By Lance Concannon, UK social media lead at Text 100

Speak to any senior corporate comms exec about the barriers that prevent them from using social media more in their organisation, and I guarantee that the issue of ‘risk’ will usually come close to the top of the list. This raises a couple of questions; what exactly are the risks posed by social media, and how can we negate, or at least mitigate, them?

What if people say bad things about our brand?

People often think that creating social media channels for the brand will add fuel to the fire of criticism, but that really doesn’t make any sense. Almost all brands have detractors, and social media makes it easier than ever for those detractors to share their opinions online and there’s not a lot you can do to stop that.

By participating in social media itself, your brand can at least provide those detractors with the opportunity to come to you with their grievances so that they can be dealt with in a constructive manner. If people are going to say bad things about your company, wouldn’t it be better for them to say those things in a place which you can easily monitor and manage, rather than some other website where you have absolutely no control?
So in this instance, social media does not introduce risk, but enables businesses to manage risk which already exists.

What if our own people run out of control?

In most large organisations there’s a very good chance that employees are already talking about the company in social media in either a semi-official or completely unsanctioned manner. Maybe they’ve set up social media profiles for the brand under their own steam with the best of intentions but haven’t coordinated this activity with the comms department and are not following best practice.

Or maybe disgruntled are employees complaining about the company in channels like Twitter, blogs, Facebook and discussion forums. Perhaps others are trying to be helpful by responding to consumer comments online, but they’re sharing incorrect information or using the wrong messaging.

You manage all of this through robust policies and training.

First of all ensure that you have clear policies in place for how staff are allowed to discuss the company and their jobs in social media; publish guidelines that enable and encourage staff to participate in these channels, but make the boundaries clear and explain why those boundaries have to exist. It should go without saying but you need to make sure that all staff are aware of the guidelines, from the interns all the way up to the directors.

Within any organisation there are going to be social champions – the kind of people who have a natural urge to go online and talk about the business and their work. Find out who these people are, because they are a powerful asset, and give them the training and encouragement they need to act as online brand ambassadors.

What if we get it wrong and end up with egg on our faces?

This fear is not completely without foundation. For all the talk of businesses needing to ‘take risks and experiment’ in social media, the industry loves to trumpet stories about big brands getting social media wrong. If experimentation and risk taking is to be encouraged, then perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more supportive when brands make mistakes in these channels.

The simple truth is that even with the best intentions, sometime marketing campaigns and comms activities in social media can go awry in ways you hadn’t anticipated. This risk can be mitigated by careful planning and research; read case studies and learn from the experience of others to find out what’s worked well and what’s gone wrong in the past.

When you’ve planned out your activity, spend some time trying to pull it apart and pick holes in it. What could go wrong, how could people derail or hijack it, why might it fail? Obviously you can’t predict all potential outcomes, but at least if you’ve already thought about possibilities, no matter how improbable, you can be better prepared in case things don’t go as planned.

If possible, work with an agency which has plenty of experience in social media activity – but before you sign a contract, make sure you check their credentials to see if they’re really up to the task.

While there are certainly some risks involved in using social media as a communications platform for your business, they are far outweighed by the potential benefits. The biggest risk of social media is being left behind by your competitors if you fail to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.

About the Author
Lance is the social media lead for Text 100 UK, where he focuses on helping clients to build better relationships with their audiences through digital and social media channels.

He has worked in digital PR since 2005, developing and executing social media communications activities for world leading brands such as IBM, AMD, Sony Electronics, and Oracle. Prior to this he worked as a technology journalist for over a decade, most recently contributing to Internet Magazine at EMAP as the title’s technical editor for four years.

Lance contributes to the Text 100 UK blog and Text 100 Hypertext blog  discussing emerging and mainstream communications trends and how they are being embraced, challenged and championed. You can also follow Lance on Twitter here.

The SMWF team are excited to announce that the fourth annual SMWF Europe event will be taking place on 27^th and 28^th March at Olympia in London. This year’s show is your chance to experience a packed agenda of interactive workshops, combined with unique networking opportunities, a bustling exhibition space and much more…

New for 2012 we have introduced an updated show format, delivering 6 individual conference tracks, each examining the latest strategies and cutting edge technologies across specifically focussed areas of social media marketing.

One workshop pass will get you access to all the tracks, detailed below, as an event delegate you will be able to mix and match your chosen session, creating your own agenda during the 2 day show. You also gain full access to the exhibition & official SMWF party.    Book your pass here today!

SMWF tracks explained…

This 2 day track forms is the backbone of the SMWF agenda; providing insight into how to strategically benefit from the accelerating growth of social media. Teaching subtle  techniques and approaches which can transform social media from a lip-service add-on, to the cornerstone of your co-ordinated communications strategy.

Whether you have an existing mobile strategy or are in the process of formulating one, the SMWF Mobile Marketing track will deliver a wealth of practical advice around using mobile social media, using apps to promote your business, integrating mobile into your existing marketing strategy, location based marketing and much more.

With the home entertainment landscape on the cusp of massive change, the race is on for operators, manufacturers and platform providers to grab their slice of this potentially lucrative new market. The track will explore the social aspect that is changing the way people interact with the media they consume as part of this new TV experience.

With the social media explosion changing the way customers and businesses interact, perhaps forever, the SMWF Social Business track will examine many of the fundamental issues and challenges you face as company culture is being forced to change and adapt to these new social operating systems.

The SMWF Social Shopping and ecommerce track will analyse how some retailers are truly harnessing the power of social media, allowing brands to create a new forum for conversation and interaction with their customers.

Delivered by our friends at MarketingTechNews.net, this track comprises a series of expert led marketing strategy workshops. It will equip you with many of the basic tools you need to begin planning and implementing your own integrated marketing strategy, tying in advice and insight around social media, SEO, branding, affiliate marketing, mobile, PR, blogging, content marketing, web-design and all manner of integrated marketing communications techniques.    To just attend this free to attend track register for your free expo pass here.

Look out for some exciting announcements about our speaker line up and agenda in the next few weeks!

We can’t wait to see you all again this year, keep an eye on the blog or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

We are pleased to have partnered with both the K West & The Hilton London Olympia to offer all SMWF visitors a discounted room rate for the 26th, 27th & 28th March 2012.

Only a limited number of rooms are available at each hotel, and the rate is only available until 24th February so book today to make sure you have somewhere to stay!

K-West Hotel
Richmond Way
London
W14 0AX

Room Rates:

Single occupancy £95 excluding vat & breakfast

Double or twin occupancy £109 excluding vat & breakfast

To book please contact Georgina Ainsworth on +44 (0) 20 8008 6605 quoting SMWF. Rates are available until the 24th Feb so book early to avoid disappointment, after this date hotels will need to be booked on best available rate.

Hilton London Olympia Hotel
380 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8NL

Room Rates:

Single occupancy £135.00 + VAT per room includes English Breakfast

Double Occupancy £145.00 + VAT per room includes English Breakfast

To secure your discounted room simply contact Agnieszka Stopa on +44 (0) 207 856 1902 or email agnieszka.stopa@hilton.com and quote SMWF before the 24th Feb. This rate will expire on the 24th Feb so book early to take advantage of the discounted rate.

Other Hotels Located Nearby:

Kensington Close Hotel
Wrights Lane, Kensington, London
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8008 6600
Best Available Rates from £99

By Christer Holloman author of ‘The Social Media MBA’ 

For how much longer will we call ‘smartphones’ just that and not simply ‘phones’? ‘Smart phones’ will be the de facto standard in a not too distance future (it’s already the case in certain clusters), the long name will eventually be made redundant. The same will now happen to the words ‘Social Media’.

My first modem was 14,400bps, later we got a 56k one. Today modem speed is pretty much irrelevant; the speed is usually determined by your ISP. My first PC CD-player was ‘2x speed’, we eventually upgraded to ‘16x speed’. Some years later manufactures stopped talking about CD-player speeds, it became irrelevant.

“2012 will be the year social media just becomes a part of everything we do.”

So for the exact same reasons as developments exemplified above, ‘social media’ will also disappear. For the companies that were early adopters, 2012 will be the year ‘social media’ just becomes a part of everything they do and this is why:

1) Social Media Fatigue

If you think of social media as a product life cycle, companies that adopted it early have experienced the launch, the growth and are now moving into a steady state, plateau or even fatigue phase. The new kid on the block is not so new anymore. If the company hasn’t seen any measureable success yet, perhaps due to poor a strategy and/or delivery, without a senior leader that can identify and address the issues, these kinds of organisations will realign their expectations and talk less and less about social media as a separate topic.

2) Social Media Departing From Marketing

There was a time when social media was the responsibility of the marketing department. Now we know that companies that adopt social media, and do it successfully, make it a way they do business across the whole company. As such it is the responsibility of every department; sales, customer service, product development, etc. Increasingly companies assign social media responsibility to a senior person whose sphere of influence covers multiple departments, such as the CIO. This empowers every department to incorporate social media in how they go about their business.

3) Social Media Coming Of Age

‘Social Media’ is a generational thing in the same way my parents still talk about ‘The Internet’. Ask any teenager about social media and you get a blank stare back; for them social media isn’t a set of tools, channels or even a topic of conversation. It’s something so intuitive they don’t need labels but rather just get on with it. The same is true for any modern organisation.

Companies that are still in the early stages of their social media adaptation will continue to separate out social media for a while longer but will eventually catch up.

For more ideas on how to ensure your approach to social media strategy development and delivery is up to date, check out: http://www.socialmedia-mba.com or join the debate at The Social Media MBA LinkedIn Group! 

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What others have said about ‘The Social Media MBA’:

Scott Monty, Head of Social Media, Ford Motor Company

“Holloman et al. provide a very suitable handbook for those who need more than the rah-rah social media talk. From strategy development to execution, with a look at case studies from major brands that are respected in the field of social media, this book will serve seasoned communications and marketing professionals who want to integrate today’s digital thinking into their teams’ efforts.”

Jamie Grenney, VP of Social Media & Online Video, salesforce.com

“Virtually every customer, partner, and employee is engaged on social channels, yet too many organizations have failed to reflect this shift. The Social Media MBA provides the strategy and real-world examples to help transform your company into a social enterprise.” 

Christer Holloman is the editor of the new book, The Social Media MBA: Your Competitive Edge in Social Media Strategy Development & Delivery (Published by Wiley). Christer is Head of Digital Product Development at The Times and The Sunday Times Newspaper.

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Wiley will be exhibiting for the fourth year running at this year’s Social Media World Forum in London. Their stand will feature a range of the latest books in social media and online marketing.  For more information on how to register for this year’s event please click here.

Following a landmark year for location based services, mobile marketers are looking towards 2012 as the year when location based technology will pervade many of the services available on users’ handsets.

Last year Foursquare reported that over 15 million users and 600,000 businesses had joined the platform, resulting in over a billion check-ins. Location technology is firmly on the radar for many leading brands, and makes up a key part of the agenda at SMWF Europe in London in March.

Last month Facebook confirmed it was stepping up its assault on the lucrative location-sharing market with the acquisition of Gowalla in early December, expected to close as a stand-alone service later this month.

The increasing spread of ever more sophisticated smartphone handsets, combined with the continuing development of apps powered by geolocation technology, like that from companies like Navteq, is crucial to this developing trend, providing a whole new angle of relevance for marketers and brands.

Navteq, one of the leading providers of location data for developers, said:

“Hyper-local mobile advertising can target consumers in a non-intrusive way when they are near a merchant’s location and then guide them to the front door. This effectively transforms mobile into a direct response channel for retail, restaurants, cinemas, petrol stations, and any business that benefits from getting consumers in the door.”

Savvy marketers are now using location-based technology to reach potential customers in the immediate vicinity. Business listings on services like Foursquare, Loopt, Brightkite, and Google Places have become crucial weapons in the marketing arsenal as the industry waits for this trend to explode across the world.

The rise of social check-in apps has added a new dimension to the trend, using reward, word of mouth recommendation and viral to directly influence peoples’ purchasing behaviour. They allow businesses to interact directly with customers, creating communities with an added level of engagement based in real-world behaviours.

This year’s Social Media World Forum Europe will be looking in-depth at location based marketing, covering topics including:

• Harnessing the power of mobile data through location based apps – how to turn location information into consumer engagement?

• Location triggered mobile couponing / deals opportunities for large brands and local businesses

• Analyse of consumer behaviour – who are the consumers of location based services (who, how many, how old), what do they respond to well and how can you most effectively manage your communication / relationship with them?

• Are these social tools going to bring about a mobile commerce revolution?

• Using the mobile presence of facebook to promote deals, sales and encourage on the move purchases

For more information on this year’s event please visit the Social Media World Forum website.

As the big day approaches, the internet, if it was a biscuit, would be largely royal wedding flavoured. And having finally gotten over the crushing disappointment at not receiving an invite, SMWF blog is beginning to get caught up in the party atmosphere.

According to Bing, the number of blogs about the wedding has more than doubled since the start of the month to 102.9m, with the number of wedding related stories published every day souring to a staggering seven million… every day!

With around 45% of the related Twitter noise coming directly out of the US, Nielsen reports that the wedding has made up 0.3% of total US news coverage since details of the engagement were released, with the level immediately after the announcement closer to 3%.

Surprisingly, though future Queen of England and all round nice girl Kate Middleton has received considerable interest online, her husband to be Prince William continues to be the more popular subject of social media discussion in the UK, US and Australia, said Nielsen.

The number of royal wedding themed tweets has increased steadily over recent weeks to around 5000 an hour, a number that’s expected to literally go bananas as RW-Day approaches. Trendrr reports that only 12% of tweets are negative, with the majority, 45%, saying generally nice things about the happy couple.

Meanwhile the ABC News reports that social media is being employed by the security services in their effort to make sure everyone’s party remains unmarred by protesters, terrorists or most importantly, streakers. Authorities are said to be monitoring social media channels like hawks for any talk of protest, disruption or planned nakedness along the parade route.

The royal wedding will be streamed live in a four hour broadcast on YouTube as part of a social networking strategy that aims to boost the royal couple’s modern, tech-savvy and hip image. Fans are being invited to ‘sign the wedding book’ by uploading a video message of support on to the official Royal Channel on YouTube.

The prince’s press team will be live blogging the entire occasion with commentary, while Twitter, Facebook and Flickr will also feature heavily in the plan.

Meanwhile, reports are circulating that guests have been asked not to Tweet during the Westminster service, and that some may even have to surrender their mobile phones upon entering the church.

A big thank you to those that attended the Social Media World Forum in London

Special thank you to all the speakers at the event, sponsors, exhibitors & media partners – have a look down the shots and see if you can spot yourself!!

Thanks – SMWF team…

Guest blog from Demand Media, silver sponsor of SMWF Europe and in the comScore Top 30 Global Network of Premium Online Brands .

Thank you for attending the Social Media World Forum and for joining our discussion panel “Examining the Social Shopper” where you met our VP of European Sales & Business Development, Stephanie Himoff. We really enjoyed meeting with you and learning about your business! In the discussion, our VP shared real-life examples of leading brands that increased conversions with basic social media tools.

Optimizing the Social Mix
One of the things we love about the Demand Media Social Solutions group is the opportunity to work with thought leaders at brands and agencies. Via a variety of meetings, conversations and exchanges recently, it’s become clear that marketers are evolving their perspectives on social media.

While Facebook and Twitter, along with owned & operated websites, continue to dominate spend and emphasis, leading organizations are starting to think broadly and holistically.

Like marketers traditional work on their Media Mix, we believe that 2011 is the year to strategically consider your Social Mix. We’ll define the Social Mix as the investment in community activities across digital channels.

Key elements of the Social Mix to ponder include:

• Mobile: how are you incorporating customer interaction into your mobile apps and mobile-optimized web experiences?
• Web: in what ways can customers and prospects communicate with one another, and with you, on your owned media assets, including campaign, corporate, product and other properties?
• Facebook: are your social experiences invigorating and authentic across your pages or are you merely seeing fly-by Likes?
• Twitter: how do you post, listen and respond?
• YouTube: is the conversation around your video content in-line with the expectations of your brand voice?

And for each channel, it’s important to consider your interaction, identification and response approaches:

• What can customers do? Are they able to comment, post, rate, review, submit, or respond?
• How do they present themselves? With a channel-specific persona, a Facebook name, other some other identity?
• How do you seed, guide, moderate, listen and respond to them?

2011 is particularly invigorating as, for the first time, customers’ comfort with Facebook-powered authentication in third party services allows brands to truly think of one customer across touch points. And with an increased understanding of each customer, coupled with a multi-pronged Social Mix, marketers can strive for the digital holy rail: one community, regardless of how and where customers encounter your digital presence.

Each channel can have access to appropriate social content along with tuned and presented read/write experiences from a single set of infrastructure. And it can all be moderated, managed and analyzed from a single service and set of people.

Demand Media would love to help. Through our Professional Services team, we can assist with identification and prioritization of approaches for targeted channels. Through our Pluck and CoveritLive products, we can power asynchronous and real-time engagement, across channels, asset types (text, photo, audio, video) and communication frameworks (rate, recommend, respond, comment, review, post, answer, submit, bet, friend, follow, etc.).  And through our Community Services, we can Manage and Moderate your initiatives, enabling your in-house staff to focus on strategic social media decisions and efforts.

It’s been incredible to see customers like the Dallas Cowboys go from less than two thousand discussion posts on Facebook, to offering a seamless cross-web and Facebook forums experience, powered by Pluck, with hundreds of thousands of vibrant posts.

Microsoft has experienced the power of Demand Media Community Services across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the web during their high-powered Windows Phone 7 launch.  And clients like Conde Nast, the NFL, McGraw-Hill and others use Pluck to power their rich mobile experiences, in conjunction with their core websites.

Please visit our Customer Profile section to learn more or give us a shout. We’d like to explore your thoughts on the Social Mix, provide insights based on client best practices, and ideally help you increase return on your integrated community initiatives.

For more information, please visit www.demandmedia.com/pluck.

Demand Media provides media, content and social solutions to global leading brands. With Web properties like LIVESTRONG.com, Cracked.com, eHow.com, a breakthrough content studio, and the Pluck and CoveritLive community platforms, Demand Media helps marketers deliver meaningful engagement, insight and conversion results.

Pluck, our integrated community platform, supports dynamic experiences on your brand site(s), on social media services like Facebook, and on all of the major mobile platforms, delivering a single view of your customer across all channels. For more information on Demand Media, our Social Platforms, or any of our whitepapers, please email: Natalie.Cheung@demandmedia.com

LEWIS PR COO Paul Charles will be chairing the SMWF “Social Media for crisis management” panel at 16:50, on day one of the event on 29 March.

The session will cover some of the recent catastrophes to have hit the news, and will involve some of the people who were, for better or worse, caught in the middle and forced to make their social media strategy work to deal with the situation.

Aurelie Valtat, for instance, covered last week in this blog, ran the EuroControl air traffic hub social media information feed single handed, keeping virtually all of Europe, passengers, airlines and worried relatives, up to date with the latest developments surrounding the Icelandic volcano crisis and what it meant for air traffic.

This is sure to be a fascinating panel discussion, and you’re almost certain to be in need of a stiff drink after hearing so many tales of social media heroism. Fortunately, Paul and the LEWIS PR team will be heading to the SMWF bar at the end of the session to continue the discussion with a few drinks on them.

For more  information about LEWIS PR click HERE, and to register for the event click here

The Official SMWF Social Soiree – In Association with EURO RSCG LONDON
Integrated Communication Sponsor

Get your party shoes on! The countdown to the SMWF Soiree has started; and this year the SMWF team along with party EURO RSCG London are organising the Social Media Bash of the year!
Located at the exclusive Amika, the Chandlier bar offers a glamorous and sparkling ambiance with a sleek and chic surrounds.

Kicking off from 8pm on the 29th March, be prepared for a tantalising evening full of ice luge action, captivating moments in our photo booth plus plenty of fun to be had on the dance floor.

In true party style, a free bar will run at the start of the evening – Surely the perfect touch for some chilled networking with fellow SMWF folk at the end of an action packed day?

The Official SMWF Soriee, In association with EURO RSCG London and is open to delegates, sponsors & exhibitors with a EURO RSCG LONDON  Invite available during SMWF.

DATE: 29th March,  TIME: 8pm – til late, WHERE: Amika London,   AGENDA: Networking, Drinking, Music.