11 Social Media Trends for 2012
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Today’s podcast is on 11 Social Media Trends for 2012. Here’s the outline for my podcast – I would love your feedback and thoughts:
Key trends
- How not if
- TV on everything and social on everything
- Location based marketing will continue to grow
- Social cultures will evolve out of social use
- Social CRM will move mainstream
- India is rising
- A return to engagement
- Rewards versus contests
- Filters will dampen the noise
- Social networks will become more fluid and mobile
- Corporate social intranets
Potential pitfalls
- App overload
- Lack of conversation management
- No policy, training or identity management
- Lack of true internal social culture
- Domestic focus and culture
- Competitors get better at local, mobile and intimacy
- No follow-up after the contests (see engagement)
- Hard push back for no engagement
The New Rules of Engagement in Social Media
These are the 7 Rules of Engagement from Sociable! (http://fb.me/sociablebook) that Stephen Jagger and I developed almost 2 years ago… and the rules are now more important than ever! Enjoy! – Shane Gibson.
Social Media Speaker Video: Going Social with CRM #SCRM 41:28
I recently delivered the keynote speaker address to CDC Software’s CRM conference in Las Vegas. This is one of the most recent social media for sales professionals talks I have done and it’ not just a promo clip. Here’s the full 41 minutes on “Going Social with CRM – How Social Media is Turning Sales Upside-down:
Here are the slides to go with the presentation:
Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.
Assessing Defining and Measuring Your Social Media Influence
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Today’s podcast is on defining and measuring your social media influence. Dave MacDonald who is an integral part of our team at Socialized! works on our social media assessment process with our clients. Recently he suggested we add a component to our assessment that measures how well the client we are working with is engaging and connecting with influencers in social media.
The question of course is what makes someone influential? Should we look at the Klout score of the people they interact with? Possibly the number of important bloggers that write about them? Or is it simply how viral or broad their message gets shared? As a guerrilla social media marketer I measure success in profit and net-action or results. For this podcast I want to focus on a section right out of our Social Media Rules of Engagement training module. Here is the basis for what we consider influential:
John C. Maxwell said it best when he said “Leadership is Influence.”
He didn’t say leadership is a good idea, a vision or a title. He said influence. Influence can be defined for our purposes as causing someone to take action (internally as and personal growth or externally as in doing something). So we can imply the following:
Influence = Action
Following are some examples of action:
- Message gets passed on
- Get linked to
- Changing or molding views
- Registering and attending events
- Solving problems
- Getting feedback
- Listening and creating brand and relationships
- Generating dialogue
- Getting press
- Capturing an e-mail address or contact info
There are many more. The important factor here is to go beyond the Klout score mentality and realize that people are not an algorithm. I check my Klout on a regular basis, but it’s value of the actions we create determine if we are truly influential. So to summarize this:
Leadership = Influence = High Value Action
What comes first? A pretty website or business results?
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Too many people think a website, Twitter account or well produced video is a strategy — in reality they’re just tools. Before you invest money and time in building a brand new site, or devote more time to your social media efforts, it might be a good idea to have a plan.
Today’s podcast was inspired by a couple of conversations I have had recently. The recurring issue is people and organizations revamping their websites (some spending thousands and thousands of dollars) and not having a social media strategy before doing so. Many sites are built by well meaning developers or agencies that haven’t considered what a truly social site and blog are.
I personally think organizations should have a plan, strategy and spec their sites to be social and easily adaptable to new social media tools and trends (and not cost huge amounts of money in the process). Have a listen to my podcast and let me know your thoughts on this.
Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.
Join Me for the 30 Day Podcasting Challenge – @ShaneGibson
I have been podcasting since 2004. It has brought me great clients such as Ford, ACL, and a dozen other major corporations. It has also allowed me to meet and interview people like Guy Kawasaki and Bruce Philp (two marketing minds that I suggest you get to know well).
I then looked at my roster of podcasts and realized that I have much more to share. The podcasting seems to happen after the client work, proposals, research, books etc. BUT it has been a major driving force in my business and I have been less than generous with my listeners. I should be giving you way more in the form of interviews, strategy and just sharing the things I’m learning everyday.
I decided to publicy make myself accountable and also ask for your help. Starting today I will be doing 30 podcasts over 30 days. I would also like to challenge you to contribute in a few ways:
- If you’re a podcaster – take the challenge with me. Start sharing more of your knowledge more often today.
- If you are an author, subject matter expert or are having success using social media for business, community building or charity — reach out to me and lets get you on the show TODAY.
- If you’re a listener, Twitter connection, LinkedIn associate or Facebook friend take a moment to listen to the podcasts, submit your questions, share what you like and let me know what you think. Heckle me if you feel like it!
That’s it. Thanks for coming along this journey with me. I hope you enjoy the show. (I am posting two podcasts today just to get a head start — come back in an hour!)
Shane Gibson
Chief Social Officer
Socialized! Ltd.
http://socialized.me
Blog: http://www.closingbigger.net
Got iTunes? Click here to subscribe our Podcast!: http://tinyurl.com/itunes-sales-podcast
Follow Shane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shanegibson
52 (non-automated) Ways to Increase Your Twitter Following
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Today’s social media podcast (direct download here) and blog post is on how to increase your Twitter following. These strategies aren’t just about the numbers but are proven strategies to attract the right followers. Here are 52 (non-automated) Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers:
- Have a custom background that tells what you do and who you are
- Have a complete bio with keywords that people search for
- When you follow people, find something to comment on or ask a relevant question to let them know you’re there and are conversational and community focused
- Make sure your Twitter profile is recognizable and real. Photos of celebrities, cartoons or logos tend to get less follow-backs than a profile with a real smiling human face.
- Follow people who recently followed your competitors
- Follow people who are complaining about your competitors
- Follow-back those that follow you. Many will un-follow after a period of time if you do not follow-back. Avoid following spammers, pornbots or anything that doesn’t resonate with your values or personal brand of course.
- Look at your competitors public lists and follow those that are relevant
- If you’re a local business use Twitter local search to find people talking about your business, industry or community and follow them (remember to interact)
- Search for relevant industry #hash tags ( ie #scrm #rechat #bieber or whatever your target market talks about) follow those people, then as per #3 – reach out and communicate.
- Use relevant #hash tags on topics, conferences, and issues and attract more followers
- Search Twellow.com for regional influencers and follow them
- Search Twellow.com for industry specific or topic specific people and follow them
- Register for Twellow.com and fill in the expanded profile and bio section, you will show up in more searches.
- Change your Twitter bio from time to time to attract new markets through search
- Put your Twitter address on your business card, brochures and any other printed material you give out
- Have a decal designed and put your Twitter address on the back of your laptop (I have had a number of new and interesting followers and it’s a good ice-breaker at coffee shops and airports)
- Finish all of your blog posts with a short bio that suggests people follow you in Twitter
- When making comments on blogs, many ask for a web address – give your Twitter address instead
- Have a prominent Twitter badge displayed on every page of your site and/or blog that links to your profile
- Let your Facebook and Linkedin connections know you’re on Twitter and ask them to connect.
- In Linkedin Groups (relevant ones) ask members as a topic discussion to share Twitter profiles with each other and suggest you also connect on Twitter.
- In a tasteful non-spam format let anyone on email lists, meetup groups YOU operate and other online groups that you’re on Twitter and would love to connect. This is often done best as a side-note or footnote in a regular Meetup update or email newsletter blast. Emails and updates titled “Follow me on Twitter” are generally considered bad form.
- Target regional (all regions your market to) influencers (not necessarily Twitter superstars) on Twitter and put them on a private list. Monitor their discussions and updates and pro-actively have relevant discussions, RT (Re-Tweet or Share) their updates and promote things they are promoting. After a period of time they will take notice, often following you and even sharing your content with their network.
- Follow anyone who retweets your content and thank them (except of course spambots)
- Use backtweets.com to find out who is linking to sites of interest or competitor sites. Follow those people and apply #3 again.
- Host a #Tweetup in your community or at a conference.
- Attend #Tweetups in your community (What is a Tweetup? Watch Here)
- If you can type fast and well offer to Liveblog and live tweet an event
- Guest blog on key sites
- Write for magazines, newspapers (online or print) and get your Twitter ID into the footer.
- Start a Twitter Tribe. A group of non-competing people who Tweet each others content. This can be formal or informal but all members usually benefit from increased Klout, reach and followers. (not to mention blog traffic)
- Make sure your Twitter handle is on all relevant Keynote or PowerPoint presentations.
- At the beginning of any public presentation let everyone know it’s okay to get out their smartphones and Tweet to the world.
- If you sell packaged goods or products get your Twitter handle on those packages!
- Have contests rewarding those who Tweet about you, keep it simple and don’t make following mandatory
- If you have a physical business location or retail store/restaurant/lounge/pub etc. have a “We are social” poster that shares your social site URLS (Don’t just use the logos)
- Use QR codes in print materials and on presentations that Link to your Twitter account or a page with all of your social ID’s [This one will take you to my Google Profile]
- Put your Twitter handle on your nametag at Meetups and conferences
- Put your Twitter handle on your contact info for your VCard, Bump application (for Iphone) etc.
- Link to your Twitter account at the beginning of any video descriptions on YouTube, Vimeo Etc.
- If you do a podcast or produce video put it on your splash page or mention it in your intro and extro.
- Create public Twitter lists of great people in specific industry or interest segments. They will often follow you back as a result
- Tweet to different time zones. I typically Tweet between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm on weekdays. That means I miss showing up in a lot of searches on Twitter during my off hours. To appeal to markets like India or Europe I schedule Tweets in Hootsuite to be posted while I’m sleeping. I also devote a night a month to staying up late and chatting with my buddies in India, South Africa and Europe. This conversation also increases followers.
- Using local search start conversations with people in your immediate area who share things of interest. It doesn’t have to be about business, it could be a common interest in art, hiking, food etc. This will often result in a follow-back.
- Reply quickly. Often people will follow us, then ask a question or make a comment. To build rapport and maintain momentum respond and interact as soon as possible. These means checking Twitter more than once a day and taking time to respond in a personal authentic way. When we ignore people’s questions or take too long to reply they may unfollow or never follow us in protest.
- “Follow me on Twitter” with a link in your email signature
- You can custom program “Tweet-this” buttons to include your Twitter address in the title of the Tweet (when people click on the button). This makes it easier to find your fans and gets your Twitter handle more exposure online.
- Follow the 90/10 rule. Twitter is about engagement, people who might follow you and only see marketing links and no-conversation will most likely think you’re not watching or don’t care about what they say. Keep your stream about community, conversation and connection 90% of the time and Tweet about business, blogs, marketing etc. 10% of the time.
- Follow people who retweet your competitors or content similar to the content you produce and once again apply step 3.
- Create and share awesome, unique content via Twitter tips, links to blogs, videos etc. This will get retweeted, shared and increase your following
- Pay it forward. Get your friends, clients, staff and associates on Twitter and coach on how to use Twitter. They can become your biggest allies and fans.
Social CRM is Really About Strategy Not Tools #SCRM
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Today’s social media podcast (direct download here) is focused on social customer relationship management. Social SCRM (#SCRM on Twitter) is really where sales and social media form a nexus point with customer service, leadership and community. This of course is assuming we use the Social CRM for its intended purpose. Too many organizations fall in love with the tools but they should really be showing their customers and prospects that love. Here’s a great blog post that defines social crm well: “What is Social CRM?”
Monitoring conversations is great – but getting involved in the conversation and being a thought leader is where the true opportunity is. Having a Social CRM strategy is vital, we need to help our sales team understand how to socialize online. Today’s podcast talks about some of the pro-active components that should be included in that strategy.
Social Media Department versus a Socialized Business?
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As organizations push into the social media space many will start with a social media position, others will have a social media department within their company. This is a great initial step but there are pitfalls and down-sides to seeing social as separate from other business activities. Today’s podcast (direct download here) talks about the whether or not we should have dedicated social media silos or fully social companies.
In my opinion your end goal must be to fully socialize most of your departments from HR to sales, marketing and even the senior executives in the company. What are your thoughts?
17 Social Media Tips, Tweets and Lessons in 140 Characters or Fewer
This week I have been really thinking a lot about how companies are implementing social media. I tweet out social media tips each day and the past couple weeks of tweets have definitely been influenced by my thoughts on best practices, social media training, implementation and of course leadership. Some were tweeted while sitting in the airport in Calgary, some from Blenz Coffee in Vancouver and others while I was doing research online. These tweets represent my stream of consciousness over the past couple of weeks. Your feedback and additional thoughts on the topic would be greatly appreciated. Happy tweeting!
- Social Media Tip: free is great BUT charge for things, people will appreciate them more and you will attract a different market.
- Social Media Tip: Want to increase ROI? Have a well-trained sales team handling leads and inquiries. You still need to close the deal.
- Social Media Tip: LinkedIn is about trusted networks connecting with trusted networks. It’s not a “friending” game.
- Social Media Tip: Twitter is a marketing tool, networking tool, prospecting tool, research tool… it all depends on how you use/mis-use it
- Social Media Tip: Many marketers don’t see social media as a revolutionary tool but part of the marketing mix. It can be if it’s applied effectively. Innovate
- Social Media Tip: Having senior level buy-in is vital if you want to fully maximize your organization’s social media ROI.
- Social Media Tip: If the major conference you are going to doesn’t have a #hashtag or a tweetup start them both and make more connections.
- Social Media Tip: stakeholder engagement has it’s ebbs and flows, don’t be discourage, stick with the plan.
- Social Media Tip: People care more about other people than things or brands. Use social media to tell stories and humanize your business.
- Social Media Tip: Continually search for new social media platforms – they will expose you to new markets and business intelligence.
- Social Media Tip: human curators are more important than others. People are trying to sort through all of the noise.
- Social Media Tip: Consistency is important but being relevant and adding value with your content is equally as important.
- Social Media Tip: If you can influence just one person negatively or positively you are a leader. Watch your intent.
- Social Media Tip: Stop trying to control your employees and own their tweets. Instead win their hearts and work on your culture.
- Social Media Tip: social media is evolving. Make sure your behaviors, tools, and rules of engagement keeping pace.
- Social Media Tip: There’s more to social media than content. Strategy, etiquette, listening, relevance are vital.
- Social Media Tip: Train your team and develop a socialized culture. Leverage your brand story through building community.
19 Social Media Tips in 140 Characters or Fewer
I just used this site called Tweet Scan to download all of my Twitter posts since I got onto Twitter. Truth be told — it only was able to recover a portion. Within it though I was able to dig up from my archive some social media tips that I have tweeted over the past year. I will share more over the next couple of weeks but here’s 19 social media tips:
- Social Media Tip: You can tweet until you are blue in the face – until you develop intimacy you’re not maximizing your ROI
- Sales and Social Media Tip: sales and social media are not longer two separate processes or activities.
- Social Media Tip: Before responding to your critics look at their social graph. Their context is as important as their comments.
- Social Media Tip: Nothing happens until someone tweets something.
- Social Media Tip: Titles that help you lose credibility in social media: certified, guru, ninja, rockstar, expert #behumble
- Social Media Tip: Stay curious and you will stay current.
- Social Media Tip: engagement starts with genuine sincere empathy and intent
- Social Media Tip: Listening is not enough. Responding is not enough. Adding value constantly builds your brand.
- Social Media Tip: Have an integrated marketing plan that includes social media. All media work better augmented.
- Social Media Tip: Commit to your brand, it’s a promise. Constant changing and redirection confuses your customers.
- Social Media Tip: It only takes two to make a tribe, and it takes a whole tribe to make a leader.
- Social Media Tip: Only the community can ordain us a leader. Titles like Expert, Thought Leader or Guru aren’t ones we give ourselves.
- Social Media Tip: evolving with your market is key, but growth can also be painful and challenging. Be prepared.
- Social Media Tip: Being transparent has it’s downsides, make sure you can walk your talk. You’re always on stage.
- Social Media Tip: Leadership is about vision and influence. Those with a vision bigger than themselves will have the most influence.
- Social Media Tip: You dont have to like or use every tool to be successful.
- Social Media Tip: Invest in training all of your staff in social media tools and principles. Social media belongs to everyone
- Social Media Tip: Observe expected etiquette as you move between groups or discussions…even on the same network.
- Social Media Tip: Leadership is also not about followers. Leadership is about influence, trust, and action.
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