By Sean Ashcroft
THE FUTURE of Web 2,0 for businesses was brought into focus at a London seminar yesterday, which was addressed by key players in social media strategies.
“Business has barely begun to use social media as a business tool. Organizations can go way deeper than just using Twitter to enhance customer service operations,” Fortune Cookie MD Justin Cooke told the Covent Garden audience.
Cooke has recently taken up the chair of BIMA (British Interactive Media Association), which establishes him as one of the most senior and influential figures in the global digital industry.
Future of social media for business: 1. It will become ‘baked in’
He added: “Social media is coming out of its infancy now, and 2010 will be the year that social media solutions start to become baked into organizations’ marketing and customer relations management systems.”
Also among the speakers was Jon Reed, CEO of Reed Media and a leading light on social media adoption by small businesses and the publishing industry.
Future of social media for business: 2. Horse must come before cart
“Businesses often get things the wrong way round when it comes to social media,” observed Reed. “They get hung up on whether they should be using Twitter, Facebook or some other social media platform, when the starting point ought to be working out who they need to be talking to and what the message is going to be.
“Only once you’ve worked that out can you make meaningful decisions about social media solutions.”
Aisling McCarthy, who talked about using social media to “harness passions and maximize returns”, delivered another keynote.
McCarthy, a senior account manager with online PR agency immediate future, explained how it tapped into the global passion for football to engage people in its pre- and post-launch work for a low-light digital camera technology from Sony.
immediate future helped craft the Sony Twilight Football campaign, which saw football fans across the globe take part in competitions to play in seven twilight matches staged in stunning locations around the globe.
Future of social media for business: 3. Strategic seeding
The campaign was seeded through targeted football websites, forums and blogs, and the organic social media coverage that followed on sites such as Flickr did the rest.
“The campaign was a real departure for Sony,” admitted McCarthy. “This was the first time a major launch had been undertaken with no above the line advertising campaign. It was a risk, but one that was more than justified.”
McCarthy believes that while many brands feel that they ought to be embracing social media marketing solutions, the desire often flounders on the fears of senior executives.
Future of social media for business: 4. Top dogs must lose fear factor
“We have many meetings with marketing people representing big brands who are really enthusiastic about social media, but their ideas are often not taken up by senior company people.”
More brands need to shake off this fear, she says, and engage with the people who buy their products or services.
“Increasingly, blogs are becoming influential in helping people make decision about what they buy,” observes McCarthy. “And we’re also starting to seriously listen to our peers on sites such as Twitter and Facebook when they talk about what they’re buying, and why. Businesses need to be engaging in these conversations.”
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19 Jan 2010
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