Archive for the 'Social Media' Category
Communications, Social Media and Business
Have had quite a intensely busy week, despite it being short for NZ’s ANZAC Day, and have very little intellectual horsepower left. So instead of writing a post today I am going to point to some interesting links from during the week I have come across.
First, Dell’s New Media Communication strategy as presented at the Society for New Communications Research’s New Comms Forum.
Dell receives thousands of messages a day via post boards, and categorise all as either:
1. Urgently requiring a reply 2. Something to watch 3. Not awaiting a reply.
Stats are cited here that previous to their blog outreach strategy “online conversational stats” were about 49% negative. They are now 21% negative. Dell are quoted here as being not the only one moving from an e-commerce site to a social/e-commerce blend.
Richard Bilhammer of Dell said that by catching issues in the blogosphere they can get a 2-3 lead time before it hits mainstream media. This is really interesting, I wonder how long that will remain the case. I agree that 2-3 weeks cannot be a standard lead time, especially as mainstream media adopt some of these new media tools themselves and use them standalone or in conjunction with other content channels. Read Full post from Maggie Fox on this topic here: http://socialmediagroup.ca/2008/04/23/dells-blogosphere-strategy-sncr-new-comm-forum/
On the topic of the SNCR New Comm Forum here is a video clip of Jim Long addressing journalism and social media. Watch the video here: http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/a_taste_of_new_communication_forum/
Something else I came across that removed my guilt that I hadn’t written a blog post since Saturday was an article from Social Media Today covering the negative effects of daily blog posts. Effects listed were that your readers will think you don’t invest much time in writing it as it means posts are lower quality. This leads to fewer subscribers, time pressures on you… etc. BUT Don’t underestimate the power of daily posts. Confused? Read the full post here: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/32032
I liked this post on the Wired How to Wiki on “How to make Money online with a $20 budget”. It covers running a niche content blog, buying and selling domain names, freelance writing and blogging. I am currently working on a piece to submit to the Wired How to Wiki so will write a post when I submit it. Read the full Wired Wiki entry here: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/How_to_Make_Money_Online_with_a_Twenty_Dollar_Budget
This just seemed kinda crazy… “By our guesstimate, Larry and Sergey are spending at least $72,288,000 per year to fill their workers’ pie-holes.” Check it out here:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/googles_ginormous_food_budget_7530_per_googler
I have been listening to Wall Street conference calls recently as since completing my valuation course I have a much clearer understanding of what the numbers mean and what the story is that sits behind the numbers.
If you are interested in understanding more about understanding the valuation and financials of individual companies I think a good start is to start reading press (or social media..) releases, listening to conference calls and reading analyst research of companies whose business you not only understand but are interested in and excited by. An example? See below for Q1 Financial result press release and conference call for Google:
Press Release
http://googleinvestors.blogspot.com
Conference Call Audio
http://download-fp5.rbn.com/shareholder/shareholder/download/30361google.mp3
Social Media for Efficiency and Productivity in Business
I read an interesting article on Readwriteweb this morning titled, “Real people don’t have time for social media”. There were a few really interesting points in there that helped formulate my understanding of roles within a social media scene although I think “most people” as opposed to real people would have been much more accurate headline for this article.
I think social media still has connotations of unproductive time wasting through things like online chatting. This isn’t the case at all. What social media tools allow are a huge increase in efficiency and productivity.
Some “real people” use social media tools to help them stay up to date with topics they wish to follow and are passionate about (personal) but also use them to do their job better (professional).
In the information age that is today there is a mass of research, data and opinion readily available at our fingers tips. Social media tools, are just that tools, for us at home and in the workplace to filter, sort and receive all information that is relevant and potentially critical to our areas of personal and professional interest.
I did like the breakdown of roles ReadWriteWeb made within a social media community
1) Participants
2) Content providers
3) Community Directors (What must be the mayoral equivalent in the offline world)
I think people must move through each role as they find their areas of interest (participant), find a voice and form opinions (content provider) and then connections are made with others and the interest becomes a true passion that they really want to share ideas around with others (community director).
My point for this post is to say that yes, social media tools and the increases in efficiency and productivity they provide are currently not accessed by most (”real”) people. But for people like myself for whom information is integral to staying abreast of developments they can really make a difference to building understanding, skills and expertise and in ensuring you are up to date with any shifts of new developments.
I use a number of social media tools for both my personal interests (online/New media, emerging tech, journalism) and professional interests (finance, capital markets and investment) and since I have done so it has made a huge positive difference in both areas. Based on this, I would recommend that more “real people” give these tools a go.
Another great ReadWriteWeb post here Ten common objections to social media adoption and how you can respond
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