Social media steps out of the echo chamber

I only have time to attend a handful of conferences each year. Its often difficult to determine which are the best conferences to attend. You have to balance up the cost and the potential information reward for each conference.

Social media conferences are even harder to pick. Over the last 3 years I have attended quite a few social media conferences and events but the lingering impression I often have after each event is that the conference was preaching to the converted. Its been an increasing dilemma in the social media world….there are those who “get it” and those that don’t (yet). At most events I’ve attended the audience already “get it”.

Of course its great to have enthusiastic participants at your social media event, but it’d be a lot more valuable to the noise extended beyond the social media echo chamber to reach the people we’d really love to see “joining the conversation”…Ie leading corporate marketers.

That’s why I’m excited to be attending the iStrategy 2010 conference in Sydney in November. Here’s a social media conference that is very deliberately addressing marketing professionals from leading Australian organisations with the aim of “Bridging the gap in Social Media Marketing”.

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In the past five years social media has snowballed to become a dominant force in media and marketing. Here in Australia we now spend more time online,  17.6 hours per week , than with any other media. Astoundingly, Australia leads the world in social media consumption averaging 6 hrs 52mins per person per month.

advertising must adapt to the new social media environment

So it is fair to say that social media is now having a significant impact on how people receive information and how they consume marketing.

Social media finally brings “people” into the marketing equation. Its possible to actually develop real relationships with consumers rather than just broadcast messages to them.

Bob MacDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble, one of the world’s leading advertisers recently said,

What I would like to have is a one-on-one relationship with seven billion people in the world and be able to customize offerings for those seven billion people. Digital allows that relationship.

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Social media is like golf

Last night at the New Institute meeting in Newcastle we had a great discussion about the benefits of social media in various walks of life. During the Q&A session at the end of the night came some questions about how people conduct themselves online and the potential risks.

The discussion prompted me to compare social media to golf.

My father has been a passionate golfer most of his life and has begun many a business deal on the golf course. He has told me repeatedly that golf provides a great insight into a person’s character. On the golf-course a person’s manners, etiquette, honesty and temperament are quickly revealed. He says the way a potential business partner conducts himself in a round of golf gives him an idea of how they will conduct themselves in business, and whether he wants to do business with them.

The same can be said about social media. The way people conduct themselves online provides a great insight into the person.

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Up until now I have never really thought about LinkedIn as an inbound marketing tool. As a business owner, not someone considering a new career anytime soon, I have been a fairly passive member of LinkedIn. However after attending Social Media Club Sydney’s presentation last night I think I might have to take a fresh look at it as it may actually be a valuable inbound marketing tool for corporate marketers.

Michael Field, a Sydney-based marketing consultant, was second speaker for the night, outlining how LinkedIn is an amazing inbound marketing tool for his business and his biggest source of enquiries. Suddenly I was very interested in LinkedIn.

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Meet the future of television, where broadcast TV and social media converge via the iPad. This video shows how the iPad can become a remote for your television viewing while also allowing you to share your viewing with friends. If you’re not convinced the television industry isn’t heading for major major change then this might convince you.

I originally saw this video on Mumbrella and tweeted out a link to it that generated big response because its just so interesting. So I thought I’d “file it away” here too.

A friend of mine is organising his high school reunion using the Posterous blogging platform. He’s hoping that everyone will be able find and follow the information, and start a bit of a dialogue in the lead-up to the party.

If you’re interested in the Kotara High School Reunion 1983 then check out the site. It has some funny posts already that clearly set the tone for the event.

Source: Adnews

Australia has the second highest social media penetration in Asia Pacific region (89.6%) with Facebook the number one site, according to new figures from comScore.

Australia fell just behind the Phillipines for social media penetration (90%) with internet users averaging 21 visits in February 2010 at 3.8 hours per visitor.

The report into social networking activity across the Asia-Pacific region – excluding China – found half (50.8%) of the total online population in the region visited a social networking site in February, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors.

Facebook.com was ranked as the top social network across most regional markets including Australia, however the site was pipped to the top spot by Orkut in India, Mixi.jp in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Wretch.cc in Taiwan.

Across the region internet users averaged 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month and visited the category an average of 15 times.

“While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing Web activities in the world, its dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for Asia Pacific.

“In some markets, such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, social networking is one of the most popular Web activities reaching nearly 90% of the entire Internet population, while other markets report less PC-based social networking penetration, which can often be attributed to the high propensity to engage in social networking via mobile devices in these markets.”

During February 2010, more than 9,200 participants joined ‘FebuSave’, a month-long national savings campaign created by ANZ to encourage Australian women to develop a regular savings habit. It was part of an innovative social media campaign that delivered some impressive results.

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY
Client: ANZ Customer Segmentation
Campaign: FebuSave
Time Period: Mid December 2009 – Mid March 2010

ANZ launched a new nationwide campaign to encourage women to develop a regular savings habit following research that found 53% of women do not save money on a regular basis.

Research commissioned by ANZ into the savings habits of women found:
• One in five women surveyed said they typically spend all their pay packet or regularly dip into their savings for basic living expenses.
• More than half (58%) have less than $5,000 in savings and 33% less than $1,000.
• 51% of women would last less than three months on their current savings if they lost their job and still had to pay their usual bills.

In an effort to raise awareness of these issues in the community and encourage Australian women to set financial goals and take action towards achieving them, ANZ created ‘FebuSave’ – a month-long savings initiative that ran from 1st to 28th February 2010.

At the end of the month, FebuSave participants reported back on how they performed against their savings goal, with three ‘FebuSave’ participants being rewarded with $5,000 in an ANZ savings account of their choice.

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Coming soon, Age of Conversation 3

The latest edition of the exciting collaborative Age of Conversation marketing book series is about to go on sale with the release of “Age of Conversation 3: Its time to get busy” now at the publishers.

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have had the monumental task of compiling and editing the contributions of around 170 authors from around the world and now the book is close to release.

Very soon you will be able to purchase it directly from Amazon or a number of other online book stores. The new cover was designed by Chris Wilson. And the new website was created by the hard working team at Sticky.

There are some extremely talented marketers contributing this book so I can’t wait to read it myself. Stay tuned for more announcements soon, but in the meantime you can meet the authors:

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Media Hunter is now an iPhone app

We’ve been experimenting with iPhone apps a bit lately here at Sticky. Last week we launched GetSticky as an iPhone app and now the Media Hunter version is live too. Its all thanks to the guys at MotherApp.

Once again, its not earth-shatteringly amazing, its just another way to follow this blog and a fun experiment for us in the emerging world of apps. We do this so we can explore how they might be able to work for our clients in the future. And with the imminent release of the iSlate / iTablet we think the apps market is going to explode.

If you’d like to you can download the app here: http://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/media-hunter/id351983688?mt=8

All reviews and downloads will be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy.