This is the 2nd year that I’ve published my social media resolutions. Reading over last year’s resolutions I’m proud to say that I stay committed to each of them fairly well, though I some I outright failed at doing one of them. That said, I am glad I wrote my resolutions for 2011 as it gave me focus. Here’s my 2011 scorecard:

√ Fine Tune Karma for Business: I kept at this social media mantra this year and it worked for me and it worked for my clients. I’ll keep doing it.

∞ Beyond The Numbers: I definitely worked with people to think beyond follower counts, but I’m not completely satisfied with my own goal to build more scaleable social media programs. I think there is definitely more room for growth here.

√ Tell the Story Better: Yes! I’m pleased with the social media story telling this year. However, I’d like to do more, better.

∞ Write more: I said I would write 2X/week in my blog. I failed. But I’m getting back on the horse…watch me ride! Yahooo!!

√ Social media is the Farm, not the Silo: This message is being heard and I’m thrilled to have been a part of it. My personal clients and others are starting to see the light and I couldn’t be happier. Check.

√ Show more personality in Social Media: I did this, and I’m glad I did, but it could have been even better. I’ll call this one “ongoing”

Since several of those resolutions are ongoing and I’ll continue to keep these on my radar, I’ve developed a (shorter) list of resolutions for 2012 that I intend to focus on as well.

Think outside the blog:

Don’t get me wrong, this blog remains my number one love in terms of content creation, however, there are so many opportunities to create content, its a shame to limit it to the blog only. I’ve dipped my feet into Vimeo and Slideshare this year and I’d like to continue to utilize those two platforms more regularly. From a business perspective, both of those two platforms work for me. But more importantly, they make me push up against my normal communication style (of writing). Because I am not a fantastic movie editor or graphic designer, using these mediums will require me to be creative. Creative is good. It also means that I’ll be living by the mantra that it doesn’t always have to be perfect. That’s OK too..although a little harder to swallow.

What platforms will you use in 2012 that are you aren’t making the most of right now?

Distinguish my social media profiles:

I’ve been using Facebook and Twitter for years and with the introduction of Google+ (which I am enjoying) I’ll be defining what information you’ll see where. What I share on the three social networks will be different and I’ll be spending sometime experimenting and defining that better for myself and my audiences.  Along those lines, I’ll be making better use of my businesses Facebook page and Google+Page. I’m seriously considering limiting the posting of my blog on my personal profiles (with the exception of Twitter) and leaving the blog promotion strictly to the pages, allowing my personal presence to be more..well, personal, on my profiles.

Have you given thought to what you share and where you share it? How are your audiences different on each platform?

Participate. Support. More.

This is a totally loaded gun, but I’m going to say it: I want more conversation. I’ll be making a better effort to converse with people and do more outreach. I’ve gotten a little lazy, especially on Twitter, about STARTING the conversation. I participate in a lot of convos, but I don’t necessarily start them. That’s a crummy way to create relationships. I don’t like that I’ve gotten lazy and its going to stop. I’ll also be dropping by more blogs and writing more comments where I have something to share. Truth is, I read a lot of blogs, but sometimes I am too lazy to comment. I’m also going to be seeking out the blogs of people who aren’t “famous.” Seems we all read a lot of the same stuff, I’d like to find people who others aren’t necessarily reading and support them. I also want to find more blogs with viewpoints different from my own. As I said earlier this year “I need to spend less time with people who think like me and more time with people who don’t.” To that end, if you see something you hear you don’t like or agree with, feel free to challenge me. I’m up for it and you won’t get crucified by me.

How do you use your social media currency to support others?

What Social Media Resolutions do YOU have for 2012?  Can’t wait to hear! You can also let me know here, on G+ Look forward to hearing from you…and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 

 Photo: Creative Commons

2011 was a game changing year in social media. In some ways, social media is growing up, but in other ways we’re just getting started. But this is a dynamic field and we’re sure to see changes in 2012 too? What should businesses plan for in 2012 and what should they be looking for? I’m putting my Carnack hat on and writing down the trends I see in social media for 2012.

Social CRM:

I predict in 2012, I think we’re going to see an increasing attempt to translate digital profiles back to a customer. Businesses are looking for ways to see the lifespan of their “social circle”, they want to know what platforms I follow them on, if I follow them on all three and which of my email addresses tie back to the profile. Consumers aren’t likely to just give that information away, businesses will have to get creative to get consumers to connect the dots for them and even then, they are likely to only initially be able to connect the dots with their most active and passionate customers. But 2012 will see some changes in this area and as a marketer, its none too soon.

Cross-Department Social Media:

As businesses continue to face the reality that community management (social media) requires time and committment, they are likely to empower more and more employees to work on the “social media team” the social media team won’t be a coming exclusively from the marketing and communication teams. Rather, the social media team will be comprised of the best communicators within each department.  This will lead to:

More integrated social media campaigns:

Social media will be an integral part of business communication. Businesses won’t launch an initiative without considering how they’ll support it within social media. Whether the initiative is a new business product or simply a campaign, we’ll see businesses working those ideas and campaigns more throughly into their social media platforms.

Further segmentation of social platforms.

With the launch of G+, we’re seeing that people are picking their favorite platforms and spending their social media time there. Much like radio and TV have certain demographic segmentation, social platforms will too. But the segmentation won’t be based entirely on the demographics we think of for TV or radio, rather it will be as much about how they consume information, how frequently they share it and time spent on the platform.

Social ROI:

The social media sphere will have more pressure on it to create programs that suit business objectives and then show the ROI. By the end of 2012, we’ll start to see some beginnings of what makes up social ROI. We won’t quite be universally using the same ROI model, but as an industry, we’ll be closer to agreeing to some best practices.

Content, Content, Video:

Creating content will continue to be a considerable aspect of a social media program. We’ll see more and more video as the content type of choice. Its faster, easier to consume and more entertaining. The challenge for most businesses will be creating video content that creates conversation and isn’t just a commercial. I think we’ll see more video content that also incorporates calls to action on social platforms also.

Game-ification:

We’re likely to see an increase in web-based and social platform-based games that consumers want to play, they’ll gladly give away their email address in conjunction with a social profile for access. These games are the domain of enterprise and large businesses today, but by the end of 2012, you’ll start to see more games and with that a higher likelihood of affordability for medium-sized businesses. I don’t think it will be affordable for most small businesses yet, but I’d love it if I were wrong!  The curve ball here might be Facebook. Facebook may make it easier for small businesses to create interactive experiences within Facebook.

Social and mobile integration:

Businesses will have to begin to think about how and when people are consuming content and engaging on social platforms. 49% of people use their smart phones to do social networking. We’ll have to think more about how what we post appears and engages mobile users. That’s another reason why gaming will continue to grow, because 52% of smart phone users also play games on their phones.

Social online will merge into social online:

We’ll start to see more and more relationship solidification happen in real and social channels. By that I mean, business (and people) will be looking for ways to take the social engagement into the real life scenario. Social media for events is already hot, but we’ll start to see businesses of all types work their content and social efforts towards real-life experiences. Businesses will also be looking to location apps more often for this reason as well.

Social media professionals are a fascinating bunch. Sit with them and you’ll realize that there are at least 4-5 different disciplines represented. In my immediate circle, there are those with PR, Marketing, Tech and Software backgrounds, Web and SEO, wait, I’m not done..Journalism, Digital design, and I even know someone with a scientific background. Phew! That’s an awful lot of talent wrapped up into one type of marketing. Why are there so many distinct backgrounds in social media? Because social media is new (Twitter is only 5 years old!), meaning professionals have migrated from different backgrounds. But it isn’t just that – social media combination of skills (marketing, PR, web, technical) and philosophies which merge together to create the social media field.

That’s why no one “owns” social media

The awesome thing for me about having this diverse group of people around me is that they each bring a different insight to a challenge or a campaign. The tech guy is going to help me understand whether my dream of actually having

Creative Commons by PSD

someone live inside the computer can come true, while my web guy is up to date on all things SEO and programming, my science friend is going to remind me that before I do much else a process should be in place. My PR friends will strive to find ways to connect or create community and journalism friends are going to remind me about the need for great content and the digital design camp is going to say it won’t mean anything if it isn’t attractive to the eye. As for me, as a marketing professional, I bring the creative juice and the desire to track and measure the results. Several of us bring a multidisciplinary approach including agency or entrepreneurial elements, both of which are valuable insights.   If you could wrap us all up together you’d have the ideal social media professional. But “that person” doesn’t exist…even in the most brilliant of us. But there IS brilliance in each of us.

Its takes a village

Raising a successful social media campaign takes more than one person. And, it takes more than the social media professional, it takes commitment from the client as well. As soon as you start discussing social media within any organization, you realize that it will have significant touch points into other areas of your business besides marketing: it will involve Customer Service, PR, Marketing, your “Web Guy”. So it is with social media, its unlikely that any single person can do an entire campaign soup-to-nuts alone. And there’s no shame in asking for help, support and or assistance. As social media professionals we can support one another in a way that makes everything we do better. Collaboration is a sign of strength, not weakness and we can make each other and our clients even more successful. In fact, social media in itself IS collaboration.

So when you find your chief:

Despite that wide range of professional backgrounds, social media professionals tend to be very collaborative. We reach out to one another for advice and assistance. We pay one another for formal or informal brainstorming sessions. We watch, we listen, we read from one another. When you hire a social media professional, ask them: “what areas of social media do you collaborate with others on?” that will help you understand their strengths. You should be more concerned when the person you talk to says they do it all themselves. For a true social media campaign or launch, several skill sets WILL be required.  I have yet to meet a single person who can do it ALL on their own, in fact, the more I see collaboration, the more successful I see campaigns.

What do you think? If your a social media pro, do you collaborate much? If you are on the client side, how receptive are you to having your social media pro bring in others to support your campaign?

If you grew up in a traditional marketing or pr or design field, you probably had the implications and research of demographics beat into your head. You probably studied trends and learned all about how to market to and and communicate with particular generations. Maybe you even sought to discover emerging trends.

Social media really messes all that up, doesn’t it?

Have you ever heard as I do, the sound of the wind blowing when you look at demographics for social networks? They are practically meaningless. Here’s why: it doesn’t matter the age, gender, race, marital status or income of users on social networks because your talking to each of them. Individually. I can tell you that my audience on Twitter is mostly male. I can tell you that they are generally over 35. But who cares? I also have 18 year old girls in that mix too. Relying to heavily on the demographics can be misleading. Besides, what do you really care how old the audience is, if the people are passionate about something relevant to your brand, isn’t that the more important piece of knowledge?

Not what we are. Who we are.

But there’s something more important at work here. For businesses to really communicate with their audience they have to touch on the passions of their audience. They have to remember that the audience is filled with people who have hopes, disappointments, families, busy lives.  The audience is more than a group of demographics; they have to listen for conversations to pull out potential clients and customers. The audience is back to being individual. The audience is more than the sum of their parts. Someone might follow your brand and a competing brand. They might be fans of your company and one that’s totally counter intuitive. That’s because your audience is filled up with HUMANS, not numbers and humans are imperfect and well, weird.

Get to know your audience, and they’ll get to know you.That’s what’s even more interesting about this: be true to your brand, its mission, its ideals and you’ll find your social niche. In this way, I think its easier for entrepreneurs and small business owners to really be successful in social media. But once in awhile, you see a founder or CEO of a major company out there, communicating in social media in the way he would at a cocktail party. Regardless, this is the argument for “humanizing” your brand..for giving it a conversational outlet. People prefer to talk to people, not on-message marketers.

But how do we scale that?

Fundamentally, I reject the idea that just because social media occupies the space between mass media and 1:1 communication that it has to be scaled. Sure, you’re processes should scale, your tools should scale, but the communication itself? Nope. I mean, how many meetings do you go to a week? Yep. If you spent as much time on social media as you do in meetings, you’d learn more about your audience and less about that creepy guy in accounting…and you’d be better of for it in so many ways. Business hasn’t demanded we scale meetings, in fact, I’ve heard some analysts argue for smaller meetings..not larger more scaleable meetings. But meetings are still important. The reason it works is because its isn’t about mass messaging; its about intimacy. In business, (some) meetings are valuable and so is (some) social media listening and conversations.  So stop worrying about what check boxes are checked and start listening to people and conversations. This has another perk: its much more satisfying and you’ll definitely learn something too.

What do you think? Does it throw you off that you don’t know the demographic profile of your audience? Or do you and it doesn’t effect how you communicate?

I’m kind’a freaked out. I’m not gonna lie. There’s something stinky go’n on up in here.

If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you know that I like to measure my efforts, especially those of my clients. Something I strongly recommend measuring is “Engagement.” Typically, I define engagement as sharing, clicking or commenting. When something’s interesting, people say so. When its not, well – they ignore it. Its that simple (or that complicated). I think used to think engagement was a great measurement tool.

When I engage (click, share or comment) its because I think the information has been worth my time and I want my audience to see it. I consider it an endorsement – for whatever that’s worth.

But lately I’ve picked up on a trend that makes me question my engagement with the word “engagement”. Maybe I toss around that word too casually, as I do the words “love” and “safe to drink.” I’ve noticed lots of sharing going on that doesn’t correspond to web traffic. Now, I’m not a live and die by web traffic girl, but when I see great big gaps, I have to dig deeper. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the sharing. I always try to thank everyone who gives the shout-out love (there’s that casual use of the “L” word again.) And sometimes, particularly of late, the conversation (engagement) happens on Twitter or Facebook, so its not going to correspond exactly to web traffic.  But its disturbing the increase I see of  people are sharing things when they don’t know what it says. What if the headline is “8 ways to make 1 million dollars using Twitter” bet that would get shared. But what if the content were blank, or worse, filled with crackpot advice, or more likely a porno video with a nasty virus? What happens when your audience clicks on it and finds worthless or dangerous information. Its short of like handing someone a carton of milk from your refrigerator without giving it the sniff test first..right?  Isn’t that a reflection on the sharer too? Or do I have it backwards, if your taking milk from someone who has to sniff it..what does that say about you?

Either way: stinky milk should never be shared or consumed.

Engagement definitions really need to go deeper, to ongoing relationships that can be better tracked with something like #Hashable, where conversations, not just RT’s, can be tracked over time. We already stopped kidding ourselves that a “follower” doesn’t necessarily = friend and that a RT doesn’t imply some sort of life-long commitment (for either party, for you legal nitpickers). But now we should start thinking about the people who are sharing the information and how engaged they are to that information. Because an engagement ring holds no promise until its worn. Content shared but not consumed is similarly empty. We gotta put that ring on a finger and care enough to sniff the milk before you give it out. Don’t just rely on numbers because they are easy….dig deeper..smell the milk before you smell the roses. Find out whose really engaging with your information, cultivate that relationship and turn it into a real engagement. After all, isn’t that the promise of social media?

Yes, that makes life slightly more complicated, but in the meantime, I think I’m going to have to rethink my engagement to engagement..and stinky milk.

What do you guys think? Am I off base? Should I quite my whining? What does satisfactory engagement look like to you?

Photo: Creative Commons Wallyg

As if Twitter and Facebook don’t have businesses and users scrambling to keep up, a new type of site is cropping up that engages audiences through Question and Answer format. Naturally, each has a unique twist to it, but if you are a business, what should you be doing with these sites? For most of the sites I’m going to talk about (except LinkedIn), there really isn’t a ton of critical mass, BUT, and this “but” is bigger than my own “butt” businesses should pay attention to these sites. Here’s why:

These sites engender honest, uninterrupted conversation. And the conversation can be shared, easily tracked and followed. People can search for questions or conversations on a particular topic.  Plus, in the case of Quora and Namesake you can tell a lot about the person whose opinion you are reading without having to do a lot of homework. Call me lazy. Go ahead. But I appreciate a little “at a glance” info. Each site in its own way is attempting to create credibility for the author/writer, in particular areas. At some point, I’m sure that PeerIndex will be utilizing Namesake as they are Quora right now, to get a feel for the “human” aspect of a digital personality, including area’s of expertise and influence. If Namesake gets some media love and some critical mass, it has a role to play in the influence market as well.  Right now, neither site seems to be influencing SEO all that heavily, but if you know SEO better than me (and I only know enough to be dangerous), then please feel free to weigh in on my claim. Regardless, if these sites do get critical mass, I’d be surprised if they don’t jump into the SEO game more heavily.

Also, if your product is at ALL geared towards early adopters, techies or social media users, its time to jump on the bandwagon and watch these sites develop. The folks on them now are still early adopters and in the case of Quora, which was all the rage in Silicon Valley before the masses got their hands on it, there are some interesting and (offline and online) influential people using it already. Finally, like all sites, its nice to have an audience when you need or want one, so develop connections on these sites now. Sure, its dynamic, sure, it changes, but its good to have a presence before you need one.

I thought it would be worthy to address some of the opportunities I see for these sites as they relate to business.

Quora:

A brand search on Quora.

A media darling a couple of months back, Quora is at its most basic, a question and answer site. But as with many social tools, its much more sophisticated than “just” a question and answer site. One of the primary differences in Quora is that well written, thought-out (read: longer) answers are appreciated and encouraged by the audience. The culture tends to be more formal, think: boardroom not bar. Sloppy ideas and concepts only the reputation and “being human” isn’t about being a jacka**. This also isn’t really a “follow me I’ll follow you” culture. Find those whose opinions you really value and follow them.

Quora also has social integration: Twitter, Facebook and the ability to share questions and answers through those portals. If you blog using WordPress or Tumblr, you can also post questions and answers to your blog. Potentially interesting, if your asking questions that are of interest to the blog audience. Its worth noting that the Quora audience may be veeeery different from your blog audience.

As I mentioned, early on, Silicon Valley peeps embraced the site and at that time, the conversations could become quite philosophical and technical. That isn’t AS true about the site even since I started using it last fall sometime. But that doesn’t make it less relevant for a couple of purposes:

Product Development: If you have an idea in your head and you’d like to bounce it off some smart folks, this might be a good place to do it. The feedback is likely to be more critical and analytical and less the “great job” type, so put on your big boy pants and get ready for constructive criticism.There are some VC participants on Quora..if your idea is smart, you come off as credible and you get a little lucky, you might even find yourself with more than an idea: funding.

Research: From getting different perspectives on trends and tools to doing a little competitive analysis, Quora is a gold mine. I use it to spur my creative juices for blog post ideas. Usually after scanning some questions, I’ll have developed a topic worth writing about. If your company has a blog, this is a great tool. Also, questions are open to everyone so it won’t be just your followers answering. Also, you can ask Questions and tweet  your question or put it on Facebook. If your audience digs Quora, they’ll dig that.

Listening: Do a search on your company and key topics or key words, here regularly. It will be interesting to see the discussions that are occurring. If there are discussions about your Brand, Quora isn’t QUITE like Twitter where the users expect to hear back from a brand, but if you do decide to respond, do so point by point with your smartest answers and by the way: be transparent. This audience will sniff it out if you aren’t transparent and the conversation will die. What’s the point in being the conversation killer? Better to create some discussion than to alienate an audience.

Create Conversation: In Quora, if a topic hasn’t been created about your company or brand, its a good idea to start one before someone else does. In an open, user-based site like Quora, users can edit your business description. But if you give a factual, non-salesy description, users are less likely to edit. Along those lines, its a good idea to create some advocates early on who will follow your brand or company as a topic – that way as conversations emerge,  there are already key users of the site who can speak to the experience of using your product – hopefully in a good way.

Celebrity CEO: Depending on your business, this is a great place for a CEO to have a presence. Every time I suggest CEO involvement with social media, everyone bristles, but this is one spot your CEO can appreciate. Unlike LinkedIn, where your CEO is reluctant to jump in because its just too much information, the CEO can carefully craft an image on Quora, by asking and answering questions of peers. If your CEO is the face of your brand, then its probably a good idea for them to have a presence and dialouge on Quora. But before turning a CEO loose on the Quora community, make sure he “gets it” that not every single comment has to be a “message”.

Namesake:

This is a more conversational question-answer site. The questions range from smart to silly. Answers range from smart to stupid.  So far the culture here is more like your living room than a boardroom. Its casual,

Namesake Search for "Hashable"

friendly, fairly inclusive. None the less, its still very much an early adopter crowd. T One of the distinguishing features of Namesake is the ability for other to “endorse” you in areas of your expertise. You choose the categories, people will decide to independently verify your expertise. his site is definitely developed for the user, not necessarily for business; however, that’s not to say that there aren’t business uses:

Influencers: Yep. There’s that word again. But if you’re looking for people influential on a topic, this is an interesting place to start. Namesake doesn’t guarantee that the influencers have a huge audience, but it DOES suggest that others have been willing to vouch for this person’s expertise.  The primary shortfall to this is that not very many people are ON Namesake yet, so there are probably some very talented people who don’t have a ton of endorsements.  Also, this is one of those “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” social moment, so endorsements could become tricky. However, with up to 5 expertise choices, people can always vote for the one you added to be human. But, you can search for a skill and talent and find those who are the “top” experts and as Namesake gets critical mass, this could be an outstanding resource.

Listening: Again, its worth popping in now and then to see if there are conversations about your brand or product. You may or may choose not to participate, but you should at least know what the conversations are. Don’t forget to checkin and listen for key topics or key words relevant to your community or your business.

Create Conversation: I could easily see community managers participating here with enthusiasts of not just their brand, but things their enthusiastic enjoy too. By jumping into other conversations a community manager gives themselves and even more persona, provides awareness of the community to others without self promoting. This last part is really important. Self promotion is just icky. Be cool.

So where does LinkedIN fit into these sites?

I think LinkedIn continues to be relevant. WallStreet certainly gave it the thumbs up this week. From a business perspective, LinkedIn remains a strong employee recruiting tool. And as  the economy turns around, recruiting will once again rise. Businesses should still give themselves a company presence and representatives can and should still participate in groups and conversations. The problem with LinkedIn is that its gone from being a genuine resource to a breeding ground for self-promoters. Having watched LinkedIn devolve into “Link to my website” I think Quora and Namesake users may be protective of their space and weary of self promotion. There are still social media opportunities on LinkedIn, but lots has been written about that and I wanted to share with you some ways to utilize some emerging opportunities.

So – what say you? Are you using Quora or Namesake? Do you agree with my assessment of these conversation site’s role in business?

Well, its official. If you thought that 2010 was a big year for digital marketing, you were right. The recent release of ComScore’s Digital Year in Review provides detailed information on search and advertising. The report is quite detailed and as you consider your marketing strategies for 2011 (provided you haven’t already done so), the report is full of tidbits that can help you make decisions. Most importantly, what the report says to marketers is INTEGRATE. Use different mediums and tools to support your objectives, don’t allow your campaigns or departments or objectives be funneled into a single silo. Let the mediums talk to each other and make friends with one another. Let your customers make friends with one another too.

While the report doesn’t directly address much about social media, it does make a case for some strategic choices that may impact your social media campaigns. Let’s look at some key points that may effect your marketing choices in 2011.

Facebook & Twitter Uses Change

Users in the 55+ demographic increased their usage of Facebook and Twitter. I expect that as the economy improves and people begin to feel more secure about retirement, we’ll see these numbers increase. While this crowd is hardly the “early adopters” crowd, if you are marketing to boomers or anyone in retirement age, this data suggests that increasing your visibility on social networks is increasingly important.

Meanwhile users in the coveted 35-54 demographic decreased on both Facebook and Twitter, but only slightly and in practically statistically insignificant numbers. This will be worth keeping an eye on over 2011, but hardly suggests that there is a mass exodus in this age group. I suspect that much of this is due to the hoopla earlier in 2010 about privacy concerns. This age range is not a group used to unknowningly sharing data with marketers. This does however, suggest that if your marketing to this group, you’ll need to be more creative and more present to catch their attentions, also you’ll need to make trust a primary component in your marketing strategies on both Facebook & Twitter.

It wasn’t too long ago that the myth that “only young people are on Twitter” was debunked but now it appears as though they really are embracing Twitter, they now make up 47% of Twitter users). In fact, the 18-34 demo is increasing its usage of both Facebook and Twitter. I believe this is due to increased usage by both celebrities and job postings online. Further, the importance of personal branding is increasing for all young persons, not to mention the fact that this group is extremely open and transparent and social media’s inherent “openness” culture isn’t frightening to them.  Also, its easier and easier to see only what you want to see in Twitter, so this age group can use the tool more specifically, rather than be inundated with information not of relevance to them. As this group moves into the 35+ age group, they will likely continue to use social outlets like Facebook & Twitter, particularly since its what they “grew up with”.

Finally, and most interesting is the difference between Twitter and Facebook users in the 2-17 age range. Despite the fact that Facebook requires its users to be 13, they saw a 1.2% jump  in this age group, while Twitter saw a 8% decline. At least some of this is driven by the fact that some of Facebook’s users really are younger than 13. ComScore suggests that the reason for decline in this area is increased reliance on mobile communication such as texting and if you’ve ever seen a 15 year old send a 30-word text in less than 5 seconds, this won’t be a surprise to you.

Mobile Content

And speaking of mobile use, according to ComScore 2010 was the first year when 3G/4G penetration crossed the 50% threshold in November 2010; its no surprise then that digital content usage increased, in fact, by December 2010 nearly 47% of mobile subscribers were digitally connected (using browsers or downloading content, including apps), but the most used feature was text messaging. Marketers take note, services like TextMyFans allow you to integrate your social media with this increasing trend.

Mobile apps aren’t going away – people love their ease of use. For productivity tools in particular, people are increasingly willing to pay for apps. If you utilize the app world, be very clear on your objectives and make sure that it integrates with the rest of your long-term branding objectives. The good news for small business is that app creation is likely to get more affordable, but that also means there will be increased “noise”  in the space, think very carefully about how you will promote your app to its intended users; it still isn’t a build it and they will come environment.

If there is any area that illustrates that importance of integration, its mobile. Social media, search and apps all need integration. With the increasing bandwidth of smart phones, marketers need to be sure they are crossing over and meeting their customers at the time and location where they are.

Video

Speaking of larger bandwidths, 20% of users used mobile to capture video. Video will continue to rise in importance. As you consider this trend, as yourself what about your company is interesting to others? Behind the scenes experiences both humanize a company and take advantage of the fact that we like to consume video and its getting easier to do. You can add Vlogging to your company’s blog when its appropriate and valuable. In 2011, I’d love to see more small businesses embrace video as a medium, because I think consumers are asking for it. Of course, the content has to be compelling and interesting…but that’s another (or every) blog post.

Resources: Download the entire ComScore Digital Year in Review here.

Social media and events have so much in common: they bring people together, they have the potential to inspire and most importantly, both have story-telling potential. Really these two forms of marketing are long-lost cousins.

A recent study by Ad-ology shows some surprising (to me) results: event marketers specifically, exhibition managers, aren’t utilizing social media to its full potential, although its showing promise, I’m still surprised at the reliance of traditional media.  I’ve noticed this too in conferences I’ve been or registered for. I still get direct mail for a conference I last went to over 5 years ago (talk about barrel scraping), yet the conferences that I show the most interest in, aren’t aware of it yet, even through I tweet, blog and generally promote topics relevant to the conference, because I am not on their mailing list. Event marketers state that email is one of its most effective tools; not surprising, but what IS surprising is that they don’t appear to be integrating their email activities with their social media activities.

Event marketers are using social media, but not to its fullest potential. The Ad-ology findings show that:

Before an event takes place, the top online promotional activities include email marketing (39%), online advertising (45%) and Google ad words (36%). During the event, the strategy shifts and marketers use online games (43%) and SMS mobility. Looking to extend impact, marketers then turn to audio downloads or podcasts (40%) following the event.

This group of marketers indicates that social media is best employed as a strategy to extend the reach of marketing efforts (49%) and engage the target audience (25%). Far fewer, 9%, use the format to generate leads.

As far as pre-event marketing, I find this interesting since social media is a rich place to mine for event attendees, depending on the event. But most industries have an influential group of people using social media; listening and engaging will reveal these people quickly.  Apparently some event marketers are still scoffing at the “I’m BIG on Twitter” crowd, but event marketers are really missing the opportunity to create evangelists for their brand by not engaging these folks. Identifying influencials and bloggers are also a potentially key component for event marketers. Find people who have an audience and invite them to be involved and watch how they endorse the event and therefore, bring others along. Also really surprising to me is that the relationship between sponsorship and social media just doesn’t seem to be taking off.

When it comes to adding value for sponsors. I can think of plenty of ways to add value for a sponsor through social media, in particular Twitter and Influencials like bloggers (again) but event marketers apparently aren’t there yet. Sponsor shout-outs before the event are a no-brainer, but having them host tweet chats or other interactive pre-event conversations (about a relevant topic-be careful that this isn’t approached as one long commercial) on Facebook are great ways to raise the profile of sponsors. The use of hashtags during the event can create a fun, interactive campaign for sponsors and attendees alike.

Post event opportunities abound:  extending the reach of an event is definitely important and downloads and podcasts are great tools for that (still less than half employ this technique, again, why create content if you don’t want others to see it?!)  but why not hold tweet chats in the weeks following your event with your speakers and give attendees one last chance to engage? What about asking your attendees through social media outlets for feedback or recommendations for next year? Since engagement is the goal with both events and social media, be looking for ways to involve them both.

Finally, as with all social media programs, event marketers really need to be thinking of ways to integrate social media into all their pre, during and post event efforts.

Fine-tune Karma for businesses: one of my key phrases about successful social media is “Everything you need to know about social media you learned in Kindergarten”, and what I really talking about is using social media in a way that means you help others. While you see many personal brands doing this, few corporate accounts are really doing this. For example, you often see corporate accounts/brands with thousands of followers, who follow only a few people. Some view this as a status symbol – I view it as a missed opportunity and also poor Karma. First of all, listening is more than just watching for key words, if you really want to get to know your customers or clients, listen to what they are talking about when they AREN’T talking about your brand. Its the most amazing corporate research a company can do – and yet, so few embrace this idea. But its more than that – if the only thing you deliver through your corporate social networking accounts are discounts and promos, are those people really your brand advocates or are they opportunists? This year, in 2011, I vow to really hammer home delivering value to followers in social media…even when its (gasp) altruistic of the company to do so.

Beyond Follower Numbers: I have to credit another blogger, David Armano for really making me think about this. Focusing on helping others build social media programs that have serious growth potential is going to be my goal for my customers in 2011. I want to help them find ways to create campaigns and programs that put the power back to the people – their customers – and give the customers the voice they crave while at the same time allowing them to build on their personal interaction in social media. Building more programs that are scalable only makes sense and takes social media to the next level; that’s where I want my customers to be in 2011: growing.

Tell the story better: I started getting into social media because I love the stories of people, of companies, of the collective “us”. I write stories on my “other” blog, but this year, I vow to bring my passion for writing stories to this blog and the other projects that I work on.  In some cases this year, with a focus on delivering ROI, I admit, I sometimes lost the story. No more. I vow to develop the story of a company from day one, I vow to demand that my clients participate in the conversation and vow that the story we tell will be interesting and exciting…even if my client is selling trash bags.

Write more: Part of my commitment to this blog to “share what I know”. Over the last year, several people have told me that after reading my blog, they have been inspired to start a social media program. Talk about satisfying. That’s why I write this blog. My sometimes, I don’t write as often as I like, I try to write at least 1X a week and its usually closer to 3X a month, so next year, my goal will be to follow my own advice and create a more structured editorial calendar to write 2X a week with the goal of getting twice as many into social media.

Social media is the farm, not the silo: if you read this blog regularly, you’ve heard this mantra too – but STILL, lots of companies aren’t integrating social media the way that they could with their PR and marketing, customer service and sales. As part of the “scalable” program, I’m going to really develop programs with my clients that help them integrate the power of social media into all their divisions, regardless of their objectives. Who wants to help me create an infographic on this?

Show more personality in social media:  I envy those who grew up in social media and think nothing of sharing their deepest darkest thoughts in the social media sphere. I guess I am still a little old-school and I typically present a “face” that is purely professional, even in social media. But, that doesn’t show much personality, and you know what I’ve got in spades? Yep, you guessed, it personality. I’ve even been called “a piece of work” and I’m proud of it. I don’t share enough of my personality in social media – that’s going to stop. You’ll start to see more of “me” – don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt – in my social media conversations.

What are your social media resolutions for 2011? Even if its something basic – tell me what it is! And then, lets stay in touch over the year and see how we’re doing.

Look how far social media has come! Our baby is growing up! Here are my predictions for trends that will matter in 2011.

Listening: Now hear this (ironic, right?!): Listening is the first rule of social media. No matter where you are in your social media strategy, listening should be your top priority. This means watching what your current and potential customer are saying. What are they talking about? What’s important to them?

All friends and fans are not created equal: According to the Forrester Technographics profiling tool MOST consumers are lurkers in the social media sphere. So don’t feel back if you have hundreds of “fans” but few comments. The key is to identify the INFLUENCERS.  Few actually create their own content. But, content creators have a higher chance of being a key influencer. Identifying key influencers and creating relationships with them will be an increasingly important step. But as I reference in my article about bloggers, this will become an increasingly delicate relationship as bloggers gain more authority and command more respect. All power social media experts will be approached at one point or another, who and how they work with the brand will largely be determined by how they are approached.

ROI Metrics worth tracking: Sentiment, Klout, Impact: As social media continues to mature, the demand for ROI will increase. While these metrics will be different than traditional marketing metrics, they will continue to be relevant in their own right. Its easy to say that the only way to measure social influence is by tracking conversions, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. Again, social media is about relationships, the key measurement metrics measure more deeply how effective your relationships are and help you better understand what you can do in the future with your social media programs.  Some metrics that are available for tracking have more relevance than others.

Sentiment: What are people saying about you? Is it positive, negative or neutral. Contrary to popular belief, whether you choose to listen or not, people are saying things about you. And, if they are saying negative things, then you have a real opportunity!

Klout: This is the measurement of the ability you have to influence others to take action. Not only does it take into account the number of followers, but more importantly the likelihood that these users are engaged and will either share or take action based on your postings. This is perhaps the most important social media measurement and helps identify influencers in the social media sphere.

Impact: Slightly different from Klout in that it also takes into account your generosity towards others along with unique references to your brand and/or Twitter handle.

Social media marketing isn’t a silo, its a farm: I often say this: social media doesn’t work in a vaccum. Don’t expect that social media alone is enough to create engagement.  Don’t expect that simply by throwing up a Facebook page, you’ll receive thousands of fans. You’ll want your PR people, Advertising people, Email Marketing people, and social media people all working together. No doubt this will require effort and commitment. While some integration is easy (i.e.: using Facebook OpenGraph to integrate with your email and blog) other times it will require more strategy and planning (i.e. creating an editorial calendar for your blog that supports current PR initiatives). Marketing initiatives are designed to drive new customers should be reflected on the landing page of your Facebook page. Email programs to existing customers should be reflected in Facebook postings. YouTube videos that are designed to raise brand awareness should have a component that allows current customers to share their experiences. Creating an ad campaign around social media (ala Old Spice) took the collective will and brainpower of more than just an ad agency. Any way you look at it, your team should be just that, a team. A team that respects one another, that brings out the best in one another and supports one another’s initiatives.

Using Social Media as a Customer Service Tool: Two big brands really set the bar for this: Zappos and ComCast both use Twitter to very effectively communicate with customers. Both have received accolades and kudos from marketers and more importantly, customers for their willingness to respond to their customers in the medium of their choosing. But you don’t have to be a gigantic company to follow their lead, in fact, increasingly, customers will expect you to follow their lead. Get listening. Get empowering your staff. Get going.

Social Phone Apps: Ignore smart phone apps at your peril. Now that Apple doesn’t have the corner on smart phones, more and more people have them. Even Blackberries have apps. But you don’t necessarily have to create an app (it might not be the best tool for you), but you should be aware of those which are and start thinking like your customer – what would YOU wish you could do with your company/product/service while your waiting for a bus?

Tweet Chats: Still under utilized, but headed in the right direction. Associations, nonprofits, events, B2b and even some B2C products can all benefit from regular TweetChats. The key will be creating interesting topics, inviting experts (and hopefully influencers) to participate.

Distinguishing What Tools Work Best for What Strategy: Not every social media tool is right for you. Or, are they? Begin by analyzing your objectives then identify the tool that works right for you. The tools will likely be based on where your current (or potential) customers are already, what level they like to engage and what you hope to gain from communicating with them.

Hey Man, Where ARE You?: From Yelp to FourSquare to Gowalla and Facebook Places all have unique elements that appeal to different people. And they are growing both in usage and engagement. Get to understanding these tools and you’ll see that they aren’t just for retail and restaurant outlets anymore.

No one cares about your Press Release: Corporate blogging is about creating content that is important and relevant to your readers/customers/potential customers. If your using your blog simply to post press releases, you’re really missing an opportunity. If you MUST post press releases on your blog, make them relevant to the reader, not the press. Create a separate section for press releases. Your blog is a reflection of your corporate culture and your customers. Make it interesting, intriguing and relevant. If you can’t think of how to make content your customers would find interesting, its time to go back to Rule #1: Listening.

Ommmm. Release. Breathe: allow your fans to express themselves honestly. Release control.  It takes guts to not intervene on every blog post, discussion board, Facebook posting and Tweet, but learn to understand the difference. If you are lucky enough to have a Facebook where people engage and interact with your brand – then let them! When your fans start to feel as though the page is “theirs” then you’ve reached a pinnacle of engagement and your over-hyped, over-marketing messaging will only serve to turn them off.