This blog post explains what social design means for your brand’s social media presence and why it is essential when you develop applications on Facebook to increase attention and engagement among people.

The value of trust and personal relevance
With technology today, we can get answers we’re looking for right away, everywhere, at any time. When it comes to subjective questions such as “Which film should I see?” or “Which restaurant should I go to?” we turn to our community of trusted friends for recommendations. Based on our community’s feedback and input, we make emotional decisions. Social design is to create personal value by enabling interactions between people in a community.

Social Design is about human needs
It is in people’s nature to be part of communities. It is where we feel love and belonging. Through interactions within our community, we build our own identity and are able to reach self-actualization. Social Design can be compared to Marslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We base our self-esteem on how the community sees us, which means that the community helps drive our identity. When creating a social experience, Facebook recommends in their Social Design Guidelines to take these three core elements into consideration:

• Community refers to the people we know, trust and who helps us make decisions.
• Conversations refers to the interactions we have with the people in our community.
• Identity refers to our own sense of self and how we are seen by our community.

Form your Community
Applications on Facebook aren’t social without other people. Introducting users’ friends into the application with help of social plugins automatically brings the pre established trust in a community. The more activity a user sees between the application and their friends, the more likely it is that they will interact. Further, the stronger associated emotion between the user and the community, stronger the bond and trust.

To build a community and a social product connected to your brand, you should create a clearly defined personality of your community; how it makes people feel and how it creates a sense of belonging. The personality of your community can be defined and communicated by some of the following elements:

• Values – All your content should be true to your values and believes. It is one of the core reason why people join your community.
• Benefits – People should be sure of what they gain by belonging to your community.
• Tone of Voice – People should recognise your community; the way you speak and act.

Enable Conversations
Interactions are what glue the identity and the community together. Interactions build trust. Our sense of belonging depends on how we express our identities to a community and how we receive feedback from it.

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On our blog, we have already written about an infographic that talks about content sharing trends for the last 5 years and a study on content sharing pattern, but this infographic relates content sharing to brands as well gives some insights on who doesn’t share content on social media.

Voltier Digital & Plastick Media have put together a great infographic, with some interesting stats:

• 1000 people post to Tumblr every 60 seconds
• 2000 people check in to Foursquare every 60 seconds
• Social media accounts for 24% of all time spent online
• 250 million photos are uploaded to FB every day

Who doesn’t share content on social media?

Also interesting to note is the statistics for people who do not share content on social media.

• A look at Twitter stats shows that only 47% of Twitter accounts are active and half of the registered Twitter users follow 2 or lesser number of people.
• 11 % of Facebook accounts are inactive.

Social media and brands:

The infographic presents some great trends for social media used by brands for promotions:

• It has been noticed that 70% of adults who use social media also shop online.
• 53% of active networkers follow a brand on social media.
• 60% of those who use digital methods to research about the products they intend to buy, learned about it on social media sites.

For more statistics, here is the infographic:

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But the question is how does it affect us?

A quick look at SOPA:

• Gives the government the right to unilaterally censor foreign websites.

• Gives copyright holders the right to issue economic takedowns and bring lawsuits against website owners and operators, if those websites have features that make it possible to post infringing content.

• Makes it a felony offense to post a copyrighted song or video.

• SOPA says that a site can be shut down for a single infringing link — even if it’s a link you didn’t post.

How does it affect social media industry?

If the bill gets passed and if by any chance it comes to shutting down Facebook and YouTube even for a day, it will lead to a lot of invested resources lost for brands that have dedicated huge budgets to their social media operations.

Also, while talking about creativity, discussions and relationships on social media, such a bill could limit the content sharing a lot more than preempted right now.

Personally, I feel that people sitting behind closed doors, who might not have an imagination of how the new world works, are not the right ones to make decisions, that can have such drastic implications to both economy and innovation. Such a decision could only mean that they are not focused on the bigger picture and it would be really sad to see an “intelligent” government make such poor decisions for our future.

Well, only to reiterate passing of SOPA in my opinion would be similar to how the world have gone into a global recession because of powerful lobbying by the financial sector and bad governmental foresight.

For mass users:

Mass users might not have taken this seriously and even closing down of Wikipedia for a day might not have caught their attention. But they are sure to realize the far-reaching implications of this bill once it is passed…but can we do anything about it then? ..maybe maybe not !

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It is pretty impressive to see that Facebook has grown to more than 800 million active users, adding more than 200 million (that is one fourth of the total number of users) in last year. Twitter now has 100 million active users and LinkedIn has over 64 million users in North America alone.

It is very interesting to note that this year, we saw brands getting attracted more towards social media and using it to their benefit. We saw some great campaigns and interesting use of social media, along with expansion of mobile platforms.

A few interesting take outs for social media statistics in 2012:

Facebook Statistics 2012:

• An average Facebook user has 130 friends and likes 80 pages.
• 56% of consumers say that they are more likely recommend a brand after becoming a fan.
• Each week on Facebook, more than 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared.

Twitter Statistics 2012:

• 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter.
• 55% of Twitter users access the platform via their mobile.

General Social Media Statistics 2012:

• 30% of B2B marketers are spending million of dollars each year on social media marketing.
• Nearly 30% of these users are not tracking the impact of this marketing.
• 20% of Google searches each day have never been searched for before.
• Out of the 6 billion people on the planet, 4.8 billion have a mobile and only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.

Take a look at the infographic here:

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At this moment, companies are still testing waters. But 5 years from now, the question is what does social media bring to the table? Would it just be limited to conversations and standardized strategies that first movers will start with, and later would be adopted by others in the industry, or would it entail more than just discussions and promotions? Would functions like PR be totally neglected and be restricted to traditional media?

When looking for relevant discussions around this topic, I came across a really interesting interview of Matthew Harrington, President & CEO of Edelman U.S for PR Daily. Greater part of the discussion was focused on the future of PR, but Harrington does bring out some interesting points about the structure of social media in companies in the coming years. Also, in this interview, he talks about how it is one of the most exciting times for social media PR than ever before.

Social Media and PR

One of the most interesting things he said in the interview, which I truly agree with, is that PR is about connecting with another individual around a message and so is social media. Therefore, social media is just the right fit for PR. Social media just opens up the world for us, because it helps us take the communication with our stakeholders to a different level. So, I too would like add my thoughts here to say that since social media facilitates dialogue on so many easily accessible platforms, information here can be easily retrieved and searched, so which other avenue could be better than this to engage in PR?

Looking forward to the age of hyper integration:

Description, processing, monitoring of social media activities and alignment with the business goal is very critical. Therefore, it is good to find people who can ensure that both your business and your social media efforts are in sync.

Harrington says that it is still an early stage for social media. Companies are still trying to figure out if marketing and communication should have the whole pie or if it should be shared. And which departments should be represented in the social media team.

Another point made by him is that social media requires representatives from all facets of the company: HR, legal, operations along with marketing and communication partners.

The logic behind this is that since social media is an open platform and attracts all sorts of queries like job openings, service issues as well as complaints, it is good to have representatives, who can solve relevant queries.Therefore for a company’s social media efforts to be successful and prompt, there is a need for hyper integration.

So what do you think, we would love to take this discussion further based on your thoughts :)

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I have been going through the report and something that caught my attention was, that companies have now realized that inorder to derive value through their social media efforts they need to allocate resources who understand and can work with social media.

The report is based on insights from 320 marketers (social marketing leaders, experienced professionals, novice and dabblers) on social media trends from 2011 and predictions for 2012. The It compares the state of social media in 2011 and expectations from 2012, based on this survey. Here I will attempt to bring out some key highlights from the report.

Platforms

The big three social platforms in 2011 were Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, with YouTube and blogs following closely. In 2012, the social marketing leaders and experienced marketers will add new platforms to their arsenal, with the greatest inclination towards SlideShare. The novices and dabblers are playing catch-up on the Big Three, blogs and YouTube. According to the survey, it is quite obvious that all social platforms will grow in 2012.

Monitoring

In 2011, 78% were monitoring social media channels for brand mentioning at least a few times a week and 73% were monitoring industry conversations with the same frequency. According to the survey, these numbers will rise to 92% monitoring brand mentions and 87% monitoring industry conversations in 2012. Only 19% reported using a social media management platform in 2011. 25% plan to add social media management tools to their social marketing arsenal in 2012.

Two main challenges for 2012 – Resources and ROI

Resources

In 2011, 57% did not allocate budgets to social marketing, but relied on people resources. 18% of marketers spend between $1,000 and $10,000 on social media annually. Only 8% reported budgets of over $50,000 per year. In 2012,it is expected that we will see a more balanced approach between social media resources and investments in infrastructure. This will scale and prove the value of social initiatives.

Good news is that marketers are looking to invest heavily in social media marketing in 2012. Top social marketing investment areas are presence, frequency & processes. Leaders, experienced marketers and organisations with large social media budgets are, other than focusing reach and frequency, also paying attention to management and monitoring tools. While novices, dabblers and small budget companies are still mainly focused on reach and frequency and integration with the rest of marketing.

ROI

Close to 100% of the companies state they are measuring ROI, though they are still not willing to invest before they see the proof behind it. Leaders and experienced social marketers show deeper appreciation for social marketing ROI. These companies will set the metrics, methods and benchmarks that will establish social marketing as one of the viable, proven ways to drive value for organisations in 2012.

Executives and senior managers are looking for traction in three key areas – ROI, integration of social with lead generation and sales and lastly, expansion of social presence and reach.

In 2011, the primary measure of ROI was number of new fans and followers. For 2/3, the desired outcome was to drive traffic to owned media. 53% reported using engagement (social mentions of their brand), 40% measured share of social conversations and 38% of marketers monitored and reported on lead generation activities.

Some of the other concerns highlighted in the report for 2012 are managing and growing social presence and monitoring social media channels.

I found the report quite interesting and it was great to look at insights from different strategists ranging from newcomers to people who have been there and seen it all. I am happy to say that their combined insights have brought out some good points, which I am sure that you will find useful in strengthening your social media efforts!

Recommend that you too read the report for some fresh insights and views. Click here to download the PDF.

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The above lines are from the executive summary in a new report published last night/CET (5/1-2012).

The report is named ‘A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation’ and conducted by Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter Group.

A couple of months ago, I had a chance to sit down with Jeremiah, get interviewed for this report and as ‘Social Media Strategy’ is one of my own core focus areas – I have been waiting for the report with great anticipation.

‘Get account control now, using software and services – or risk a career of continual social media sanitation’ reads the sub line of the report based on a survey amongst 144 enterprise-class corporations, 32 vendors and qualitative interviews with 61 industry experts.

Strategy and Business Objectives

The report is a must read, especially, for executives in larger enterprises who are serious about leveraging the opportunities in social media – and it all starts with the strategy and business objectives:

‘Adoption of social media is high among brands, yet most do not have a clear strategy. Consider that, on average, 70% of enterprises said that social media efforts meet business objectives (Figure 1). Yet an average of just 43% said they had a formalized strategy roadmap that addresses how social will meet specific business goals.1 This comparison indicates that many companies think they are achieving goals, often without having defined goals or determining how they will be achieved. Jonas Klit Nielsen of agency MINDJUMPERS reiterated, “Brands don’t invest enough in strategy, and haven’t determined business goals.” This symptom of “fire, ready, aim” will continue as new business units within the corporation continue to adopt social technologies — this is just the start.’

5 Key Reasons for Reading this Report!

-   View of the biggest challenge for corporations in relation to social media

-   Five use cases for Social Media Management

-   A decision making tool for Social Media Management Tools based on the five user cases.

-   Step by step roll out program in the corporation

-   Easy 8 Resource checklist

There is no doubt in that you will find the report worth reading and sharing with your colleagues interested in this field. Enjoy and please let me know what you think below or shout out on twitter – @klit_nielsen

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We have already written about the top 3 events in social media in 2011, but here you can then get a quick overview of the posts that our readers have found to be the most interesting ones:

How Social Media is Changing the Education Industry [infographic]
By now, we are all aware of how social media is changing the way we communicate with each other. Social media has made it easier for us to connect with people both close to us, businesses we have an interest in and not least people across the world. Read Full Post »

How Lady Gaga Used Social Media To Grow Her Fan Base
Catching up with the weekend mood, I thought it would be a good idea to post something cool and interesting which has caught a lot of eye balls in social media and of course, made heads turn! So, what’s better than Lady Gaga’s social media campaign for the release of her album ‘Edge of Glory’.  Read Full Post »

DooID – An Alternative to About.me and Flavors.me?
Recently, I wrote a blog post about the platforms of About.me and Flavors.me to figure out which one is the best, when wanting to manage one single identity that gather your profiles from various social media platforms you are active on. Read Full Post »

Social Media Definition by Peeing [infographic]
The other night I were browsing through my following feed on Tweetdeck, looking for interesting news – a fun tweet caught my eye… I knew that I’ve seen something like it before – another tweet a couple of days ago. Read Full Post »

How to Measure Your Social Media ROI [Infographic]
With increasing competition in social media, almost everyone wants to grab a share of the “social” pie. Since almost all brands have taken the first step and made an online presence, it’s very effective if we analyse the benefits of it. Read Full Post »

All of us at Mindjumpers wish you a Happy New Year and all the best in 2012!

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My top 3 follows here (and is listed in no particular order):

Facebook f8

If you have been following f8 for the last few years, I think you will have to agree that the announcements of the 2011 conference were the biggest in years.

I have to admit that from a user perspective, I love the idea and execution of Timeline. The other day I scrolled my Timeline back to 2007 – and there, the exact date for when I became friends with my now fiancé showed up. We had known each other a few months, became friends on Facebook and a couple of months later we started dating.

However, I think the true power in the 2011 f8 announcements was in the app strategy that is both intriguing and ambitious; a new class of media apps that let Facebook users read, listen, watch instead of ‘just’ like – collaborating with impressive media partners such as Spotify, The Wall Street Journal and Netflix.

Data, data, data. With the enormous amount of data Facebook has from what we like and now also what we listen to, read, watch etc., I believe Zuckerberg when he proclaims that ‘We can look into the future and we can see what might exist – and it’s going to be really good’.

Google+

2011 was the year when Page took over as CEO at Google. One of his high profiled causes was to launch something social – and so much that he tied a huge amount of the staff bonus to this single objective.

In the middle of the year, Google then tried again, again, again to launch a social network that led to the birth of Google+.

I won’t go into whether Google+ is a success or even a big competitor to Facebook as a social network; it’s not the point for Google+. I think it has reached its goal. It has become big enough to support the overall Google mission of being the strongest search company in the world. One part is keeping the competition on search e.g. Facebook/Microsoft busy enough with defending their core offering the social network – the other part is data. Social data is highly interesting when it comes to search, so getting Google with +1 and Google+ into the game of collecting social data and crossing it with search data is a powerful thing for Page and the rest of the Googleiants.

Steve Jobs

2011 was also the year where we lost one of our times most innovative tech/design entrepreneurs.

I believe that our experience of social would not be possible if it wasn’t for Steve Jobs’ vision on post pc products. Today, more than 50% of our interaction on social is done through our smartphones and tablets; imagine if the operating system was designed or inspired by other than Apple and the vision of Mr. Jobs. There is no doubt that the design and easy intuitive user experience on hand held devices has had a tremendous impact on the use of social media.

It seems as if we are safe for a while, because it looks like the last thing Mr. Jobs left us with was a long-term pipeline of products and visionary roadmap for the products, which Tim Cook (the new CEO of Apple) appears determined to follow for the coming years. However, at a point the roadmap will run out – and then what? Will a new genius have picked up or will that be the end of an era?

You can follow @klit_nielsen to get insights and thoughts on social media from his extensive work with large international companies.

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With a boom in social media presence of brands, the role of a Community Manager is growing. Therefore, a lot of people aspire towards this role. If you want to be a Community Manager or if you are already in this role, here are some tips that might come in handy.

Personally, I think community management is like a perfect harmony of your conversation skills, understanding of your target market and last but not the least your brand. It tests your ability to stay cool in crisis and some times you need to take things with just a pinch of salt (as they say it!). Does this confuse you? If yes, then I hope that my tips will provide a clearer idea of a Community Manager’s role.

• Be present in the right places

When it comes to social media, it is important to be present where your audience are. It is always advisable to establish and monitor your presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube, and prioritize based on what drives the most ROI. It is just like fishing; if you fish in right waters, there are higher chances that you will have a catch.

• Engage your community

Every member in your community adds flavour to it with their comments and responses. Therefore, it is great to challenge the community and keep them engaged at the same time as encouraging them to provide their own unique perspective.

• Say “I’m sorry”

Community Managers are typically the ones running Twitter and Facebook accounts and will also be the ones responding to complaints. That means there would be occasions where your product or service may have caused some inconvenience. Therefore, it is good to learn to accept your fault and try to resolve the complain and do RESPOND! Otherwise, a complain may possibly turn into a full blown crisis.

• Stay calm and maintain perspective

It’s natural to get frustrated or stressed out on busy days when
responding to complaints online or answering a lot of questions. Breathe!

Plus, your biggest critics can turn into your biggest fans if you successfully and swiftly resolve their problems. The mantra is that those that take their time to offer negative feedback will also often take the time to be your advocates.

• But remember the 2% rule

The 2% rule states, ever so scientifically, that there’s always going to be a chunk of naysayers in any group. There are always a handful of people that are irrational and not really looking to contribute to productive discussion. You can do your best to turn these negative people, but don’t beat yourself up over it.

• Anticipate common questions and know your product inside and out

A Community Manager’s job is to talk and respond about the product and service inquiries. It is best to list the expected questions and work with the related department to be ready with FAQs. This would not only help you know the product in depth, but also reduce the run around time while responding. And last but not the least it makes you more confident!

• Don’t forget about e-mail

E-mail may seem old-school compared to contemporary solutions like social media, but remember that every single social media user has an e-mail address! E-mail is the glue that makes social media stick and if you offer helpful content with an e-mail newsletter or product digest, it can be a great way to keep community members engaged.

• Identify and delegate to your power users

Another way of keeping your community interested is to identify your most engaged community members and top influencers and leverage their voice by offering them guest blog spots, curating their own content in a news round-up or re-sharing it in some other capacity. This will also make them feel even more powerful and like a part of your brand, which they would like to be identified with.

These were some tips which were on the top of my mind. What do you think? Is there anything that I’ve missed or that you think is especially important? Please let me know :)

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