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9 Steps To Your Social Media Check-up

by Daria Steigman on February 2, 2011

social media, Independent Thinking, Steigman CommunicationsYour work is all around you. The reality in this age of spidered content and 24/7 WiFi is that other people can find out a lot about you really fast. And this holds true whether you’re online a little–or a lot.  Heck, I bet even people who live “off the grid” are finding themselves tagged in pictures on Facebook or otherwise showing up online. So doesn’t it make sense to know what’s there to be found when someone checks you out?

My latest Independent Thinking column provides guidance on where to look and what to look for when conducting your own social media check-up.

It also includes a book giveaway aimed at those of you new to social media. My friend and colleague Beth Schillaci has written Your Social Media Roadmap. It’s a workbook that takes you through the process of building a strategy and identifying what channels make sense for your business.

Book Contest Details

Want to win a free copy of Your Social Media Roadmap? Beth Schillaci has given me a signed copy of her book to give away here. Read the column, and then come back and leave a comment here on my blog about your social media goals for 2011 and what you hope to learn.

The best answer (judged by me) wins a copy of the book.

Photo by Ivan Walsh (Flickr).

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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5 Reasons Businesses Use Social Media

by Daria Steigman on November 15, 2010

State of Social Media for Business | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcSo why are businesses using social media?

According to the State of Social Media for Business, the top goals for companies are branding and community. Rounding out the top five are increasing Web site traffic (hmm, I hope that’s not really an end in itself), identifying and addressing consumer needs, and business development.

The report identifies eight trends in business use of social media–from who is using it to how effective companies think their efforts have been.

Social Media Outposts

Twitter, Facebook | Businesses Using Key Social Media Platforms | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llc

The report also looks at where companies are focusing their attention. Not surprisingly, Facebook and Twitter lead the list. But are their customers, clients, and prospects hanging out there? And do most businesses even know the answer?

The evidence suggests they don’t.

Clued In or Clueless?

Two things really stood out for me:

  • only 14.7 percent of companies are measuring their social media efforts; and (perhaps not coincidentally)
  • only 14.2 percent of companies say their strategies are very effective.

What makes the statistics particularly interesting is that survey respondents self-selected. As a result, the numbers reflect companies that are more knowledgeable about and more inclined to use  social media. That so few of these have adopted measurable strategies means there’s still a long way to go to make businesses truly social.

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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RockMelt: First Impressions

by Daria Steigman on November 10, 2010

RockMelt Browser | Social Media | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcRockMelt, unveiled yesterday, touts itself as a social browser “designed around you and how you use the Web.” And it might be the future — but the future, in this case, isn’t now.

1. You have to “log in” via Facebook to use the browser (see #2), which is designed to make your data portable and your usage seamless. Okay, but I can already access my social graph and more via Chrome or any other browser–not to mention TweetDeck (see #3).

2. RockMelt is built around Facebook. It’s the way you log in, request a beta invite, and issue invitations to your friends. A list of your friends populates the left-hand corner. The problem for me is that Facebook isn’t the center of my online network. I think RockMelt might be a lot more valuable if it let me pick my primary network.

3. I’m used to streams, and RockMelt’s interface feels static in comparison to the dashboard, real-time model I’m grown accustomed to with TweetDeck. Plus I can now pull in multiple streams and platforms at once (including Facebook and LinkedIn).

On its blog, RockMelt calls its product “still a baby… but we’re most excited about what it will grow into.” I think RockMelt may well be onto something, so I’m going to keep an eye on it. But, for now, I’ll access my social graph elsewhere. Meanwhile, Robert Scoble has an interesting analysis over on his blog.

Have you tested RockMelt. If so, what are your first impressions?

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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What is True “Social Media Integration”?

by Daria Steigman on November 1, 2010

Social Media, Business, Web | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcAccording to Jeremiah Owyang, true social media integration doesn’t exist.

In a fascinating keynote speech at the MarketingProfs B2B Conference last week, Owyang walked through an 8-step roadmap for integrating social media and your (corporate) Web site. The aim is to identify where you are now, where you want to be, and to move slowly and strategically forward.

The framework starts from the point of no integration and moves toward an ideal:

  1. Do nothing (while the conversation is happening around you in other platforms).
  2. Link outward from your Web site (i.e., send traffic away with links such as “follow us on Twitter” or “follow us on Facebook“).
  3. Link away, but encourage sharing (i.e., “I’m now following Company X on Twitter,” which offers some social endorsement).
  4. Extend your brand in social channels (i.e., mirror your corporate brand experience elsewhere, a.k.a. “fishing where the fish are”).
  5. Aggregate the conversation on your Web site. (Think Skittles, which centralized discussions on its site. The downside, of course, is loss of control.)
  6. Use social log-ins (i.e., Facebook Connect or Twitter Connect. Think H&R Block. While this may increase sign-ups, you lose the opportunity to collect e-mail addresses and other key data.)
  7. Social log-in triggers sharing (creating a social or interactive experience that enables users to stay on the site while interacting with both the company and their friends/peers, and to recruit other people into the social network. The challenge is that this requires planning, the right technology, a solid campaign strategy, and extensive resources.) Pepsi Refresh, for example, lets people vote for their favorite ideas and share them with friends on Twitter and Facebook. Dell IdeaStorm triggers consumers to recruit friends to vote for their ideas.
  8. Seamless integration (the idea that you won’t be able to tell the difference between your Web site and a social site).

Owyang said that seamless integration requires a fundamental change that we’re not yet ready for. “The idea of sending traffic to a .com is an old way of doing things,” said Owyang. In the future, “you’ll send traffic to people and the networks.” He also suggested that the future Web will be sorted around people and contextual situations (not URLs).

Pretty heady stuff. I’m still somewhere between Step 2 and Step 4. Where are you, and where do you want to be?

Photo by ming1967 (Flickr).

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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Social Media Rules, Wrongs, and Beating Ourselves Up

by Daria Steigman on October 12, 2010

We need to stop beating ourselves up.

There seem to be two big trends among social media proponents these days:

  • Beating up on people and companies alike for using social media “wrong.”
  • Beating up on ourselves.

This post deals with a little of both.

First, though, some great food for thought to set some context. Over on his blog, Stowe Boyd pointed to this amazing presentation by Google researcher Paul Adams that looks at people’s communities and the disconnects between our various networks and how online platforms have typically been designed. It’s really smart stuff, and worth going through.

The Real Life Social Network v2

This presentation is particularly relevant to our ongoing efforts to define the boundaries of our various networks. Who should I connect to on LinkedIn? Is it okay if I don’t friend you on Facebook? Will people think I am vouching for you just because we’re connected somewhere in cyberspace?

We’re trying to create  ”rules” without having any rule book.

Ari Herzog wrote a very moving post about his struggle to set parameters. He said, in part:

I want to say I am sorry for reading your messages and requests to be my friend, for me to join your networks and for you to join mine. You wanted me to share myself with you on a deeper level outside of this blog and you invited me into your inner sanctum–and I said no.

That conversation continued here. It’s worth reading in full–including the comments–as it’s clear that this discussion is going to go on for a long time.

Here’s my bottom line: It doesn’t matter if your network is more (or less) exclusive than mine. There isn’t a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all community. I’ll hang out where it makes sense for me and evolve the parameters over time just as my business might shift strategies and add or subtract services as market conditions change.

So can we agree to stop beating ourselves up as we work on our rules?

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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