With all the fanfare of a royal wedding (well maybe not that much), Google has launched a new tool which appears to be an API allowing users for “Open Social participants to pull profile information from social networks into third party websites”, following closely on the heels of similar products from Microsoft (Data Availability) and Facebook Connect.
The tool will allow users to:
- Securely send personal data such as friends lists, presence status and the like
- Maintain single friends list
So why you may ask are organisations fighting for what seems such a small prize. The answer is the price is actually a very large one, one worth potentially millions of pounds to the winner. At present it would seem Google’s product does seem limited in some rather major areas such as user profiles (well to the same extent as Facebook and Microsoft (via Hotmail etc), however it would seem if this can be sorted via partnerships with other high profile partners this problem should be somewhat alleviated.
There is already a reasonably amount of noise on the net about this, and it is worth keeping an eye on places such as
Search Engine Roundtable - Google goes social with Friend Connect
Google Friend Connect - Webmasterworld
Google Friend Connect - Search Engine Watch
Sphere: Related Content
May 13th, 2008
In the second part of the ‘10 ways to get your social media campaign right‘, we will tackle a further five ways of getting your social media campaigns to perform better.
In part 1 we tackled the following
- Know your audience
- Do your homework
- What is being said already
- What do you want to get out of it
- Identify the best channels
Following on from this are:
6) Be Truthful
Effective communication with your audience is key to sustained success with social media. Taking the wrong tone of voice or unethical communication can spell disaster for your campaign.
To highlight this we a high profile example from recent history, namely the Edelman/Wal-mart astroturfing controversy from a couple of years back. In this particular example, Edelman were behind a campaign for two RV travellers who went across America regularly interviewing Wal-mart employees (in their blog Wal-Marting Across America - one may have been suss just reading the blog title - anyhow….). It was exposed in the end that the two travellers were indeed respected writers being handsomely rewarded for their involvement. This obviously caused significant negative publicity to both Edelman and Wal-mart.
Whether you are working with a social network such as Facebook, or utilising blogs as part of a greater social media strategy keeping it focussed and truthful I would suggest is imperative. By not doing this you run the risk of causing more harm than good
7) Know your limits
Many organisations go into a campaign with good intentions however by underestimating the potential workload required in order to manage a social media project, they limit the potential of the campaign as a whole.
Blogs for example are not a short term solution and require dedication in terms of content generation, keyword focus and planning. A one off post is not going to provide you with the SEO enhancements you require, nor the perception within the industry as a thought leader. If you do not have the time to dedicate to your proposed solution, either revise your social media requirements, or source appropriately.
8) Get an expert
A recent survey across North America, France and the U.K has found that agencies typically don’t “get” social media. The problem I would add however is that may clients don’t either. Social Media experts are few and far between however it only takes a look around may of the social media implementations out there, and some of the bad uses of Youtube, to see how a badly implemented campaign can fail.
For this reason alone, if your not comfortable in the social media arena, get someone who is. They are worth their weight in gold.
9) Test, Learn & Refine
As with any other facet of online marketing, it is imperative to take the old analogy ‘Test, Learn, Refine’. There are very few people out there that will get things completely right first time, and ongoing thorough analysis of reaction and perception of your social media campaign will mean you can react to any scenario quickly and effectively
10) Give it Time
There is a saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. If you want your social media campaign to work give it time - spend time planning it, spend time implementing it, and give it time to mature.
At the end of the day social media campaigns are only as social as you allow them to be.
Sphere: Related Content
April 21st, 2008
I have heard more and more offline advertising agencies starting to take note of the unquestionable potential of a well structured and well implemented social media campaign, however there is always a degree of fear and trepedation when I hear people talking of social media, as for every success story there are a very good handful of ‘crash and burners’.
There is such a vast array of social media options out there, however it is probably worth defining exactly what social media is in the first instance. According to Wikipedia
“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings.”
and goes onto say
“Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google Groups (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (social networking and microblogging) and other microblogs are Jaiku and Pownce. Many of these social media services can be integrated via Social network aggregation platforms like Mybloglog, a Yahoo property, Blogcatalog, and Plaxo.”
So great we now know what Social Media is but how do we go about creating a successful campaign. Well…
1) Know your audience
Personally I would say this is the most important part of your social media strategy, and probably the most logical. There is no point advertising an alcoholic drink on Bebo (I do add I doubt you would be allowed anyhow), however the more mature demographic using Facebook could provide you with a sustained stream of traffic (in the right context). However get this area wrong, and not only could you face a lack of traffic, but also potentially a volatile audience or worth widespread critisism which potentially could affect you in other areas, such as search engine results.
2) Do your homework
Find out what each social media channel can offer you. For example - Facebook allows advertisers to use a variety of different ways to advertise to potential customers including social ads, and facebook groups and pages, MySpace has started selling music and linkedin allows Q&A’s between likeminded business professionals. Each channel has its own ‘behaviour’ so understand how each works and whether this is suitable for your organisation.
3) What is being said already.
One good way of ‘dipping your toe in’ is to see what has already been said about you. This - particularly for larger organisations - can give you a valuable overview of where your organisation currently sits particularly if your proposed campaign is project based, and aimed at raising the profile of your organisation or changing perceptions.
4) What do you want to get out of it
Advertisers have different requirements and expectations from their social media campaigns. Is it purely brand awareness you want out of the campaign, or do you want a source of convertable traffic to your site. Do you want to be seen as innovators in your sector, or is creative tone of voice important to you.
5) Identify the best channels.
Sometimes your social network or social media channel is not the one you want, or potentially your ideal solution doesn’t fit into a pre-defined box. If you have undertaken many of the above steps, this will probably highlight a potential channel or channels as suitable options.
Social Media takes time and above all effort, however there is no doubting its potential effectiveness.
Sphere: Related Content
April 19th, 2008
