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.

At Conversocial, we spend a lot of time working with companies who use our software to boost their customer service offerings on Facebook and Twitter. We’ve learnt quite a bit about the challenges they face along the way.

Two thirds of customers want to use social media to communicate with companies about customer service issues,an inevitable consequence of opening up real two-way conversation. Yet brands managing to bring the same level of service to the Facebook wall as traditional communication channels are in the minority.

Here are a few tips on how to deliver great social customer care, taken from our research into the performance of top international retailers. We’ll be releasing our US-focussed study “Who’s ignoring their customers” at the Social Media World Forum on Tuesday.

Face customer service on the wall head on

It’s tempting to respond to customer complaints through Facebook by redirecting them to private channels. The public nature of a complaint on Facebook, a customer kicking up a fuss in front of millions of fans, puts companies off engaging with customers on the page. But your customers know the power of public grumbling, have likely exhausted other options, and won’t be discouraged. Use your Facebook wall to come back at this negative PR with comprehensive support. Showcase your company’s care for its customers and reinforce trust in your brand

Get serious about social customer service

Ignored complaints and slow responses do not make for good customer service in any medium. Most retailers are missing a vast proportion of complaints altogether. Inconsistency makes you look unprofessional, leaves your customers confused about what they can expect from their social relationship with you, and encourages them to repeat their complaints until they’re heard.

But not too serious…

Take the best bits of traditional customer service to social networks. But social media is all about breaking down boundaries.  Make sure you know your audience, and that the tone of your response is appropriate. Corporate lines look stilted and insincere on a Facebook page, and you only have 140 characters to win round your customer on twitter.

Make responses personal.  Try to sign off with something a bit more personal – let your customers feel as though a real human is taking care of them, and not a nameless page.Leaving the name or initials of the customer service advisor is a really simple way to do this.

Stay in control

Keeping track of all wall posts and comments is a challenge for larger pages with several active posts on different parts of the page. Once your conversation grows, (a good thing!) software becomes an essential to pull together all enquiries into a centralised place. This makes it easy to keep track of which agent is dealing with each complaint, and allows marketing and customer service to work together on social communication.

Conversocial’s CEO, Josh March, will be chairing discussions at SMWF New York – so make sure you keep an eye out for him! If you’d like to get your copy of Tuesday’s research release, you can swing by our stand; number 27. We’ll be available to discuss how to make customer service in social media really work, and what Conversocial can do for your business.

Social Media World Forum N. America is almost upon us. The event is designed specifically to help delegates build valuable connections in New York and the rest of the digital world. We have compiled a few of suggestions suggestions for how you can get the most out of getting connected at the show.

Social shindig – come join the party at the Social Shindig, this year hosted by I AM DIGITAL at Studio Twenty Onein Chelsea kicking off from 7.30pm, an excellent opportunity to catch up over a few beverages in a chilled atmosphere.

Social Media Passport  - We’ve  partnered with Social Media Passport to enable you to connect with our show exhibitors more easily online. Simply visit, www.socialpassport.net and download your Social Passport onto your smartphone, tablet or mobile; you can even print it out. Have it handy to be scanned when you’re touring the SMWF/AppsWorld exhibition to get access to exclusive prize draws and special offers. Social Passport is also available as an Android or iOS app.

Tweet our speakers – twitter will of course be the order of the day, below you can find a list of many of our speaker’s and special guests twitter handles so you can get the conversation started ahead of the show. If you have a question for one of the speakers don’t forget to use the #SMWFQ and #AppsWorldQ hashtags.

You can view all of this year’s speakers here.  

Abell, Jon, New York Bureau Chief, Wired, @johncabell

Britton, Matt, Founder & CEO, Mr Youth, @Mattyb123

Cann, Jeff Manager of Accounts, Marketwire @JeffCann

Cargill, Greg VP Client Services, Social & Media,BLITZ , 4As / Blitz Agency, @GregCargill

Carter, Sarah Vice President of Marketing, Actiance @SarahActiance

Choy, RogelioChief Operating Officer,Formspring, @rochoy

Coatney, MarkMedia Director,Tumblr, @markcoatney

Contreras, EstebanSocial Media Manager,Samsung @samsungesteban

Davar, Sara, Head of Business Development – Sales and Growth, Meltwater, @sdavar

Díaz Ortiz, Claire, Corporate Social Innovation & Philanthropy, Twitter, Inc. @claireD

Donnelly, Michael, Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company @MichaelDonnelly

Donnelly, Margaret, Director of Marketing, Meltwater @mwdonnelly

Espersen, Peter, Online Community Lead (Global), Lego @VirtualPeter

Floyd, Price B. Vice President of External Engagement and Digital Strategy, BAE Systems, @pricefloyd

Fraietta, Mike, Enterprise Community Manager, News Corp. @MikeFraietta

Janin, Keeran, Creative Director, Infindo Technology,  @keeranj

Gold, Kate,  Social Media Director, Scripps Networks, @katefgold

Gomez, Linette , Senior Director – Internet Marketing – Social  Media, CA Technologies, @LinGos

Guest, Phil, Chief Commercial Officer, Peer Index, @philguesty

Heindl, Matt, Head of Social Media, Razorfish, @matt_heindl

Hempstead, Sebastian, VP – North America , Brandwatch, @sebhempstead

Heron, Liz, Social Media Editor, New York Times, @lheron

Heuer, Chris, Social Media Club, @chrisheuer

Holsinger, Garth, Head of Communications, Klout, @garthsklout

King, Lila, Participation Director, CNN, @lilacina

Lagier, Eric, CEO & Co-founder, Memolane, @elagier

Liebling, Rick, Director of Digital Strategy, Coyne PR, @Rick_Now

Marsh, Josh, Founder and CEO, Conversocia, @joshuamarch

Napolitano, Anthony, Director of Sales and Business Development, Stumble Upon, @stumbleupon

Neale, Nicole, Social Media Director, Four Seasons, @Nicole_Neal

Papademitriou, Paul, VP and Principle Analysyt, Constellation Research, @papadimitriou

Peters, Meghan, Community Manager, Mashable, @petersmeg

Ramers, Justin, Active Network Events, Director of Social Media, @JustinRamers

Rezab, Jan, CEO, Social Baker, @janrezab

Rosenthal, Jason, CEO, Ning, @jasonprosenthal

Sain-dieguez , Vanessa, Director, Social Media – Planning and Integration, Hilton, @VSDieguez

Schafer, Ian, CEO & Founder, Deep Focu, @ischafer

Schactel, Jane, Director of Social Media Bing,@seejanesays

Schierholz, Stephanie, Head of Social Media, NASA, @schierholz

Sharma, Tom, P Emerging Products, NBC, @TomSharma

St. Amand, Wayne, VP of Marketing, Crimson Hexagan, @WayneSaint

Weiswasser, Gayle, VP of Social Media Communications, Discovery Channel @gweiswasser

Ted is a leading social marketing strategist and coined the term ROR: Return on Relationship,  a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million member database, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand, like the one he built for e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Chief Marketing Officer between 2008 and 2010, and the one being built for the new updated OpenSky where Ted was Chief Social Marketing Officer until the end of April.

Currently the Chief Social Marketing Officer at Collective Bias and Social Marketing Strategist for MARS Advertising, Ted be will taking part in  the Keynote Panel discussion ‘What is Social Reputation and why this should matter for your business’.  With less than a month to go until SMWF N. America, we caught up with Ted for a chat about his experience in the world of social media.

1. How did you get your start in the industry?

In 1997 I was looking for something exciting and new and was determined to move back to NY from South Florida and get back into the action. I decided this new thing called the “Internet” was the way to go. I read an article about Seth Godin and since he mentioned he was always on the lookout for talent I was determined to work with him at his start-up Yoyodyne. I sent resumes to probably 100 companies and when Yoyodyne called I knew it was meant to be.

2. What is the biggest challenge facing your industry?

The biggest challenge facing the industry is integrating accountability and measurement with an understanding that the true value of Social Media is the ability to engage, interact and build long-term relationships for brands.

3. What is the method to your blogging success? What inspires your blogs?

My blogging success it totally due to the emergence of this unique and extraordinary publishing platform call Twitter… maybe you have heard of it . Twitter helps me to think things through, express, and wrap my arms around ideas before writing a post. It also allows me to express myself and my thoughts at a moments notice and preserve and develop ideas as they come to me.

4. What’s your view on how social media will evolve?

The marketing paradigm is shifting with much greater “power to the people” facilitated by social media. If you want to continue to reach your market, it’s not about advertising any more, but about building relationships. Just activating your audience, however, is not enough. A brand always needs to be working to keep these valued influencer and advocate relationships alive and strong and build an emotional connection. Always remember that brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance — this has been evident for years and is clearly a direct result of not listening… and NOT hearing when you do listen. When building a social media presence, building relationships through engaging as many people by truly interacting with them, and doing what I call “looking them in the eye digitally,” is what will build value and loyalty for the long-term. Always keep in mind that Social media’s incredible power is in allowing us to instantaneously connect to, interact with, and build relationships with our audience of thousands to gain high-value end results… but if you do not make them feel valued and speak to them on their terms, and bring value to the table, the results will be underwhelming and you will not be utilizing social for its true value. It will just be another tool in the marketing toolbox.

5. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Get started now. Do not wait to develop a comprehensive strategy… just jump in and start engaging and interacting.

6. Where can we find you on the web/on Twitter/Facebook/etc.

Finding me is easy… just look for Ted Rubin: @TedRubin, TedRubin.com, Facebook.com/TedRubin, LinkedIn.com/in/TedRubin, YouTube.com/TedRubinUSA and of course TedRubin@gmail.com.

Hear more from Ted at this year’s Social Media World Forum N. America on Nov 1 -2 at the Javits Center. Ted will taking part in  the Keynote Panel discussion ‘What is Social Reputation and why this should matter for your business’  alongside:

• Garth Holsinger, VP of Sales and Business Development, Klout @garthsklout
• Chris Heuer, Specialist Leader,Social Media Club and Deloitte @chrisheuer
  
• Paul Papadimitriou, VP + Principal Analyst, Constellation Research @papadimitriou
  
• Phil Guest, Chief Commercial Officer, PeerIndex.com @PhilGuesty

To secure your place at this year’s event please click here.

On Nov 1 -2 at the Javits Center, Robert Harles, Global Head of Social Media for Bloomberg will be discussing how to integrate social media into a traditional organisation. We caught up with Robert to ask him a few social media based questions:

1. How did you get your start in the industry?

A road less traveled…I started in consulting with McKinsey & Co. I did two start ups including comScore where I learned how to build customer communities, from there I was asked tojoin Sears Holdings to build and run their social media program five years ago. We created the mysears.com community which now has over 1M registered members and drives Millions of $ in direct revenue. That gave me a lot of solid experience: dos/don’ts, building capabilities, moderation and measurement, developing and executing social strategy, integrating these activities within a business.

2. What is the biggest challenge facing your industry?

Seeing social media as a separate activity with limited or no real ROI. If social media is going to have value, it has to have a direct connection to driving real business objectives. (see my recent comments here)

3. What is the method to your blogging success?

What inspires your blogs? Be honest, think about what would interest your audience. If you wouldn’t read it, why would others? Understand that we are moving from a publication/broadcast model to one where successful stories live on beyond their publications dates. One needs to keep the story going and involve readers in the process of developing that story.

4. What’s your view on how social media will evolve?

It’s not just a conversation. As social media becomes more widely adopted in business, it should simply become part of the business communication toolkit. The real value comes from building digital relationships that can be ultimately monetized

5. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Don’t think of social media as just twitter and Facebook…an activity or thing; think of social media instead as the digital representation of making friends and building relationships in the real world – the essentials of business 101. In this sense, your personal brand and the brand of an institution you may represent merge. If you are not honest, engaging, responsive…that is what will color customers’ image of the company also. On the flip side, social media enables the individual to have a real impact on the company and its customers: shaping the brand, breaking down barriers (internally and externally) and driving insight, innovation, and loyalty

6. Where can we find you on the web/on Twitter/Facebook/etc.?

You can find on twitter at @robharles

Hear more from Robert at this year’s Social Media World Forum N. America, to find out more about this year’s speakers and book your place at this year’s event please click here.

1. Two days of action packed engaging content within 30+ sessions, across three tracks covering all aspects of the social media & apps ecosystem.

Click here to book your pass today!! 

If you’re looking for a job, your online profile is more important to you now than ever before, even more so if you are looking for a job within social media!

Social media now plays a role in finding, positioning and promoting yourself to your potential future employer. With strong competition from other applications social media offers a great way to find a job and stand out from the crowd.

In the age of Web 2.0 employers are now looking at how you interact and position yourselves within social media.

So how does having an online presentence can you successfully market yourself online and really stand out?

• Search within social media – Social media offers a great platform to find job openings, follow your top 10 ten preferred employers to see if they have any openings. Keep an eye on their LinkedIn company profile
• Network with the recruiter
• Have you got a LinkedIn profile? – Is your LinkedIn profile up to date? LinkedIn is probably the easiest place that employers can look you up and read further information about you. What message are you sending to your prospective new employer when they run a check on you?
• Join the conversation – Some employers even check out on your online profiles in Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, blogs
• Personal vs. private – clean up your online presence – Do you know what’s people can see on your social media profiles, much should you share?

SMWF Asia have partnered with e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) this year to run 2 panel discussions centred around social media employment opportunities on 1 Sept at 12.30pm at the Social Media World Forum Asia.

The workshop will be looking into:

• HOW HAVING AN ONLINE PRESENCE CAN IMPACT YOUR EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS
• HOW TO LAND YOUR DREAM JOB IN SOCIAL MEDIA
• CHAT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA EMPLOYERS

To attend the social media employments free to attend workshop click here to register for your pass. The full agenda for the two days can be viewed here.

E2i will be holding 1-to-1 chat session with employers to explore your employment opportunities.

Do you have a social media job position available in Singapore?

E2i workshop will offer a great opportunity to meet prospective employees, keen to be involved in the world of social media. Don’t miss out on the chance to find the potential future stars for your business.

About e2i (Employment and Employability Institute)

As THE market-place for workers, employers and training providers, e2i exists to create better jobs and better lives for workers. In 2010, we helped 40,000 workers through providing better jobs, developing better skills through professional development, and improving productivity for companies.

An initiative of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), supported by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF), and the Singapore National Employers’ Federation (SNEF), e2i serves all segments of workers, from rank and file to professionals, managers, executives and technicians.

For more information on e2i, please visit www.e2i.com.sg.

Related articles

• Job search – Time to think again about social media (leavingthepublicsector.net)
• HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for the Job Hunt (mashable.com)
• The rules of social recruiting (guardian.co.uk)

An interactive conference deserves an interactive app. SMWF and Apps World Asia have teamed up with TalkBox to develop this year’s event app, bringing you a unique way to communicate at this year’s conference. TalkBox is all about sending messages with your voice. It’s an application dedicated to saving you the trouble and time of typing so you can get your message across fast! Talk the message and get your emotions delivered instantly, with no ambiguity in your meaning!

Forget SMS and BBM this is the new way to instantly communicate for free with no obligation to reply right away and the ability to listen back to the messages whenever you want.

The other exciting feature of TalkBox is that it gives you the ability to send voice tweets, that are restricted to 1 minute instead of 140 characters.

Have a play with TalkBox at this year’s event and have the opportunity to engage and connect with others at the event by adding them to your TalkBox account allowing you to send voice messages to other delegates to arrange meeting up for a chat, catching a talk together and even your evening plans.

WANT TO GIVE IT A GO?

For full instructions on how to download and use TalkBox click here.

To hear more from TalkBox you can come chat to them at the free to attend exhibition held at SMWF and Apps World Asia, they will be located at stand 4.  For more details on this year’s event and information on how to book your place please visit SMWF and Apps World.

There was a time, when marketing and PR professionals could take their time, having hours until daily newspaper deadlines. Today, however, it is a completely different story and minutes can make the difference between being part of the buzz of the latest headline or being yesterday’s fish and chip paper. This development caused PR professionals to adopt a new method of communication – social media.

The power of social media has given public relations specialists and journalists a myriad of choice when deciding how to connect with their target audience. As a result they’ve been seen to be some of the first people to embrace social media and have become leaders in the field.

1.It Takes Two
For PR professionals it is no longer a case of blasting out PR releases or information about their brand and expecting them to be successful. Today two-way communication has become the norm with listening, engagement and thought leadership expected from all PR professionals.

2.A Wealth of Information
Social platforms provide PR professionals with masses of information on target markets, customer service and the media outlets they may be interested in, creating many more opportunities and insight into the target consumer.

3.Move Faster, Think Quicker
In our 24/7 customer-centric world social media has increased the potential for our complaints and gripes to become more visible to the wider world. The fast paced nature of social media means a crisis can develop quickly and the response needs to be made equally quickly to extinguish the flames. It is important for brands to create an online personality and be ready for the negative as well as the positive.

4.Measurable Success

For the first time in the history or PR Social Media has provided professionals with the ability to track their investment and calculate the return through measures such as website traffic and sources as well as staff time spent on tools. This means PR campaigns are becoming more specifically targeted and strategic in their approach.

5.The News is Changing
Traditional media is no longer the go to source when a big news story breaks. Twitter is increasingly being described as a personal news source with many news agencies updating news events in real time. News spreads across the site within minutes with a concentrated amount of activity views and comments from across the global. For example news about the Japanese tsunami disaster and more recent London riots was spread around the world in minutes via Twitter…

The Future of PR?
PR will continue to expand it’s capabilities for highly personalised creation, recommendation and sharing of content across all personal screen-based devices and social media is the ultimate content sharing tool.

The changing role of social media in PR is one of the hot topics on this year’s #SMWF agenda and will be held on day 2 at 1500. Hear from brands such as Hershey’s, Lewis PR, mBLAST and Four Seasons and how the role of PR is changing in the social environment.   To view the rest of this year’s exciting agenda please click here.

To secure your pass to SMWF N. America, please click here.