Apr11

More than the Financial to be Successful: Six Definitions of Success Social Media Engagement - TheSocialMediaLearningLab

Reveln Social Business is NOW posting to The Social Media Learning Lab and curating via the ScoopIt "Social Media Learning Lab" curation stream.

From today's post:

As in life, it is always more than just about the money, although the money is certainly important.

photo by RambergMediaImages via flickr.com

Going beyond the financial, Chris Street's post in Social Media Today, gives a full perspective of how social media engagement really works.

There is a magic blend of concrete and intangibles including the quote below:

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Enjoyable... intangible, ...[and] what social media really is: a personal, open, transparent experience.

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Excerpt:

We all want to see some kind of return on our time, energy and efforts online, although many of us have different definitions of what constitutes a beneficial result from social media marketing.

For me, there are six key definitions of successful social media engagement – all are affordable, achievable and available.

via socialmediatoday.com

Chris highlighted these 6 factors, to which I've added my comments:

Financial - certainly concrete, the every present Return on Investment goal.

Emotional - intangible, what advertising, and buying is about

Measurable - concrete, however just because you can, doesn't mean you should. In my current read, How to Measure Anything, good measures can make a big difference. Complex measures for measurements sake are a distraction.

Repeatable - concrete, for which Chris emphasizes consistency, which is how followings are built.

Enjoyable - intangible, but highly central to successful social media work. Chris chose this as last, but not least, and provides a smart perspective and excellent ending frame to what social media really is: a personal, open, transparent experience.

Read Chris's full post here for his helpful definitions.

via socialmedialearnlab.com

Mar06

Our current focus: The Social Media Learning Lab

We've moved! We are now using the new Social Media Learning Lab and have a brand new look.

Here's a taste of what we have going there:

All the major platforms are there, with free instructions and tips:

Because social media is more relevant for small business than ever before:

And we have a number of local folks who are interested in our upcoming live event, including this snapshot and video testimonial from Dr. Diana Wong:

Video Testimonial, YouTube on the Social Media Learning Label channel here:

via youtube.com

Find out more by visiting us here or asking to join our free LinkedIn Open Group here.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Deb, Ron, Rick

Jan31

The Big Ones are Learning: P&G CEO To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To Advertise On Facebook

via businessinsider.com

Yes, even innovative Proctor & Gamble is learning from itself, sort of.

Excerpted:

P&G's staggering ad budget has become a bit of an issue among analysts. On the call, McDonald and his crew were asked about ad costs three different times. McDonald eventually said:

As we've said historically, the 9% to 11% range [for advertising as a percentage of sales] has been what we have spent. Actually, I believe that over time, we will see the increase in the cost of advertising moderate. There are just so many different media available today and we're quickly moving more and more of our businesses into digital.

In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that the return on investment of the advertising, when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient.

One example is our Old Spice campaign, where we had 1.8 billion free impressions... So while there may be pressure on advertising, particularly in the United States...during the year of a presidential election, there are mitigating factors like the plethora of media available.

P&G's Old Spice campaign is a textbook example of what the entire company should be doing. The problem is that the entire company isn't doing it. Check out Mr. Clean's Twitter stream, for instance. Oh, right—he doesn't have one.

Jan27

Social, Peer Learning & Curation > Double Header with Deb, JT and Beth, Robin| Scoop.it

via vimeo.com

The text below is "scooped" via a new curation tool that I use for several key channels I follow.

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Organizing and aggregating is not curating...

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My video mentions Beth and Robin, who are "scooped" right next door on my Social, Peer Learning & Curationcuration newsletter via scoop.it

Excerpted from my Social Media Learning Lab curation stream:

A choice in social media for business today is blogging or curation, or some of both, or developing a hybrid. How do you make smart choices among traditional and the newest social media tools?

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There is great content out there but what happens when you can't work with it because there is just too much?

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Curation to deal with Social Media Overload: It's a theme in my new, tailored video presented this month to the local Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing, @LA2M group, focusing on the differences between blogging and curation.

Curation is not filtering, it's not aggregating, it's functioning as a librarian of current and classic content, which allows others into the curation process curate with you, to help avoid "filter bubble" syndrome. ScoopIt allows this function as well.

I also mention in my video, both Beth Kanter, a respected blogger in non-profit circles, and Robin Good, who was just interviewed by Beth. This seems to be a prescient convergence to me.

LA2M also archives most of their presentation, so my presentation partner, JT, has his slides and our UStream video archived here, so you can access the full presentation.

~ Deb

via scoop.it

Jan24

Nickelback & McDonald's - Dealing with Haters & Negative Social Tweets on Twitter | Trending Now - Yahoo! News

photo via news.yahoo.com

The band, Nickleback comes out strong in response to negative publicity and hater tweets.

Handling social media including negative twitter tweets is an art as well as a digitally fueled industry. Nickleback finessed negative social media and turned new attention to their music.

Negative AND positive reviews can add authenticity and ramp up selling power to services and products. The opposite can also happen, via negative comments than run a social media campaign off the rails, via the McDonald's example below.

Excerpted:

At the end of last year, people were petitioning to have the Canadian rock band Nickelback replaced as the headlining performance at the Detroit Lions vs. the Green Bay Packers Thanksgiving Day game.

Nickelback still performed.

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"You ruin my day when I hear your music." Nickelback replied, "How else could we cause you so much torment? So worth it."

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People have taken to Twitter to express their disdain with the band. The difference now is that the band or whoever runs the band's Twitter account is replying to the negative comments.

One person tweeted "You ruin my day when I hear your music." Nickelback replied, "How else could we cause you so much torment? So worth it."

When another person tweeted, "Nickelback makes me want to chop my ears off," the band responded "Did you do it yet? What's the hold-up?"

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Even "American Idol" alumnus Daughtry got in on it, replying to Nickelback and calling it "hilarious."

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Even "American Idol" alumnus Daughtry got in on it, replying to Nickelback and calling it "hilarious." The band currently has more than 140,000 followers on Twitter.

So McDonald's decided to interact with its customers on Twitter, but the plan backfired -- badly. In a promotional campaign, McDonald's used #McDStories and #MeetTheFarmers hoping to have people reply with their positive McDonald's experiences.

However....

One person tweeted about his brother allegedly finding a fingernail in his fries. Another person tweeted about not liking the food, saying, "More than half a year since last McTerrible McFattening McMeal. I don't McMiss the McFood McOne McBit."

Within two hours, McDonald's pulled the hashtag. (DN: That probably means they pulled the promoted, for fee, tweet with a hashtag.)

Other company's mishaps with hashtags.

The Australian airline tried to use #QantasLuxury, but people responded with their horrible flying experiences.

Kraft's Macaroni & Cheese became a trending topic when people accused Kraft of using bovine growth hormone in its cheese.

via news.yahoo.com

Dec29

Facebook Hoaxes & Timeline Clean-Up, Blogging & Curation > Triple Play

I have two things to share with you on this post: 1) dealing with Facebook and other social media hoaxes and

2) news on our upcoming dual themed program (free) on curation & blogging:

Facebook Hoaxes:

If you re-post this I will do the same for you.

Oh yeah. A problem phrase right there, among we friends...

First, how to deal with those block text warnings that your friends may be posting in your status such as the current one having to do with the new Facebook timeline & ticker. (Don't worry, I've been taken in by several of these myself.)

Photo: Always learning, in school, with social media changes. First day of kindergarten photo back in the day.

A current hoax just spotted today is, excerpted:

With the new 'FB timeline' on its way this week for EVERYONE (true)

Please do both of us a favor: Hover over my name above. In a few seconds you'll see a box that says "Subscribed."   (true)

Hover over that, then go to "Comments and Likes" ...   (true)

...everyone to see, but MOST IMPORTANTLY it LIMITS HACKERS from invading our profiles.    (dubious, erroneous)

If you re-post this I will do the same for you. (dubious, usual personalized text, copied again and again)

You'll know I've acknowledged you because if you tell me that you've done it, I'll 'like' it.. :o)     (dubious, play on relationships)

Paraphrasing ThatsNonsense.com & a referral to this site via Hoax-Slayer on Facebook:

The hoax is inaccurate, and it also has nothing to do with the Timeline.

The message is directed at the Facebook ticker (sidebar) and has nothing to do with the timeline.

(From me) ANYTHING is hackable, folks. Follow good security practices and you won't get hacked. It's the usual fear-mongering here.

Question anything that includes "if you re-post this..." The phrase is a HOAX clue.

Facebook is a perfect platform for starting and spreading viral rumours.

Here's the link for the Facebook hoax info.

For the next time:

How I like to deal with possible social media hoaxes, chain letters, suspicious posts such as

add your name to the top of this list, and get the best apps, recipes, quilt square collection,

unless you repost this...demons & bad luck will descend on you within 5 days...

is by doing a simple Google search on key words, such as with this current hoax, use:

Facebook
"if you repost this" (using quotes to capture a key phrase)
timeline
hover
2011 (use year to avoid dated info)
(option to use hoax, spam, etc.)

If you want to clean up your Facebook ticker, timeline and update things that you may find not useful, there are helpful guides / blog posts, not hoaxes that can help you do that:

Guide: How to Clean Up the New Facebook

New_facebook_guide_ticker_cleanup_snapshot_2012

NEWS:

JT Pederson and I will be presenting locally at Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing probably in February (we are attempting to reschedule the date for next week.)

It's about our Lessons Learned in blogging and the newer Curation tools I've been using:

More about the LA2M program and watching it on-line if you cannot attend is here.

Where I'm at these days, including my curation newsletters:

Leadership: www.Reveln.com
LinkedIn: Deborah Nystrom

Curating:

Need to check over your security practices? I've posted some information here as a sample:

6 Steps to Setting Facebook Privacy Boundaries, Where to set the Line? | ProfHacker & Chronicle of Higher Education

Facebook tightens security with HTTPS, remote logouts - Guards against Firesheeping | Digital Trends

Do you have a view, comment or thought about your own learning about social media hoaxes and using new social media tools? Leave a comment. I'll be in touch right here.

Thanks for stopping by! ~ Deb

Photo credit: Deb Nystrom. More photos on Flickr.com

Dec07

Social Business, What it ISN'T: Have the Mindset Before Putting It In Motion | Blanchard & Brito

It's about BELIEFS... And those can be highly resistant to change.

The organization development side of me flags this helpful post as injecting some new social smarts into your culture and the leaders who help create and maintain it.

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Social is something you are, not something you do. ~ Olivier Blanchard

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It's a LOT of slides, 51 in total by Olivier Blanchard. Michael Brito has helpfully excerpted the presentation including a key feature of what ISN'T social business being about as important as what IT IS. ~ Deb

Excerpted:

A change in behavior happens only after we change the way we think.

Olivier first describes what a social business isn’t.

Having a social media presence isn’t a social business

Having digital content doesn’t make you a social business

Chasing followers doesn’t make you a social business

And, then he explains the core principles of social business:

Social is ...a core business philosophy

Social must be a mindset before it can become an operational model

A CEO who doesn’t care about creating a social company will not accidentally create one

Social is something you are, not something you do

And that’s just the first 10 or so slides. These are gold and I highly recommend spending time and extracting the insights. The key takeaway for me is that social business absolutely requires a culture shift. One company that is doing that today is clearly IBM.

via slideshare.net

Or go to:

Principles of a Social Business Intro 7DEE

Olivier Blanchard

via britopian.com

Nov27

The Science of Social Timing, AND the Art of It | Reveln & KissMetrics

The ever evolving world of social media IS, as this helpful blog series attests, an art & a science.

On the art side, it is about accessing empathic connections with customers, sensing the field in a creative way about what innovations may be next, affecting your business.

A nugget that captures the art & science is via KissMetrics and their great infographic:

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...crafting targeted social messages that captures awareness, builds a following, and inspires sharing is a skill that takes time and trial master. ~ via KissMetrics

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KissMetrics has a great series on the pros & cons of when it is best to post. The elegance of the clear infographic series by this organization show how far social media has evolved in the last year.

Enjoy the great data below and, as always, do share your experience with social media. The conversation is the learning!

KissMetrics Infographic:

via blog.kissmetrics.com

As for my current focus with social media, I'm focusing on curation, which is better fit for my collection tendencies. I run several curation streams including:

Stop on by to see the new ScoopIt curation tool in action.

With with the changes in Posterous (mini-blogging), I've noticed my own penchant to curate vs. blog, which I do in full, only monthly, on Reveln.com, my data (science) and art (to create & share value) is heading toward curation.

~ Deb

Oct23

4 Keys to Interaction on Facebook? | Jeffbullas & Reveln Social Business

Jeff Bullas has been investigating the new Facebook to help us figure out how to get the most traction for your time and energy there.

Here's a few highlights of his helpful research:

Excerpted:

"Insights" on Content:

There is a new version of Facebook “Insights” analytics tool, that allows you to monitor and measure in more depth, the effect of different post and content publishing, to see what does and doesn’t resonate with your fans.

Especially helpful is Jeff's take on four key areas of Insights:

1.Reach

Unique people who have seen the post for 28 days after you have published the post

2.Engaged Users

Unique people who have engaged with your post (28 days since posting).

3.Talking About This

Unique people who have created a “story” from your page post, via liking the post, commenting, sharing, etc.

4. Virality

Unique people who have created a “story” from your page post as a percentage...

More via jeffbullas.com

Oct11

2011 Major Social Media Platform Statistics [INFOGRAPHIC] | Ken Burbary's Lifestream

Here's some current statistics on the continuing big players in social media, in business, in our personal space, in the world and here to stay in our lives.

Thanks to digital strategist, Ken Burbary, for passing this along.

via kenburbary.posterous.com

Ken, Ernst & Young, is sharing more gold from a variety of sources from his perspective as a digital strategist.

Stay tuned on demographics by age, including how the 50+ age group is fully embracing social media. I will add perspective on what is happening with age demongraphics, as of 2011, as the next post.