The Value of Social Media ROI

In reading our articles for this week's blog post, I found it hard to understand the debate on social media ROI. There is nothing about it that went over my head and the analysis of social media data seems to be an integral part of measuring Internet success. But that's just it: where does the debate lie?

The use of analytics tools in today's virtual world is indispensable. In order to successfully measure one's success on the Internet, it is important to see who is going to your site, what types of conversations are circulating about your site and how many of those conversations actually exist. A large part of the Internet is simply the fact that it functions as a bunch of interconnected cloud conversations. There is a discussion for any topic you can think of and those discussions are generated by consumers.

If a company wants to study the success of their specific brand or product, one of the best ways to measure that success is through the subject's digital footprints. Collecting data on these conversations, whether through clicks, pageviews or other social media metrics, gives the added bonus of dynamic, double-pronged information. Internet discussion is, timewise, close to immediate. You can quickly receive the information and measure its success as the discussions progress or regress. In the end, there really is no debate: social media data is essential to understanding the way modern consumers evaluate a product.

Articles for this week's post:
http://mashable.com/2008/07/31/measuring-social-media-roi-for-business/
http://www.visinsights.com/gauging-the-value-of-social-media-data/294/

Future Trends in Social Marketing

As Freddie Laker predicts in his blog entry concerning the top new trends in social media that by 2012 the term "social media" will be replaced by "digital media" due to its commonplace nature in the business world. As businesses scramble to figure out the implications of the vast social networking and marketing tools available to them, the fact remains that we are in a period of transition.

Pretty soon the veil will drop from before our eyes and we will be able to integrate effective marketing and lucrative business strategies seamlessly into our everyday world. Two aspects of Laker's prediction, also reiterated by Debra Aho Williamson in her blog, are that there will be a significant increase in social marketing as a means of understanding and reaching out to customers/clients while at the same time leaving behind the focus on "nowness" for the "semantic web."

In terms of the first prediction concerning influencer marketing, I feel that this method of reaching out to people through social networking tools is completely revolutionary. The idea that your social network will define the type of content you search for has both its positives and negatives.

Positively, your search options will be more closely tailored to what is relevant to you and those within your network, including friends, families and colleagues. Say goodbye to Google Reader and hello to Google's Social Search and Wave tools. Information tailored to your needs and interests will become standard, and in many regards, very useful.

However, it is important to still have the option to reach out to content outside of your network because, as connected as we may become, it is still important not to isolate oneself to just the things you think are relevant to you. One of the beauties of the Internet is the ability to stumble upon content outside of your element, especially useful in creating balanced, informed decisions about those that lie on the other side of the spectrum.

Evolving Search Engine Optimization

Online marketing is a critical component to expanding brand recognition for marketers and businesses and the best way to make sure that one's process for disseminating a brand name is through search engine optimization (SEO). It seems that up until this semester I have been hidden under a rock because in at least three or four of my classes we have discussed the potential benefits for using SEO tactics to attract viewership and loyalty to a product online.

The new resume in the field of journalism is the blog. While some may think that all you need to do is create a blog and people will magically read it, the idea is ignorant and uninformed. While I was unaware of the actual term "SEO," the basic tenets of the concept are well known to most Internet users and very clearly explained in a video produced by RT Design group. Provide effective keywords. Link, link and link again until your reader develops carpel tunnel (Ok, that may be a little much, but you get the idea).

However, the whole idea of the importance of linking and page clicks/views is currently being turned on its head by Microsoft's search engine Bing. An article on MediaPost.com argues that Bing is changing the face of web analytics by bringing "more content to the people in search queries, rather than pull searchers to the Web site that house text and videos." An important feature of Bing is the "rollover" view. On many video sites that I have visited, the ones that stick out most in my mind allow me to preview the content before actually clicking on it. In my mind, this is the best way for an Internet user to interact with web content. We want more and more for less effort.

I updated to a computer with Windows 7 this past December and the adjustment has been quick, painless and completely for the better. Leaving behind the old "tab" format and creating one that lets you preview the page/program you are about to open is an extremely useful tool. No longer do you have to click over and over again. With a leisurely glide of the mouse pointer, all the content is available at your fingertips. Although this poses problems for current analytics tools, it is a must for adapting to the new technological environment. Of course this reshapes the way we view SEO, but change, no matter how begrudgingly you accept it, is usually a good thing.

The Social Media Persona

As a graduating senior, I've come to realize that pretty soon I will be entering the oh, so fun real world. The real world requires a lot of preparation and adjustments to be made before your average college kid can transfer into this new realm. One of these adjustments is learning how to cope with a new Facebook strategy: only presenting the photos and personal qualities that you want a prospective employer to view. That means taking down beer cans and late-night shenanigans. The use of social media in helping prospective employers discover you is crucial to presenting your professional strengths. In referring to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Lee Miller says in an article that "those profiles should be consistent and focused on those things you do well which would be valuable to potential employers." In one of his tips for maintaining a professional Twitter account, Miller says to "shoot for a 75 percent to 25 percent professional-to-personal tweet ratio."

The fact is, as we all grow up and change, there always comes that point where you'll have to leave behind the juvenile (at least partially) for a more distinct, professional presence on the web. Employers already are able to peruse through the Facebook profiles of potential job candidates with unfettered access to profile content. Coping with this change is easy. Don't post anything too dumb, and take down any pictures that make you look just a little too dumb. And like I said, if you really want to preserve your memories, leave behind the juvenile partially. You don't have to delete the photos from those fun nights, just make sure you clean up your professional profile by keeping them off the internet. And what do you replace this content with? An article by Thursday Bram suggests using sites like Brazen Careerist, which allows users to create "social resumes." Think of these social resumes as profiles where you post special work that you have done or commented on. Throw up a link to your latest blog post, write about a team project you worked on with a team, it's all there. As we get older, it's time to learn the value of just presenting what matters over the extra, unnecessary stuff. Using social media to network and post your latest work is extremely useful in career searching as long as you keep in mind the size of the field you're playing on in dealing with the internet.

Technology for the kids

The entire Web 2.0 concept of virtual integration and teamwork are parts of many businesses today, and schools are attempting to keep pace in order to prepare students for these environments. A 2009 article by Kristen Alloway discusses the use of online collaborative tools in classrooms ranging from elementary to high school. Some students participated in video conferencing with Spanish classes in different schools, while some classes discussed the use of keeping blog posts to constantly update class wikis with new information. While some may worry about the social implications of conducting classes in less personal and face-to-face interactions, I believe that it is a useful means of teaching children how to work together in an online community. With many jobs today, the candidate with the most diverse skill set, particularly concerning technology, will likely be the person chosen for a job. Skills that are representative of multimedia or technological talent will be valued by an employer, and will be common in the workplace.

However, there must be some sort of restriction if these technologies are going to be used in the schools. One concern is the quality of the writing itself. While weekly class blog posts in an American Literature class can work well to make sure students are keeping up with their work, the longer form essays must be balanced. Also, with a number of students posting up to a site, with the material readily available to view, there could exist the possibility of plagiarism or the repeating of the same comments over and over again. These educators must be very clear about making sure the homework and assignments are distinguishable. The distractions than can sidetrack effective use of Web 2.o technology in class rooms can be countered by making sure that children are only using the computer at a specific time. For those who worry about what the children are doing, many classrooms already have monitoring programs that track what each student does on his or her computer. While the temptations to stray from a new technology's educational purpose exist, they can be managed as long as classrooms are run in a smart way.

For those who worry too much about the impersonality of these tools, the fact remains that these skills are necessary for learning to adapt to a changing world. These tools are useful when used in moderation. While we can all benefit from the use of these new technologies, I doubt anyone will ever completely forget the power of personal interaction and just plug an entire class in the whole time.

Impersonal Teamwork: Effective or Not?

In The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams, Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps laud the success rate of virtual teams in the business world, saying that they tend work "under-budget," "ahead of schedule," and produce "breakthrough results." Using virtual teams eliminates commuter costs, and allows collaboration over broad distances, decreasing the time it takes to coordinate a project and facilitating focused communication.

When looking at the positives of virtual teams, the idea does seem enticing and innovative in the scope of the current technological setting. Everything is available with the click of a button: long reports can be sent in scannable, searchable PDFs or a company representative can update its client from across the country. Every day technology grows at a pace that makes everything easier, faster, better. In this climate, virtual teams seem to be the next logical step in keeping employees and executives up-to-date with the times. The caveat to virtual teams however is to make sure that the value of face-to-face, in-person communication isn't lost.

Working in the same space, or within a short walk's distance is something that can never be replaced. Working together in the same physical space allows team members to see how other members act and interact with others. This refers to situations outside of the realm of strictly work-related business. Over the internet, you can easily send work assignments back and forth quickly. Despite this advantage, you don't really "know" the person fully. Their likes and dislikes, hobbies and general demeanor allow you to know how to approach a person and see what angle that person is taking in approaching their work. This kind of understanding is absolutely invaluable.

Laying a Digital Map Over the World

Imagine you are walking down your town's own version of Main St., a bustling row of shops and restaurants lie before you. You walk up to the window of a Barnes & Noble and, using nothing more than a wear-able computing device on your fingertips. In just a few short hand motions, you can browse through the latest book and DVD releases or simply search for the best deals in the store. After walking through the periodicals section for a while, you pick up a magazine and a video clip plays over an image of the cover story. Programs like MIT's SixthSense are showing how augmented reality applications are rapidly making their way into reality, as described in a BBC article by Jane Wakefield.

For people like TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld, the current technological trend is out with the VR and in with the AR. In an earlier article I looked at how mobile GPS programs could be used for advertising purposes, notifying someone of nearby store deals and commercials. Augmented reality will provide similar services but, in my opinion, be more socially engaging and feel less intrusive. The premise of augmented reality is that you interact with the world using the latest digital information compilers and projected graphic interfaces, instead of having bits of advertisement thrown at you. How is AR engaging?

With programs like SixthSense, users can overlay digital information on objects like books and newspapers, revising the power of paper and the printed word. This way you can have a book narrated to you as you read it, in addition to finding reviews of that book or resell prices on Amazon. Simply look at an article about Obama's latest healthcare meeting and see a video clip from the event play out in a projected form on the paper. Anywhere you go, you can see information without some sort of monitor or screen.

Also, instead of having advertisements thrown at you, you can search the deals yourself by pointing your cellphone at a certain store, restaurant, or other place of interest. You choose the information and advertising you're interested in by choosing the store yourself.

Also, the gaming possibilities seem endless. You can work with an object in the real world while projecting digital graphic interfaces over it to create games such as the Parrot AR Drone for the iPhone. You can manipulate objects in the real world in a virtual world merely by directly communicating with an iPhone. Technology like this has made Avatar, James Cameron's latest hit, possible by picking up motion data from a real object and interpreting it in a digital world with digital imagery. Whether you're a gamer or an avid shopper, it seems that pretty soon our digital interactions with the world might require nothing more than a headband and piece of paper.

Linking In to the Business World

As a college student, when I think of social networking the first thing that comes to mind is Facebook. With Facebook we meet people. People with similar interests. People who we go to school with. People who are friends of some of our closest friends. It is the go-to center of communication for your average student to have fun and make friends, but in the real world some of the most important connections one can make are career-oriented. Enter LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is an amazing tool for professional networking. It allows you to search for professionals in your field of study who can either provide advice on getting a job or hire you for a position. LinkedIn represents the way in which social media have drastically changed the way people interact with one another. The core of good networking - face to face interaction, persistence in communicating with potential employers- will never, and should never, diminish in the way we approach networking. While Facebook users can get sucked into social awkwardness by avoiding proper social interactions and hiding behind a computer screen, LinkedIn users can effectively use the website to enhance the experiences they have with their actual human interactions in the business world. It's no answer to social networking, but it's a valuable tool for finding that right answer.

LinkedIn has served as a valuable resource for finding industry professionals for me to speak with in assignments for some of my journalism classes. Recently, I wrote an article for a class about an online journalism project called the Chauncey Bailey Project, which investigated and solved the murder a Bay Area investigative journalist. I had to interview key players in the production of the project, and luckily enough for me all staff members were listed on the site. While some of them had links to e-mails, many had links to their LinkedIn profiles. I created a free one for myself after seeing this and was able to gather information about the people I would speak with. For some of them I couldn't even find email information and LinkedIn was the only way I could get in touch with them electronically. While the cost of maintaining a profile kept me from making a full one, it opened my eyes to the role and benefits that professional networking sites provide in business communication.

Where in the World Are YOU?

Anita Hamilton's article from Time magazine and Mark Cieslac's BBC article both address the issue of built-in GPS chips in phones and the effect they have on the social media market. Phones with integrated GPS capabilities provide two views of the future that are conflicting but very real. GPS phones can locate where and individual is in real time, allowing any entity, be it a company or the government, to have 24/7 access to one's whereabouts.

On the one hand, the social media implications are very positive. Depending on your location the phone could notify you of nearby restaurants, grocery stores, or gas stations. This would revolutionize the way we navigate and interact with those around us. Don't know where your best friend is? Check out the Buddy Beacon feature on your Helio Drift and you'll know where they are in minutes. Instead of wandering around some unknown place trying to understand the voice on the other end, you'll have a quick graphic representation to lead you where you need to go.

On the other hand, if the company can track you, a Big Brother element comes into play. The Ubisafe technology mentioned in the BBC article helps parents locate their children easily. However, providing companies with access to 24/7 knowledge of where you are creeps me out a bit. Companies are out for one thing: to make a profit. Internet advertising and Coke ads in movie theater previews are bad enough, but to have an advertisement pop up every time you are near a certain restaurant can be annoying. The media bombards us enough with advertising, the last thing we need is for it to follow us away from our TV or computer screens.

Facebook Page and the Corporate Conversation

Over the last five years or so, Facebook has come to dominate the social networking landscape, following in the footsteps of MySpace and leading to the inevitable success of Twitter. Within the last year, Facebook's development of the "Page" has helped to improve the manner in which companies keeo themselves engaged with the consumers of their products and receive feedback on they way they are conducting themselves. In her article "Why Conversational Marketing Requires Fundamental Business Change," Vicky Tamaru discusses the three essentials factors of conversational marketing that are crucial in maintaining useful, expansive conversations between companies and their consumers. Nowadays, every company and brand must have a fan page on Facebook to receive vital, developing feedback on their services. For conversational marketing to be useful, Tamaru says that web conversations must be

1. On-Going
2. Two-Way
3. Authentic

These qualities can easily be seen in the way that companies interact with their customers on Facebook. Take, for example, the Facebook fan page for Alternative Press, a monthly alternative rock magazine which is just shy of 14,500 fans. Through either Discussion board threads or wall posts, Alternative Press has different media where a fan of the magazine can leave comments, hear other people's criticisms of the topic or his comments, and respond accordingly. Users can leave and return to these conversations by simply clicking their ways through the profile page for a few seconds. This makes the conversations on-going.

To look at the next two factors we can examine the topics posted on the Wall of the fan page to observe the way the messages are two[way and authentic. For example, on Feb. 3 at 6:22 p.m., Alt Press posted a question on its walls asking what fans thought of the 30 Seconds to Mars cover story and received 45 comments, ranging from the completely asinine to useful criticisms on the way AP covered the band. Some comments were even critical of the choice of the band itself, which could prompt the magazine to rethink the way it judges what is cover-worthy. Through informal and familiar modes of communication that reach millions(Tamaru says that 75% of internet users are engaged in social behaviors), Alternative Press was even able to propose the idea of the use of community profiles on the magazine's website on Jan.28. This is especially interesting because not only is the magazine using a social networking site to maintain a conversation with its subscribers, but is also proposing the creation of the site's own social network to connect its fans and create new discussions on the website itself. While the occasional "F-bombs" and worse are likely to fill up the conversation, the conversation itself is a brilliant, rapidly-developing way through which companies can make themselves more accessible and transparent to the public.

The Opposite of Dumbing Down

With the two articles assigned for this week's reading, it seems as if we are experiencing the same age-old clash of generations. Keen's article and Doris Lessing's comment on the fragmentation of contemporary culture appear to be archaic and elitist, two words hated most by the proponents of the Web 2.0 revolution. However, it would be completely ignorant of those who don't agree with them to take Riley's approach to the situation, issuing a blank rant of social democratization against the people who have set examples for us.

While Keen may come off a bit pretentious, he does have a point about the state of the blogosphere. With hundreds of thousands of voices and opinions out there, it is pretty easy to get wrapped up in the most absurd of it all. Sites such as YouTube serve as a breeding ground for trash as well as interesting and engaging content. When we see some of these less credible blogging sources, such as the emo kids spouting purported musical prowess through red and black locks of swishy hair, contorting their faces to look like morons, then signing off with an awkward smile and peace sign, it's easy to see where Keen is coming from.

However, despite the fact that not all bloggers should be taken as professional journalists or experts, most aren't actually as dumb as we think. Technorati's 2009 State of the Blogosphere report found that the majority of bloggers are "highly educated and affluent," specifically with 75% having an undergraduate degree and 40% having a graduate degree. In fact, only 6% have a high school degree or less. The report represents the way in which "traditionals" underestimate current technological trends. The majority of bloggers provide diversity, the type of social democratization that has really revolutionized the way we access information. The report also found that only 35% of bloggers work within the format of "traditional media." They are doing exactly what they are best at: providing diverse opinions that lie outside of the mainstream or complimenting the experts' material.

These bloggers are not saviors, however, and the majority of people do use the Internet for the must mind-numbing of uses. I myself have spent hours on Facebook or Stumbling through Firefox to come across humorous, fake motivational posters. The important thing for the consumers of this information to remember is that not everything on the internet is set-in-stone fact. Diversity of opinion allows for a lot of garbage alongside the valuable information. The best thing that experts, journalists and scholars can do is make sure to keep up with the times and take advantage of this new media in order to make sure that their quality material is ready and available to the public. We'll always need something to turn to once the heaving and ear-wrenching groans of Chris Crocker's "Leave Britney Alone" video become too much.

Anything You Can Do, the Crowd Can Do Better

Before watching the YouTube video by Jeff Howe on crowdsourcing and reading the rest of this week's material, I was completely clueless about the definition of the term. What exactly was this concept? An aggregated cloud of open-source material utilized by uninspired businessmen looking for ways to cut costs? There only appeared to be one logical way to get more information: Wikipedia. I then needed an attention grabbing, blog-relevant photo: Picapp.

Those two courses of action are merely a sign of changing times. The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, gather/disseminate information, and conduct business. The old business models are failing in light of this new behemoth of connected data cables, high-speed servers and open access. As a print journalism major, the so-called "death of print" and critiques of a dying industry are daunting at best. With small papers closing every week, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel in this new digital era.

As frightening as change is, it is still inevitable and shouldn't be viewed with crippling fear. Crowdsourcing is just a new development trying to find its bearings in a continuous, dynamic setting. The model is merely a way for businesses to tap into a previously inaccessible network of motivated freelancers connected through the good ol' social networks of the interweb, much the way that blogs and smaller news sites are reinventing and revitalizing the journalism industry.

Jeff Howe's report on the negative impact that crowdsourcing has had on the design industry and Dan Woods' article about the "myth of the crowd" raise concerns that are typical of the model's growing pains. However, instead of raising up in ire and fear, we should be accepting of the "crowd" and learn how to apply it in a way that doesn't kill industries. The main benefit of crowdsourcing is the availability of content generators with focused, shared interests through social media provide companies with a diverse array of influences and creative potential. We are living in what I would call "The Age of the Amateur." The Internet has made professional opportunities available to millions of people, providing companies with a number of sources that are cheap, yes, but still stimulate industry-wide creativity and productivity. The crowd should not be viewed completely independent of the individual, because both take advantage of the other to create a positive, reciprocal relationship

Figuring out when "more" is actually better

When looking at Facebook and the rapid pace at which it has evolved, it is easy to say that it seems more is better. In his blog about the latest Facebook updates, Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes the need for integrating more features. Despite the addition of new and improved features to the website, the website has managed to maintain the same level of freshness and adaptation that is key to building stronger informal social networks, as outlined in the MITSloan article about the 6 Myths of Informal Networks. Two of the myths address the need for less of a focus on increased general communication between informal groups and the need for a more specialized form of communication.

In my own experiences I have found that it is not always effective to increase the amount of communication in order to create better networks. Through organizations/clubs I have joined, I have seen this concept through the tangled system of message blasting known as listserves. Most people online tend to send out messages based on whatever they feel to be the most important bit of news, and through listserves the good news tends to get mixed in with the overwhelming pile of useless information. In situations like this it is best to make sure that specific messages are being sent to the right people to make communication more efficient. No one wants their inbox to be inundated without an appropriate filter. While it is important to make sure people are informed, it is still necessary to make sure that the flow of information is not clogged and slowed down to the point that it is bottlenecked and decreases efficiency.

My First Blog Post

This blog will explore the way social networking and media are used in the modern business world as part of the Social Networking and Business course at American University. As students we'll be writing posts every week about the latest topics in this field.

On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.