2020 Social Media for Business: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[samvara]

Talk held at UWA about ... social media use for ... businesses!

Guest panel includes:

- Tenille Bentley, Managing Director, Socialite Media

• INTRODUCTION Data explosion, sense of not being prepared - CMOs - how to create customer loyalty - humanizing brands - consumer driven Phenomenon - Australia largest user of Facebook around the world - not going away - how to capitalize on this? Different view - not talking at people, talking with - consumers more astute, more likely to ask questions
• THE GOOD - local brand, skincare brand - increased followers and 'reach' strong loyal community - create relationships, create trust, create networks - resulted in increased sales / exports - loyal people become brand ambassadors. Power of personal networks!
• THE BAD - the Social Media Suicide (SMS) example dominos pizza - staff youtubed themselves spitting in a pizza - instant global decline in sales - two weeks of traditional media didn't work - CEO youtube response - it's going to happen out there anyway - mitigate risk by engaging
• THE UGLY - vindictive behaviour

- Charlie Gunningham, MBA (UWA) Internet Entrepreneur and Manager, reiwa.com

• Apparently people have networks of about 150 connections - you know where they fit in your life - can get info from them all the time - foursquare used to promote business using swag for mayor - venting on twitter normal - social networks are powerful
• THE GOOD - Facebook is third largest referrer of traffic to reiwa.com
• THE BAD - addictive, need a policy / guideline - can be a huge timewaster

- Clare Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Words That Express

• OMG social media so much to learn - so much risk - moving so fast - need a strategy a framework - deloittes are rock stars in social media - using Yammer - landscape analysis of competitors - things to do: build brand loyalty, recruitment, internal commitment - how
• do you measure return on investment? Commbank is leading the banks - emerging themes and conversations available to review - meet your objectives
• THE GOOD - extensive opportunities, need to a very clear plan - online networks very good for
• THE BAD - face booking about sickies - not so successful - need to educate
• THE UGLY - transition between private and public space can be badly handled

Questions:

1. when to intervene when someone 'has it wrong'. When in ones own space - immediately - when in other spaces (use common sense)
2. Where to learn? Look at what other people are doing, research channels, look at who is doing it well, become part of networks and leverage them, do what you're comfortable with - don't try to do everything.
3. LinkedIn meant people could headhunt our staff - doesn't that prove social media is evil? They could have done that using traditional methods - its not the medium. It's not going away - worth viewing it as an opportunity
4. Isn't social media more for retail companies? Think of it as having access to a 'sphere of influence'
5. Timeline on Facebook - dude misses the landing page for businesses. Forces owners into a different space
6. Google+ future? Not sure
7. Foursquare future? FB is trying to compete.
8. How do you limit your time / energy? Hire an expert :p

Actions and advice!

1. How much time do you want to invest?
2. What is my objective?
3. Talk to experts!
4. Reach out to people you could otherwise not have touched
5. Aim to add value, listen and connect - other benefits will come
6. Be available to have conversations
7. Large org needs a team with a budget

All in all, glad I went but level was pitched a little low for me - was appropriate to some of the audience who had clearly just started coming to grips with the idea of using social media as a work-related tool.