

I believe this is the direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the ability to know what it is we want to measure before we engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our goals and objectives.

We first answer,

What is it we want to change, improve, accomplish, incite, etc.?

Doing so will allow us to establish goals and objectives that specifically tie activity to:

- Sales

- Registrations

- Referrals

- Links (the currency of the social web)

- Votes

- Reduction in costs and processes

- Decrease in customer issues

- Lead generation

- Conversion

- Reduced sale cycles

- Inbound activity

Customer Insight

Among the responses received from CMOs, customer ratings and reviews rose to the top of marketing activities that deliver tangible ROI insight. In 2009, 80% of respondents reported that customer stories and product suggestions shape products and services. As a result, brands earn the trust and loyalty of their customers for listening and responding – as long as they are made aware of their role and rewarded for it.

In 2010, CMOs will review opportunities for user-generated content sources to involve customers and advocates with many reporting…

- a 400% increase in use of Twitter comments to inform decisions about products and services

- a 59% increase in the use of customer ratings and reviews

- A 24% increase in use of social media for pre-sales Q&A

The Socialization of Monetization

Social media metrics will increasingly tie to revenue in 2010. To what extent seems to vary according to CMOs.

- 80% predict upwards of 5%

- 15% optimistically hope for 5-10%

In 2009, those companies that aligned social media investments with revenue estimate:

- 5% or less revenue tied to social in 2009 foresee an increase of an additional 5% in 2010

- 6-10% of revenue stemming from social is expected to increase more than 10%

- Those with greater revenues resulting from social engagement expect an escalation of revenue derived from social at 20%

Companies such as Dell are not only tracking the impact of Social Media on revenue, but expanding lessons learned across the entire organization. According to Dell’s Lionel Menchaca:

Our @DellOutlet is now close to 1.5 million followers on Twitter, and back in June we indicated that @DellOutlet earned $3 million in revenue from Twitter. Today it’s not just Dell Outlet having success connecting with customers on Twitter. In total, Dell’s global reach on Twitter has resulted in more than $6.5 million in revenue. In fact our Brazilian and Canadian accounts are growing rapidly too – and it was Canadian tweeters who asked to make sure Dell Canada came online to Twitter. Dell Canada responded because the team heard our customers. In less than a year, @DellnoBrasil has already generated nearly $800,000 in product revenues. Similarly, @DellHomeSalesCA has surpassed $150,000 and is increasing at notable pace.

The Forecast for Metrics in 2010

Earlier we mentioned generic forms of Social Media metrics. The survey revealed that indeed, many CMOs, 89%, tracked the impact of social media by traffic, pageviews, and the size of their social graph or communities. However, 2010 is the year that social media graduates from experimentation to strategic implementation with direct ties to specific measurable performance indicators.

In 2010, CMOs will seek to establish a connection between social media and P&L business goals. The study documents the adoption of three metrics:

- 333% surge in tracking revenue

- 174% escalation in monitoring conversion

- 150% increase in measuring average order value

A Call To Action

Among the most effective forms of any marketing initiative is the integration of a call to action. It is how I define influence as it gives us the ability to inspire activity and measure it – as designed. As stated earlier, revenue is only one form of metrics we can introduce, but defining the “R” in ROI is where we need to focus as it relates to our business goals and performance indicators specifically. Even though much of social media is free, we do know the cost of engagement as it relates to employees, time, equipment, and opportunity cost (what they’re not focusing on or accomplishing while engaging in social media). Tying those costs to the results will reveal a formula for assessing the “I” as investment.

When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future.

via http://www.briansolis.com/

Currently only 29% of companies have a Social Media Policy, so I thought it would be good to put together a list of resources that would assist the other 71% to create one.

Firstly, What is a social media policy? Very simply without getting too complicated

“A social media policy outlines for employees the corporate guidelines or principles of communicating in the online world”.

Why Have a Social Media Policy?

According to Eric B. Meyer, who’s an Associate in the Labor and Employment Group of Dilworth Paxson LLP, what companies should consider from a legal perspective in developing a social media policy are.

• “Employers need to be upfront with employees that they have no right to privacy with respect to social networking. “Employers reserve the right to monitor employee use of social media regardless of location (i.e. at work on a company computer or on personal time with a home computer).”
• Employees “should be made aware that company policies on anti-harassment, ethics and company loyalty extend to all forms of communication (including social media) both inside and outside the workplace.” People need to remember that bashing your organization/boss/co-workers online can lead to consequences at work.”
  

1. 10 Must Haves For A Social Media Policy – Courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby

She says -”Whether you’re writing your social media policy from the get-go, or letting it develop organically in reaction to situations as they arise, here are 10 things you should definitely consider. These 10 tips will help you steer clear of pitfalls and allow you to focus on what’s important: engaging the customer.”

2. IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines

In the spring of 2005, IBMers used a wiki to create a set of guidelines for all IBMers who wanted to blog. These guidelines aimed to provide helpful, practical advice—and also to protect both IBM bloggers and IBM itself, as the company sought to embrace the blogosphere. Since then, many new forms of social media have emerged. So we turned to IBMers again to re-examine our guidelines and determine what needed to be modified. The effort has broadened the scope of the existing guidelines to include all forms of social computing.

3. 117 Social Media Policies – By Social Media Governance

Here is a list of and access to, social policies and protocols from organisations with documents rivalling “War and Peace” to light and brief.

• American Red Cross – NGO
• Australian Public Service Commission – Government Agency
• Harvard Law School – Legal
• Baker and Daniels – rather brief but well written with a dash of humour

4. Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines – by Laurel Papworth

She says “This list also includes policies called; Staff blogging policies, enterprise social network guidelines, Employee Blogging Policies, Staff engagement in online communities, and so on. I’ve done a few press (radio, print) interviews this week re: Telstra so I thought I should have another look at how Enterprise, Government, Corporates, Not for Profits  are handling the fact that their staff are members of social networks too”

5. Corporate Top 10 Social Media Guidelines – from Todd Defren’s Blog

He covers how corporate employees’ participation in Social Media can be dealt with and managed in a way that liberates them — without putting the company at risk.

So , what is revealing is that  a lot of common sense .. which is what a good policy is based upon, certainly seems to prevail through most of the social media policies, though the length of the policies can vary from the sublime to the adventurous.

What were your challenges in creating a Social Media Policy for your organisation?

via http://jeffbullas.com/

Full list of sites in this study: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Slashdot, Reddit, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, Last.fm, Friendster, LiveJournal, Hi5, Tagged, Ning, Xanga, Classmates.com, Bebo.

To get consistent age data for the various sites we used site demographics information for the United States gathered from Google’s Ad Planner service and then did some additional calculations to get all the data we needed.

Social network age distribution

What is the age distribution in the social media sphere?

We took the age distribution data we had collected and calculated what the age distribution looked like across all 19 sites counted together. The resulting chart is right here below.

A full 25% of the users on these sites are aged 35 to 44, which in other words is the age group that dominates the social media sphere. Only 3% are aged 65 or older.

That was the age distribution when looking at these 19 sites together. When looking at individual social network sites, the differences are significant, as you will see below.

Age distribution per site

Here below you can examine the age distribution for each of the 19 social network sites we included in this study. The list has been sorted by the average user age per site (see further down for that), with the “youngest” site showing at the top and the “oldest” at the bottom.

Some observations on age distribution:

• Bebo appeals to a much younger audience than the other sites with 44% of its users being aged 17 or less. For MySpace, this number is also large; 33%.
• Classmates.com has the largest share of users being aged 65 or more, 8%, and 78% are 35 or older.
• 64% of Twitter’s users are aged 35 or older.
• 61% of Facebooks’s users are aged 35 or older.

Dominant age groups

Most of the social networks we included are dominated by the age group 35-44, which was apparent in the first chart in this article. This group has become the most “social” age group out there. This is the generation of people who were in their 20s as the Web took off in the mid ‘90s.

If we look at which age groups are the largest for each site, we get the following distribution:

• 0 – 17: Tops 4 out of 19 sites (21%)
• 18 – 24: Tops no site
• 25 – 34: Tops 1 out of 19 sites (5%)
• 35 – 44: Tops 11 out of 19 sites (58%)
• 45 – 54: Tops 3 out of 19 sites (16%)
• 55 – 64: Tops no site
• 65 or older: Tops no site

It’s a bit surprising that not one single site had the age group 18 – 24 as its largest, but that can be explained by this interval being a bit smaller than the other ones (it spans seven years, not 10 as most of the others). That the two oldest age groups don’t top any of the sites probably doesn’t surprise anyone, though.

Average user age per site

As we promised in the introduction, we have calculated an estimate of the average age for each of the social network sites included in this study. The result is here below.

A few observations:

• The average social network user is 37 years old.
• LinkedIn, with its business focus, has a predictably high average user age; 44.
• The average Twitter user is 39 years old.
• The average Facebook user is 38 years old.
• The average MySpace user is 31 years old.
• Bebo has by far the youngest users, as witnessed earlier, with an average age of 28.

On the social web, age is a factor

Although we can’t say how this will change over time, at the moment the older generations are for one reason or another (tech savvy, interest, etc.) not using social networking sites to a large extent. This probably reflects general internet usage, but we suspect the difference is enhanced when it comes to the social media sphere where site usage tends to be more frequent and time-consuming than usual.

It is also noteworthy that social media isn’t dominated by the youngest, often most tech-savvy generations, but rather by what has to be referred to as middle-aged people (although at the younger end of that spectrum).

via http://royal.pingdom.com/

What starts with one champion in any given division, be it customer service, marketing, public relations, advertising, interactive, et al, eventually inspires an entire organization to socialize. What starts with one, a domino effect usually ensues toppling each department, gaining momentum, and triggering a sense of urgency through its path. And, it also marks the beginning of our journey through the ten stages of social media integration.

But where do we start?

This is a recurring theme here as businesses typically jump into Social Media without crafting a strategic plan rooted in goals and objectives. Nor do companies weigh the impact of engagement on the brand itself as social media champions, depending on the department in which they reside, typically monitor and engage in conversations that typically would lie outside of its domain.

MarketingProfs conducted a survey of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers and the results are worth revisiting as they typify a basic view of the opportunities rife within the social Web. Examining these numbers and more importantly, the social media programs currently employed, will help us innovate and evolve.

via The Roles of Facebook and Twitter in Social Media Marketing | Brian Solis.

In the Insight Brief “The Future of Social Media Marketing,” eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson outlines several trends to watch in the coming years.

“Advertising—which some might say has already failed as a business model for social media companies—will not be the primary revenue driver,” said Ms. Williamson.

Instead, the strongest business models in the future will incorporate analytics, as social media becomes truly integrated into all marketing efforts. In addition, TV will become more social, as will search.

Location will become more important to social media, and brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the “why” of consumer chatter as well as the who, what and when.

—Ravit Lichtenberg, founder and chief strategist, Ustrategy.com, in an article in ReadWriteWeb.com, December 11, 2009

What will not change is the source of social media transformation today: the users.

“The voice of the consumer is only going to get louder and stronger,” said Ms. Williamson. “It will shape what social media is and what it will become. Not too long ago, a company might have made major changes to its products or services based on a few focus groups, some financial planning and a degree of gut instinct. Social media has already changed all that. And more changes will come.”

Via emarketer.com

Ma dove e come investire?

Ok, abbiamo già creato un Blog, creato una pagina su Facebook, un Gruppo su LinkedIn, un profilo su Twitter,un canale su Youtube, e tutto questo mi è costato relativamente poco, ora però devo capire cosa mi aspetto da loro, come distribuire tempo e risorse? Svilupperemo un piano coordinato, creeremo un’orchestra d’archi con 40 elementi, – in tal caso dovrei trovare un Buon Direttore d’orchestra, – oppure ad un quartetto da camera..?
insomma non è così semplice e scontato sopratutto se siamo partiti dalla tecnologia senza aver un piano in tasca per i social media..

Supponendo di seguire l’approccio di Groundswell, potremmo provare a comprendere come abbiamo intenzione di distribuire i nostri sforzi ed investimenti sui social media rispondendo a queste 5 domande :

1. Quanto state investendo nell’ascolto?
2. Quanto nel dialogo, nel parlare con i vostri fan, membri, follower, advocate?
3. Quanto state investendo nel mobilitare, entusiasmare i vostri lettori?
4. Quanto nell’offrire loro supporto, assistenza?
5. Quanto nel farli sentire parte del vostro mondo, della vostra azienda, coinvolgendoli realmente nella progettazione e sviluppo dei vostri nuovi prodotti?

via http://www.digitalmarketinglab.it/ |  http://extanz.com/

Un approccio interessante, rappresentato visivamente in questa infografica pubblicata da elliace.com

via http://www.penn-olson.com/2010/01/13/10-gorgeous-social-media-infographics/