This Week in Social Media” Hot Topics: Week of Jan. 18

January 19th, 2010
by Greg Straface

Each week, the PJA research department surveys current topics in social media. A couple of these stories become the main topic for our weekly Internet radio show, This Week in Social Media. Here is a list of stories that we think are worth knowing about.

1. The New Social Gurus

  • Lately big brands are on the hunt for help in figuring out their approaches to connecting with consumers on social networks.
  • Social media has created a muddied playing field that some see as ripe for creating agency opportunities.
  • Powered, a vendor of brand community sites, last week rolled up three different social media agencies to form a 70-person social shop.
  • Powered joins a new crop of social-media-focused firms that hope to outmaneuver established digital agencies by focusing on new opportunities like Facebook and Twitter rather than typical Web shop offerings that also include banners and microsites.
  • Now the question for social media firms is whether they’ll translate the short-term demand for Facebook pages, Twitter campaigns and audits of social chatter about a brand into a long-term strategic business.

2. Why Social Media Isn’t for Everyone

  • Social media is creating a giant food-mill of collective meaning-making where we are defining the significance of new terms and putting our arguments to the test.
  • Lately people have become increasingly aware of the oversimplified answers that social media consultants apply, often regardless of business context.
  • All too often the person making the social media investment has a narrow mandate that exists within a parochial frame of reference. And all too often the company has not thought through what its response to criticism will be.
  • Don’t join the conversation if you just want to make your quarterly numbers. Don’t create a Facebook Fan Page if your product is a letdown. Don’t use Twitter if your intern will be running the campaign. Don’t engage in social media if you aren’t prepared to change in the bargain.

3. A New Approach to China

  • In mid-December, Google detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.
  • A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
  • Google has taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience because the information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech.
  • Google launched Google.cn in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed the discomfort in agreeing to censor some results.
  • The recent attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered have led Google to conclude that they should review the feasibility of their business operations in China and no longer censor results on Google.cn.

4. 7 Social Media Roles You Haven’t Considered

  • There are many potential roles that can integrate or represent social media alongside other business areas. Considering these is one of the primary way to really integrate and entrench social media and its implications throughout the business.
  • Social Phone Operator
  • Lead Generation
  • Social Business Development
  • Social Customer Service & CRM
  • Internal Community Manager
  • Social Logistics/Operations Managers
  • Analysts

5. Coke Drops Campaign Sites in Favor of Social Media

  • Coca-Cola and Unilever are shifting their digital focus away from traditional campaign sites and towards community platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.
  • While both companies will continue creating campaign sites for certain brands, they have said the long-term future lies with social media on platforms populated by their target consumers.
  • Coca-Cola will position its official Facebook and YouTube pages as the lead online channels for upcoming international activity, stating that they would like to place their brands where people are, rather than dragging them to their platform.
  • Unilever’s senior global manager said, “It’s natural online to go to the place where people are already consuming media. It’s less effort to ask people to leave an environment they are already in.”
  • The shift has caused some digital media specialists to question the long-term future of the campaign sites.

6. Viral Watch: Team Conan or Team Leno? Either Way, NBC is Dying

  • NBC has tried to embrace viral marketing by launching multiple campaigns for shows, but it seems that NBC is now shooting themselves in the foot.
  • Though they didn’t “launch” a campaign this time, their recent handling of the Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien problem has caused quite a stir on social networks, creating a negative campaign against the already dying NBC.
  • The debacle has shown the negative impact of viral consumers. Social networks are a powerful thing, and not completely understood by companies like NBC.

7. How Brands Are Becoming the Media (And Why Your Brand Should Probably Do the Same)

  • The hottest trend in brand marketing right now is brands bypassing traditional media outlets in favor of creating their own private media platforms. In other words, brands are becoming the media.
  • Savvy marketers have realized that for the same price they once paid for a glossy ad or 30-second TV spot, they can now own their fully branded publication, video series, or interactive online platform.
  • Audiences are continuing to become more dispersed, creating an urgent need for brands to spread their efforts across channels to capture the attention of their target audiences.
  • People are more comfortable getting their news from multiple sources – a perfect environment for any business thinking about stepping in and becoming a trusted source of information.

8. Which Came First: The Fan Page or the Fan?

  • For brands, having clout within socially driven media environments is now equally important as having a strong presence within search driven media. If you are not present on Facebook, you will not be present in the lives of many of your consumers.
  • The question is, are the numbers of fans on a Facebook page really indicative of something that will effect positive change in a brand’s bottom line, or have we reverted back to the mentality prevalent earlier this decade: a mentality that cherished “hits.”
  • The real value to brand marketers is the interaction they have with the fans.
  • Marketers interested in a purely quantitative approach may need to reexamine their use of social media.

9. 7 Questions Key to Social Networking Success

  • Are my competitors continuing to invest in social networking?
  • Where’s the ROI?
  • Which way works best?
  • How deep within my organization should social networking be allowed to penetrate?
  • Is it necessary to have a corporate policy around social networking?
  • What can social media teach me about internal collaboration?
  • What’s next?

10. Coakley Ignores Obama’s Digital-Media Playbook in Massachusetts

  • President Obama redefined political campaigning with a digital media strategy that took full advantage of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but those lessons appear to have been lost on fellow Democrat Martha Coakley.
  • Online, there’s really no contest: It’s all Brown, all the time.
  • It’s not clear how visibility in social media translates to votes, but Mr. Brown has been aggressive on social networks while Ms. Coakley has been nowhere.
  • When Obama visited Massachusetts last weekend to rally support for Ms. Coakley, Coakley supporters were surprised the campaign didn’t let anyone know about the rally on Twitter.
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