TheWayoftheWeb

Content and Digital Marketing Specialists

social media

Businesses use social media for the common good

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For businesses, there are a couple of main ways to use social media for marketing purposes. One is to simply use the tools to get permission from fans and followers to feed out information and links, generally driving traffic back to your main site.

The other way is to engage with consumers and the public to use social media for something which could in theory benefit all parties, and boost the market the business operates in.

One example of the feed approach is Dell Outlet, which essentially streams details of the latest Dell offers onto Twitter. Followers interested in buying a Dell can opt-in to receive those messages.

An example of attempting to build value for the business, the public, and the market as a whole is a campaign starting today by building company Rok. Rather than feeding out information, the company is promoting a campaign to reduce VAT on property repair work from 17.5% to 15%. Obviously that has a benefit for any building company, including Rok, but it could also benefit the general public who might be encouraged to improve their current lodgings rather than risking more debt by constantly moving.

And they’re using the main routes for a campaign like this – there’s a campaign on the Downing Street petitions website, there’s a blog , a Twitter profile, a Facebook page, and the most interesting aspect in reaching people who might be useful networkers for the campaign, a Linked In group.

Neither route is wrong for a business – Dell Outlet has made direct revenue for Dell, and as an Opt In To Follow option, only those people interested will be receiving the messages, and they can opt out anytime – plus it’s surrounded by other Twitter and social media accounts and efforts which take a more mutually beneficial approach. And it’s that mutually beneficial approach, as used by Rok, which seems to be the growing future of marketing campaigns (As opposed to marketing which is built into the product itself). It’s quick, it’s easy, and it has benefits for the company concerned, the public, and potentially other groups and organisations could also come out in support to build awareness. The question is whether the Government is in a position to listen and act on the growing volume of direct contacts from the nation?

Speaking, presenting, writing, and catching up…

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I’m finally able to do something to assuage my blog guilt, after a week of some great meetings and working hard on a lot of cool stuff which unfortunately I can’t share just quite yet…

But I can share a very nice testimonial from Julian Thorne, Managing Director of Dovetail after they kindly let me present at their client conference recently…

‘Dan is incredibly knowledgeable about the social networks in all their myriad guises. He also has that rare ability to enthusiastically inform the uninitiated without ever being patronising’

You might not have heard, but my blogging absence coincided with some small computer and phone company launching some kind of computing device. Hence a post about what it could mean on the One Golden Square blog. Which led to the pleasure of writing a bit of a follow up on the Music Week site. And I’m also flattered by the fact Michael Leis credited me with inspiring his latest post on the iPad. (Incidentally, Michael has been on a bit of a roll with his blog posts recently – some great writing about the usage of APIs for example. Well worth reading/subscribing to).

On balance all that good stuff, this was the week when my Xbox decided to encounter the dreaded ‘Error 74’ – which basically means it has self-destructed just out of the warranty Microsoft specifically extended to three years to counter the fault. That means a £68 repair bill or buying a new Xbox in the post-Christmas month notorious for sending people into debt anyway.

What’s been interesting is that I don’t actually miss playing video games during my enforced break (I have to admit to also owning a PS2, PS, Dreamcast, N64, Sega Saturn, SNES, NES, Megadrive, Master System and various other consoles and computers if needed – reverting to the geek stereotype).

But I really miss the social side of online gaming. Particularly as a core group of friends who I rarely see in real life have all been online every time I’ve logged onto Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It’s the fact I’m now barred from this interaction which is the stressful part, and the reason that I’m rebalancing the family budget to accommodate a solution asap.

It makes me wonder about the effect of a more complete disconnection – I’m still online and keeping up with my social life on Twitter, Facebook, forums etc – it’s purely the team-based adrenalin of online warfare I’m missing… But between work, commuting, writing for my personal projects and family life, it’s the one vicarious bit of entertainment in my life at the moment.

Still, it’s spurred me into arranging a couple of drinks with some friends, so I guess it’s not all bad…

Making millions on Twitter

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If you’re looking for an example of a significant financial return on Twitter, then Dell has long been used as an example – and you can expect it to be quoted even more often after revealing revenues have now risen to $6.5 million globally via Twitter.

Of course that requires almost 1.5 million followers for their main @DellOutlet account, Dell Canada, the $800,000 from @DellnoBrasil and over $150,000 from @DellHomeSalesCA , but it’s still a mightily impressive amount.

Key points for the future from Dell Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca?

  • Streamline our presence in social media networks, create meaningful content for customers and continue to increase our connections with them in those places
  • Focus on building a tighter integration between Dell.com, Support.Dell.com, our Dell Community sites with our presence in social networks
  • Continue our focus on scaling support of social media initiatives into the Dell business units

There’s a few more bits on the Dell post worth reading.

Targeting any male readers of my blog…

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There are two reasons for mentioning Movember (or reminding you if you’re already heard about it).

The first is that 35,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the UK alone. It tends to affect men over 50, but can affect younger men (although rare), and if you want to read some of the details of what it’s like, blogger Jeff Jarvis recently shared his experiences.

The second reason, which isn’t quite as important, is that it’s a great example of something which has spread from a few blokes in Australia to a word-of-mouth and social phenomenon across the globe. Because it’s funny, in a good cause, and easy to get involved with just by growing a moustache, which then becomes a walking billboard effectively.

And if something is easy and fun it’s pretty hard not to support isn’t it?

So stop reading this, and get over to www.movember.com. Now.

Don’t worry about me…

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There’s no need to worry about me, if you’re a company I buy products or services from.

After all, I’m just one person – you’ll barely notice the difference if I stop buying things from you. At most, I might make the buying decision for a family of three, so you won’t lose that much cash – particularly if you’re a global corporation.

Don’t worry about the things that matter – reliable products, good service, etc – I’m easy to replace with a bit of advertising or marketing. And with the internet these things are so cheap to do. This new ‘social media’ stuff means you could replace me for free, even if you’ve always just though of the internet as something for geeks and nerds – you just concentrate on email and checking one or two business sites to keep an eye on your share price.

And whatever do you, don’t worry about the fact that I’m able to tell the world about why I stopped my consumer relationships with you, and what exactly caused me to go to your competitors – quickly, for free, and able to spread indefinitely via search, social media, even news websites. And the fact I can use text, audio, video, photography to support what I’m doing.

You just relax and close your eyes.

It will all be over soon…

 

 

(This post is dedicated to the lost sales we’ll never see again – which in the last week have varied from a couple of pounds to a potential five figure sum – all lost down to bad service or products…)

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