What is Social Media?
Technical definition, Social media is, “An UMMBRELLA TERM THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT INTEGRTE TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL INTEGRATION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS, PICTURES AND AUDIO.”
Boring!!! Difficult!!! No it’s actually very simple, a layman’s version of what social media stands for, “It is the new real time viral word of mouth. A many to many conversation tat cut across the barriers of time, space and region. Here everybody speaks to everybody. This is about rampant information sharing. Sharing everything and anything from, my dog just rolled over to I just got promoted. It is about people engaging in online conversations.”
The mediums used to spread these conversations/messages could be:
· Blogs
· Microblogs
· Online chat
· RSS
· Widgets
· Social Networks
· Social Bookmarks
· Message Boards
· Podcasts
· Video Sharing Sites
· Photo Sharing Sites
· Wikis
And the list goes on.
The big question therefore…..why is social media so important?
Well the reasons are many but the inescable ones are:
Social networking sites are officially more popular than any other websites
- We have all witnessed this phenomenon first hand, there are more Facebook pages open in the offices at 9am Monday mornings than the official corporate websites
- The reason we knew about Tsunami in ‘real time’ as it happened in Japan was a direct result of social networking, uploads of pictures, videos, update on how many lives were lost, the help needed, how many evacuated all this “just as it happened”……that is the power of social networking sites and a reason attributed to their popularity. Real time connect with Friends, peers, families no matter the logistics
- Apart from real time connect there is staggering research on the online traffic. Some facts and figures…. There are almost
- 4,000,000 articles on Wikipedia alone
- More than 100,000,000 videos on You Tube with 65,000 new videos uploaded everyday
- There are about 200,000,000 blogs, more being created as we speak
- 73% of active online users have read a blog
- 45% have started their own blog
- 39% subscribe to an RSS feed
- 57% have joined a social network
- 55% have uploaded photos
- 83% have watched video clips
- The predictions from Social Media evangelists therefore is that if by 2011 you are not on a social networking site you are not on the internet
- Ever searched for a person, try it, the chances are your result will throw up the person’s facebook profile(i.e if he is on facebook )
- Social Networks unlike a lot of us think, are not a pad. It is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate
- The old communication model was a MONOLOGUE….. TODAY WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF DIALOGUES…. We listen but also want to be heard.
- I absolutely love the food at that new restaurant is the conversation starter the next response might just read “me too, love their bar and dance floor….superb music”. This conversation tells you about what people believe your brand stands for and it is a feedback of how your audience is perceiving you- The question that you need to ask- Is it in tandem with what brand positioning is?
- Content is the new freedom of opinion and everybody is ensuring that their voices are heard- we are becoming the opinion/trend creators and to a large extent…key influencers of opinions.
The other major reason for the popularity of this medium is that 78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers
For Eg:-
o U read an article the other day about how the ipad works, u plan to buy one, will I take cues from the person who has written the article or will u abide by the recommendations of a current user….. we need an inference point and we find that in peer’s and like minded communities
o These other consumers we feel are not product or message driven they are experience driven… therefore the conversations are
· Transparent
· Inclusive
· Authentic
· Most Importantly- Consumer Driven
A reason why it is imperative for the corporate to be a part of the social media chatter is that people are talking about your brand and they are talking right now
o Some interesting facts about brand talks are that
· 34% of online users post opinions about products and brands
· 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs
· 32% trust blogger’s opinion on products and services
- Social Media is going to become more pervasive and become a critical factor in the success or failure of any business
- Also tomorrow’s consumers are today’s digital users.
· The generation Y has already outnumbered the baby boomers and wield 350 billion dollars (a year) of direct spending power
· These prospective consumers spend more than 16 hrs a week online.
· 96% of them can be found on asocial network
· They have an average of 53 online friends and they really care what their friends think.
Blogs will impact all future communications
- Political bloggers sway opinions and bring momentum to campaigns
- Public relation experts analyze media stories and provide alternative commentary
- Executive bloggers speak to employees, customers and potential investors from their blogs
- Employee bloggers sing their company’s praises or attack a company’s reputation
- Internal bloggers use blogs to share resources and disseminate information to employees
- Consumer bloggers share information and reviews about products and brands
- Marketing bloggers discuss new product or service lines
- Job seekers blog to discuss opportunities and search for jobs
Still have some more questions…. Why do social networks matter for a brand?
- MySpace is the 3rd most trafficked website and fastest growing web property
- Three of the top 10 most trafficked websites worldwide are SNS: MySpace, FaceBook and You Tube
- SNS spans all age groups and demographics
- Interaction with individuals and brands via real-time notifications such as integrated instant messaging
- Social networks make the world a smaller place
How will all these social media activations help my brand?
Helps optimize search engines:
- 84% of adult Internet users, use search engines to help them find information
- 88% of those online locate websites using search engines
- 92% of journalists use search engines to research companies and stories
- 62 million searchers type the website name directly into the search box
- According to Jupiter Research, 75% of search engine users never scroll beyond the first page of results, and only 10% go beyond the second.
So not only is it important for your brand to be on the net but also to be in the top ten pop-up’s during net searches. Top of the mind brand recall is as relevant and important on social media as in traditional media landscape.
- Google dominates search engines with 68.9% of the market place and therefore is the most critical search engine to engage if the client is on a small budget.
Leverage your Social Networks
Over the past few years, hotels have invested a great deal of time and resources into growing their follower base on social media sites, making social media an ideal way to move last-minute inventory. Because social media messages need to beshort and sweet, and because you have the opportunity to reach such a high number of people at once, social media can be very effective.
Keep in mind though: with last-minute travel, you may not be able to attract people from further than a few hours away from your destination so we always keep the demographic of your followers in mind when planning which profiles to use and what to offer.
Social media is best used with at least a few days lead-time, giving a hotel the opportunity to post multiple times to ensure the greatest exposure and highest number of bookings possible. Your message can offer a coupon code with a discount off of their stay for the specific days that you're looking to sell or if you aren't able to offer a discount, then consider offering a package deal with value-adds - like free spa packages or champagne - or even tickets to local attractions. Staycations have become very popular so we make sure that your hotel appeal to local followers who may be interested in a last-minute vacation in their own city.
