lucindigo.com

I love it when I come across a new blog and writer with a niche topic that they really nail in their writing. Especially so when it fits within my realm of interests. Today I came across a blog by Adrian Chan, which I have now added to my regular reads. Adrian runs three blogs, one of which is called “A Social Interaction Design (SXD) Blog on Web 2.0 and Social Media”.

In Adrian’s description of this blog he says the posts “tend to be theoretical and dense”. In an online world when it is commonplace for quick fire posts to be sent out into the abyss, and in many cases this real-time approach is best for the purpose, it is great to make an addition like this to the reading list. Content of depth and breadth, based in theory but applied to the practical. 

I may be biased as I spent four years doing a Psychology degree and find all of this fascinating, but I think it is essential for communications professionals to have an understanding of the drivers & psychology of those we are communicating to.

It is easy to get caught up in keeping up to date and fresh with the latest online media and comms tools, which is of course very important in this fast-paced environment, but value of this technological knowledge isn’t maximised if you have lost sight and a clear understanding of your audience.

This deep understanding of audience comes before learning about the web platforms and social media channels which are the tools used to communicate, conversate and/or collaborate.

The tools used to communicate might have changed, but the goal - communicating a message(s) to a target audience - hasn’t.

Read this post from Adrian for context, “All words are created equal but some are more equal than others”

Media and communications habits of people have and will continue to rapidly change. Consumption of media is moving towards social media, where people can converse and collaborate, and away from traditional media which is more of a one way conversation. This is no longer the realm of teenagers, businesses need to reframe this very quickly or will be left behind.

Historically a lot of money has been poured into market research to understand consumers and their drivers. Now, with social media channels this information is much more freely available and beyond this companies can invisibly find out more about peeves and positives about their product and services and refine as such.

Communities are formed around specific interest areas so these kinds of insights companies can gain are now available at their fingertips, in much higher volumes and are likely to be of greater quality and relevance.

I. Why?

• Powerful, cost efficient communication tools.
• Reaching fragmented, targeted audiences.
• Understand consumer behaviors.
• Knowing shifts, trends and being up to date with news.
• Building  interactive networks.
• Listening to consumers.

II. Who?

Globally, businesses are appointing people specifically for this critical function for example:
Head of Social Media, Director of Consumer Generated Media, Head of Online Brand Equity, Consumer Insights Manager, Director of Social Media, Director of Social Media Analysis, Voice of the Customer, Director of Social Networking, Head of Interactive Content, Director of Online Customer Relations, Chief Networking Officer, Director of Social Marketing, Chief Relationship Officer, Marketing Director Emerging Media, Chief Media Officer, Social Media Officer, Manager of Online Contact, User Created Content Guru. * - TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

An example, see today: BBC’s Huggers Confirmed Future Media & Technology Director
“He will control a 2008/09 budget of £114.4 million ($228 million) for BBC.co.uk alone, but Huggers’ responsibilities encompass all internet, interactive TV, mobile, broadband and emerging platforms operations, including iPlayer, totaling around £400 million ($797 million).”
Read more @ Paidcontent.org here

III. What?

-A Company blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Get Satisfaction, Google and Yahoo Groups….. And by tomorrow, or in an hour, more would have emerged.

IV. How?

I think a good way to do this is:

• Firstly start reading blogs and social media channels where your consumers interact (listening to conversations).
• Then start commenting & responding within these channels. This is if agreed with management that this is the right social media policy for your company & benefits outweigh risks (participating in conversations).
• Next step is creating content, whether on a company blog or within other social media channels (initiating conversations)

But in saying the above there is no prescribed method. If you have something to stay straight away and you understand the audience then this is right for your business. Some may prefer just to listen, gain insights and feedback and silently implement solutions based on this.

V. When?

If last week didn’t work then now is good!

A few posts ago I mentioned that listening to earnings calls is a great way to learn more about or stay up to date with companies and/or industries that you are interested in. Today I came across this resource at TheStreet.com which is really useful. Runs through detail on preparation, process as well as what to look out for during the earnings call in a quantitative (on the balance sheet) as well as a qualitative (tone of management) sense.

1. Preview the call - Listen to previous earnings call, note benchmarks & company metrics.
2. Read the earnings release - Usually issued an hour before call, closely review benchmarks/metrics. Pay attention to future guidance and new announcements. Factor in or out one time items. Look at the balance sheet and focus on changes in financial position e.g. cash, short term investments, inventory, sales, diluted share count.
3. Listen to the earnings call - Details in IR section of website. Usually Intro (US:”safe harbor disclosure), Welcome and Overview, Discussion of details, Q & A.
4. Analyse the call - Look at info gained on call, in release, and previous and form an opinion. Be aware of GAAP vs non GAAP, tone of management and irrelevant metrics.

View full article by Scott Rothbort @ The Street here

Homework is to listen to an earnings call… so:

View Yahoo! Finance Conference Call List here

• Newsvetter - Shel Holtz

Learning: Well targeted and relevant content is all bloggers want to see from PR firms. Services are emerging to assist in “curtailing PR spam”
Read it here

• A sample Social Media Toolkit - MarketingProfs

Learning: I use most of these tools and must emphasise, although it is good to get proficient with a set of services for various business requirements (your “toolkit”) it is also important to keep an eye out for new services to emerge. I came across Digital whiteboard service Dabbleboard today and so far looks very useful and usable.
Read it here

• Why Newspapers must embrace RSS - Seeking Alpha Media Stocks Analysis

Learning: Focuses on a research paper from Forrester call “The fragmentation of yesterday’s newspaper”. General findings include that online news sites should be aggregators as well as publishers and not restrict themselves to publishing their own content.

Felix Salmon of Seeking Alpha is not highly impressed with the way the report treats RSS. There are claims that online publishers avoid RSS as it is difficult to monetise keeping eyeballs off their site and away from advertising. Salmon says in this article that you should see the bloggers as sources of further traffic to your site, not be concerned about the fact if they are accessing your content off RSS they will not see your ads.
Read it here