social media | Paul Wallbank - Communications Professional

The learning curve

We’re still on training wheels when it comes to using social media

When new technologies appear it’s interesting how people experiment and adapt to them, we’re seeing this right now as businesses grapple with social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and discover where the benefits lie.

The second edition of the Social Media Benchmarking Study, a joint release by Sydney online consultants Community Engine and the research company Nielson, illustrated how things have changed over the last two years.

One of the clear conclusions from the study is how businesses are developing the ways to determine benefits of their social media activity with near halving of the number of organisations citing lack of measurable return on investment as a reason for not engaging online.

A barrier that is increasing is the perception that businesses don’t have the time or resources required for which is probably business owners and managers realising that maintaining a Facebook Page, Twitter account or blog isn’t easy.

Time is the scarcest asset for any business that gets more precious with smaller organisation. Even large corporates and government departments struggle with finding the resources necessary to run effective online presences.

One of the tragedies of social media is how it’s been identified as a marketing tool and in this survey with over half the respondents stated they are going primarily use the tools as a marketing channel rather than in customer support, recruitment, research or product development.

This is probably why the perception that social media is a time sink comes from. As purely marketing tools social media is time consuming and difficult. A challenge made greater by the fact we’re all still figuring out how to effectively connect with customers in what is a hostile place to more traditional broadcast based marketing methods.

Given social media is being used primarily as a marketing tool by business, it’s no surprise that the survey found larger corporations are the biggest users as they have the marketing budgets to allocate.

An interesting aspect with big business’ social media investment is how much it’s focused on Facebook. On one level this is understandable as a Facebook “like” is easy to set up and becomes a very simple measurement to follow, although the challenge still lies in converting a low friction click on a Like button into a useful customer or advocate.

What is surprising with corporate Australia’s adoption of Facebook is the apparent lack of understanding of the platform’s terms and conditions and the business risks involved. Again this is probably part of the collective learning curve.

Possibly because of those risks, public sector use is static. We can expect this given as social media is being pushed as a marketing tool which isn’t a priority many government agencies, are you going to skip registering your car because the motor registry doesn’t have a “like” button on their web page?

This liberation from being obsessed with marketing and sales is probably why the public sector is using social media a more creatively as collaborative and research tools where many of these services do an extremely good job.

Many businesses, particularly smaller organizations, believe social media doesn’t fit their objectives. A terrific quote from an SME accountant is “I run a business, not a chat show”.

That attitude’s fine as social media – like pretty well everything else in the business world – is a tool to be used the best way you see fit, just because some businesses don’t need a hammer but that doesn’t mean hammers aren’t useful.

Although when that tool is fairly new, as social media is, it’s probably best to have a play with it and see where if can help your business.

The Social Media Benchmarking Study is a useful survey that shows where businesses are using these tools and how effective they are finding them. It’s going to be interesting to see the field evolves as we all get to understand social media as both consumers and business owners.

Why manners matter online

Good manners go a long way on the Internet

Yahoo!7’s attempt to reduce bullying and offensive behaviour in their forums and comments illustrates a problem we have in the online community — that many people forget their manners when they connect to the Internet.

Manners matter online because there is no divide between your behaviour on the Internet and in the physical world. What you say and do online can affect your personal and professional life.

In previous posts I’ve looked at how this affects business people and politicians, but poor online behaviour such as bullying, offensive language and just downright poor manners can affect all members of the community, even if you aren’t online yourself.

Much of the problem lies in that people forget the Internet is a global medium, what you post from a computer in Parramatta can be seen by someone in Paris. Many also think they are anonymous online when it’s actually difficult to cover your tracks.

So here’s a few ideas on how to be a good cybercitizen;

You are what you tweet

Keep in mind everything you do online can affect your job, your family and your personal assets. All the rules and laws of the physical world apply online as well.

If you wouldn’t do or say something on the street, then you probably shouldn’t do it online either.

You are not anonymous

Okay, you signed up to a forum with a false name and setup a dummy hotmail or gmail account to confirm your identity. You are still not anonymous.

Upset enough people or seriously break the law and you will be found. Being truly anonymous on the net actually takes a lot of effort .

Show respect

We all have ideas and opinions which the Internet is a great medium for spreading, be it using social media tools life Facebook and Twitter or in forums and comments sections on websites.

Regardless of how good your idea is or how passionate and well founded your opinion is, there will be those who choose to disagree with you. Respect those views and don’t get offended when dissenters, however shallow or ill-informed appear.

Be helpful

If someone is asking a silly question or is clearly new to an online forum, be polite. Don’t put them down or call them names, just help them or direct them to where they can get assistance.

Take a deep breath

If someone has got under your skin and you’ve written a savage reply, think before pressing the “submit” button. Often, that witty riposte doesn’t look so clever when you’ve calmed down or looked at it in the cold light of morning.

Avoid foul language

Swearing online makes you look low rent, just as it does in the real world. Save the invective for when you’re with your mates in a private forum. The Internet is generally not a private forum.

Walk away

Sadly the Internet attracts trolls who enjoy upsetting people and provoking strong reactions. Don’t join them.

If you find someone is upsetting you or sucking you into a vortex of pointless arguments, just walk away from the discussion. Block them, unfollow them, defriend them.

In the worst case, if you’re finding one online venue such as a web forum or social media site attracts people who upset you, stop using it. Your life is too short to be sucked into negative, carping discussions with people who thrive on criticism of other’s hard work and ideas.

The Internet is becoming the repository for our culture while our society has a lot of negativity we’ve also done great things. So rather than be part of the negative aspect, be part of the solution — be bright, welcoming and honest but most of all show respect to your fellow online citizens.

A strong and vibrant society is built on respect and manners so let’s make our online communities how we’d like the world around us to be.

Is Groupon the small business saviour?

Does the deal of the day change the way we do business?

Since Google’s rejected offer of $6 billion dollars to buy deal of the day website Groupon, there’s been a lot of discussion of just what Groupon and the hundreds of similar services mean to online commerce and small business.

Groupon’s CEO, Andrew Mason, even went as far as to declare his organisation the “saviour of small business” on the Charlie Rose show.

John Battelle, founder of The Industry Standard and co-founding editor of Wired, examines Groupon’s business model on his Searchblog and concludes it will be the small business platform for the mobile Internet just as Google are to the web and Yellow Pages were to the telephone.

The problem with these ideas is scale. If every small business had the capacity and wanted to be on Groupon, the service simply couldn’t cope and the model breaks down.

In my area there are, according to the Yellow Pages, 115 hairdressers in my district. Even if Groupon were able to geographically target me to my neighbourhood, they’d need a third of the year just to cover hair stylists which is tough luck for the lawn mowing services, plumbers, patisseries and other small businesses that may also want to advertise on Groupon.

Which takes us to customer motivation, when I’m looking for a haircut, hedge clipping, cleared drain or chocolate gateaux I’m not particular driven by finding a bargain – if I do that’s great – but it’s not my motivation to buy.

Groupon, and the other deal of the day sites, are driven by customers looking for discounts, and the key to business survival – particularly in retail – is not to depend on discounts to drive your business. So business models that rely on discount hungry customers, or cashflow desperate merchants, are always going to be limited.

Groupon is a great business and it may well turn out to be worth $6 billion or even $36 billion. The barriers to entry are not so low as anyone who thinks executing an idea like this is “easy” doesn’t understand the work involved in building a local sales team like those of Groupon or Yellow Pages.

It could well be that Google wanted to buy Groupon simply for that sales team. The failure of Google to properly execute on their terrific local search product has baffled me for some time and the only explanation I can put down to it is what Silicon Alley Insider’s Ron Burk attributes to Cash Cow Disease, where companies like Google and Microsoft find themselves paralysed by the rivers of cash flowing into their businesses.

Deal of the day sites have an important role to play for businesses looking at demand management or clearing inventory and Groupon is a good business just like Clipper Magazine or Shop-A-Dockets, but to claim they are going to be the next great revolution for small business is giving too much importance to these channels.

There’s no doubt though that small businesses will be the big winner when we get local search on the web right. When we get it right we’ll probably see the hyperlocalisation model for the media start to take off as well. So it could save two industries.

Groupon though is not the small business messiah we’re looking for.

Other peoples’ platforms

The risks in the privately owned web range from obscure terms of service to arbitrary payment problems. This is why you need to control as much of your business’ online presence as possible.

“We have successfully established an online business, but we have run into problems with Ebay (indefinite suspension – unfairly I might add)” wrote Ralph*, an old client.

“We are pretty desperate, as this is now our sole business and we are now without an income.”

The Privately Owned Web

Ralph’s problem is typical of thousands of businesses that rely on one Internet service. Some months back we looked at “Nipplegate”, the story of a Sydney jeweller who had her Facebook page closed down because of her anatomically correct dolls.

All of these services are privately owned with their own terms and conditions along with their own corporate objectives. If you choose to use their product, you have to follow their rules – just like a shopping mall management can order you off their premises because they don’t like the colour of your socks.

The most glaring example of this is Wikileaks where Amazon, Paypal, Mastercard and Visa all threw the whistleblower site off their services for allegedly breaching their terms of services in various obscure ways.

The Terms of Service Trap

A business’ Terms of Service usually feature clauses wide enough to catch even the most honest and diligent business, this is by design as it gives management the excuse to throw anyone who makes their lives difficult, which is exactly what has happened with Wikileaks.

While Ralph’s problem is nothing like the scale of Julian Assange’s, all of these stories illustrate the dangers of relying on one service for your livelihood. Should that service change the way it operates, then any business that relies on that could be broke in hours, as many businesses that rely on Google search results have found.

Most of the Internet is not a public space, almost all of it is privately run along similar lines to that shopping mall or a walled estate.

Ralph and Julian Assange have shown us the limitations and risks of the privately operated web. As citizens and business owners we have to understand these corporations’ objectives are not always the same as ours and make judgements on how we live with the risk of finding ourselves in breach of a Term of Service in our business or personal lives.

We’re still in relatively early days of the net and all of us are still learning. One lesson is clear though, we can’t allow our livelihoods to be held hostage by a small number of big technology companies. Make sure you have alternatives to your online channels.

*Ralph is not his real name

Online ethics

how should we conduct ourselves online?

We have an established set of ethical rules for our professional and business conduct, but how applicable are these guidelines in the online world?

Thinking online communications aren’t serious, unlike what we say in written correspondence or at meetings, is a common fallacy. While it’s true most online chatter is often more informal and relaxed, we are still being held to professional standards whichever forum we use.

Many people treat what they put online as something similar to what you’d say over a coffee or after work drink, the problem is that most of what you do online can be endlessly copied and forwarded to others, as we see in the Wikileaks controversy. This makes it a very different medium to the spoken, informal social networks we have outside of the Internet.

We should also remember this isn’t just about social media tools like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook; it’s about any communication you carry out online such as using email, Internet chat, making comments on blogs or posting on public and private web forums.

In many ways the online rules are similar to the standards we expect in the offline business world, but because of the nature of the web, the emphasis is often different.

Private stays private
A private conversation has to stay private. What someone says to you in a private message or posts to a private forum – such as a locked Facebook page, an email or a direct massage – should never be repeated on the public Internet without the express permission of the person who sent it and those it was addressed to.

Don’t misquote
The remarkable thing about the Internet is how many people misquote others despite the fact most of what happens on the Internet is a written, or recorded, medium. If you’re going to quote someone, make sure you’re accurate.

Never plagiarise
Equally, you shouldn’t be too accurate. If you are going to extensively quote someone else, either link to their website or get permission to use their work. As the Cook’s Source scandal showed, we cannot assume that just because something is on the net we can just copy it.

Give credit where possible
Be generous in crediting other people for their work – linking to other people’s websites is not just a courtesy, it helps the web work better and adds value for all of us. It also improves your credibility.

Be open about affliations
Should you be commenting on issues you have a professional or financial interest in them then disclose them. On the web, people tend to be suspicious of those who may have vested interests so being open will enhance credibility.

Resist anonymity
There are good reasons to post anonymously however you should only do that when it’s necessary. Being open about who you are improves your reputation and credibility. We’ve looked at the risks and benefits of online anonymity previously

Be polite
There is a school of thought that claims manners aren’t necessary online. This isn’t true. You will quickly shred your credibility by being aggressive, attacking people and using foul language.

Don’t go overboard
If you get angry, take a deep breath and relax. Think about what you’re saying and if you have to post something angry, do it the following day when you’ve had time to think about it.

The idea that the online world is somehow separated from the rest of our lives is false. How we behave online has real consequences in the physical world as we can ruin our careers, be sued or even go to jail for things we say online.

Our online ethical behaviour should follow that of the physical world. If we wouldn’t do it on the street, in our meeting rooms or in front of our mothers then we shouldn’t do it online.

the price on our heads

Are we selling our privacy too cheaply?

Over 500 million people have signed up on Facebook, trading their privacy for the ability to connect with friends and online communities. In turn, Facebook has built that massive group of people into an asset worth an estimated $41 billion dollars. But does it rely on us selling our privacy too cheaply?

A common factor in many of our communication channels in the last fifty years has been how we, as a group, have been prepared to trade something personal in return for a cheap service.

Broadcast media’s model offers us free or – in the case of newspapers, magazines and Pay TV – subsidised news, sport and entertainment in return for shrill or intrusive commercials that usually wastes our time.

Similarly with social media tools, in return for a free and easy way to find friends and relatives, we trade our privacy for targeted online advertising which can be so precise a commercial can be designed just for one individual.

The social media advertising model is on many levels a great idea, it cuts out irrelevant messages to the consumer and for the advertiser it’s more effective than the “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” methods of the broadcast advertising world.

A weakness in social media advertising in that it relies on users being prepared to trade away their privacy. Until now, all of us have been fairly relaxed about this despite the evidence mounting that giving away all our privacy and access to our networks often has costs to our reputations and friendships.

That cost can be great, with the worst case seeing people lose jobs, friendships or even their liberty for something that they, or one of their friends, thought was quite innocent.

Under the old trade off, we could turn off the TV or not buy a magazine if we found the advertising too distracting or offensive. With new media we can’t recover our privacy once it’s been given away.

As we begin to understand the nature of our connected society and the values of our online reputations, we’ll expect a better price for our privacy. The challenge for platforms like Facebook and other social media tools over the next few years will be to convince us that these trade offs and potential risks are worthwhile for the benefits they offer.

The listening game

Our customers are talking about us, we need to listen

Last week’s Qantas A380 problem illustrates the power the Internet has and how businesses can’t ignore what’s being said on the various online channels.

Thankfully most of us will never have a morning where the world is told we have lost over four hundred of our staff and customers in a fiery accident as Qantas did last week.

While not a Qantas customer, I had a lot of sympathy and respect for their management and staff who had to deal with conflicting accounts while balancing their obligations to regulators, shareholders and, most importantly, the loved ones of those aboard QF32.

The initial story that went out on the media was a Reuters’ report that a Qantas A380 had crashed on taking off from Singapore. While Qantas were able to quickly deny that, they found their other assurances that no debris had fallen from the plane were quickly contradicted by online photos of the pieces in a nearby Indonesian town.

Luckily, Qantas’ communications teams appeared to be listening to these comments so were quickly able to verify their accuracy and amend the company’s position before they were embarrassed.

Today’s connected consumers armed with camera equipped, Internet enabled smart phones and can post images contradicting or confirming your message or understanding of the situation quickly. Which is exactly what happened in this instance with passengers and witnesses quickly uploading their views of the incident.

In one respect this is a threat to traditional management where controlling the message is everything, to the modern manager this is a fantastic opportunity to react quickly and positively to changing situations.

One of my favourite stories comes from the Virgin Blue checking problems in late September where staff, alerted by complaints on Twitter, were able to get water bottles out to thirsty passengers stuck in queues. It didn’t rescue Virgin from the PR battering they took, but it helped a few of their customers and just maybe won a few of them back.

This isn’t to say the Internet is infallible, far from it — the Internet is mankind’s gift to the ill informed ratbag and the mischevious troll — what you read on Twitter and Facebook needs to be treated with the same suspicion as what you see on Reuters and CNN.

Even when the information is downright wrong, you at least have an early warning there’s a perception problem in the community which you can quickly work upon. The key is to evaluate and recognise the credible from the silly and then be able to act on the credible while countering the silly stuff.

One big lesson from both Qantas’ problems last week and Virgin’s in September is how important it is to point all of your communications channels, including call centres to the organisation’s web site where up to date, verified information is available for the public, staff and customers.

While the net represents great challenges to business owners and managers of all organisations, it’s also a fantastic resource for getting your facts right and reacting to fast moving changes. Make sure you have the tools and the team to deal with the opportunities and threats our connected economy will throw at us.

Managing connected workers workshop

How do managers deal with twittering staff and employees on facebook?

Today’s staff consider the Internet to be a basic right and expect to use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter while they work.

Managing Connected Workers examines the motives for these workers and shows how managers and business owners can harness the power of these workers’ networks while minimizing risks to the organisation.

This workshop is designed for all managers concerned about staff use of social media tools inside and outside the workplace.

During the workshop participants will gain an understanding of why employees are using social media, ways of controlling it in the workplace as well as the risks and opportunities the Internet presents to the modern workplace.

Participants cover;

•   Why your staff are online
•    What is social media
•   The risks to a business
•   How a business can harness social networks
•   Your staff as your brand
•   Social media as a recruitment tool
•   Engaging with online stakeholders
•   Blocking technologies
•   Monitoring strategies
•   Developing a social media policy
•    Communicating with staff
•   HR and legal issues

Who should attend?
Managing Connected Workers is designed for managers and business owners concerned about the business effects of their staff’s Internet usage.

Workshop duration
We recommend this workshop be held as a four hour program at a minimum. The length can be up to two full days. We can tailor the workshop to your organisation’s needs and budget.

More details

Contact us for more details on this workshop and how we can help your business, organisation or community group identify and deal with challenges of our exciting era.

a lousy little sixpence

If you are going to sell yourself online, at least get a good price

A man walks into a bar and shouts “hi, I’m entering Big Phil’s Italian restaurant competition to win a free a pizza in exchange for irritating you fine folk”

Would you drink with that guy? Or for that matter buy a pizza from Big Phil?

Yet thousands of people are prepared to give away their online reputations in return for the chance of winning a pizza, getting a free mobile phone or getting the tab picked up at an expensive restaurant. It’s a great testament to the power of freebies.

It’s a rather quaint that as many bloggers and Twitterarti are prepared to give the last rites to the traditional media channels, some are picking old media’s worst habits of payola and thinly veiled cash, or favours, for comment.

The worst area for this is in the food blogs where a number of successful bloggers now post more reviews of PR driven freebies than another posts as the big, well funded restaurateurs find these blogs are good alternatives to the crowded review pages in the major newspapers.

It isn’t just food bloggers though, we see this in the tech, fashion, travel and even the “mommy bloggers” field as enthusiastic PR agencies convince their clients, correctly, that these sites offer motivated and loyal readerships to their clients.

The really sad thing is that the bloggers don’t need to selling out so totally, not writing about every freebie they’re offered actually increases the value of those they do write about.

Another point of course is few bloggers live on freebies and in the case of the food bloggers, partaking in the town’s best eateries a couple of times a week is probably going to leave you dead, or at least with a severe case of gout, by 40 anyway.

So what’s the problem? If a company wants to give something away to someone who is happy to talk about it, isn’t it a win for everybody?

Maybe, but when you’re regularly taking freebies, the question becomes how many other things you talk about are freebies. More importantly, your reputation is now tied up with the products you are touting. Even worse, your brand becomes tied up with the agendas of public relations agencies in exactly the same way the old mainstream media has been.

There’s a power inbalance here as well as the old media has it’s mastheads to stand behind. Should there be a falling out between the media outlet and the agencies or their clients, it’s rarely the newspaper, radio or TV station that loses if someone makes a fuss.

A travel, tech or restaurant reviewer for a major newspaper or magazine can hide behind their employer’s good name and if a corrupt journalist moves on, their name will be quickly forgotten.

There’s no such luxury for an individual blogger as their site’s credibility is their only asset and their online credibility is entwined with their offline, professional reputation.

This isn’t to say bloggers or anyone else should take freebies, I’d be an unrealistic hypocrite to suggest that. Free samples and meals go with the territory of having an influential outlet or a big, enthusiastic audience.

But perhaps it’s time for people to say “no’ to these online competitions that ask you to spam your friends and followers and for successful bloggers, maybe suggesting to some of these PR agencies that their clients would be better served buying advertising space on the sites rather than offering a free meal to later be dressed up as a review.

Having a big, enthusiastic audience is a fantastic asset and a great achievement to those who’ve built those tribes of followers to their websites and twitter feeds. It’s an asset worth guarding and respecting.