It’s funny how sometimes something sticks in your head as an action or placeholder for something you want to do. Well, a few months ago I had heard my friend Sherrilynne talk about a set of stages that organisations go through in their jounrey to adopting Social Media. I ended up digging around and found her source, a most excellent post by Brian Solis called The 10 Stages of Social Media Integration in Business.

In a nutshell, the 10 stages are:

• Stage 1: Observe and Report
• Stage 2: Setting the Stage
• Stage 3: Socialising Media
• Stage 4: Finding a Voice and a Sense of Purpose
• Stage 5: Putting Words into Action
• Stage 6: Humanizing the Brand and Defining the Experience
• Stage 7: Community
• Stage 8: Social Darwinism
• Stage 9: The Socialization of Business Process
• Stage 10: Business Performance Metrics

It’s a thought provoking piece, and if you read nothing else today, read THIS. And I mean really read it; don’t skim through it, savour every word and ponder on its significance. It will give you a deeper understanding of the journey we’re all heading through.

Here are the slides from the presentation:

• My opening slides with some example of different technologies.
• Social SharePoint – A Case Study

I hope you find them interesting.

Check it out:

Robert Scoble, blogger and entrepreneur, discusses his thoughts on how ideas spread. The public session was part of the Stanford GSB marketing course, the Power of Social Technology (Dr. Jennifer Aaker). A panel of experts, including Robert Scoble, MC Hammer, and Loic LeMeur, discussed how social media can build successful brands.

It’s been interesting to watch this subject develop, from the early days of blogging all the way through to today. Blogging opened up self-publishing to the masses and coupled with a cheap camcorder one could even start to produce videos. Business has had to come to terms with User Generated Content, the ability for consumers to air feelings and opinions openly and the wide proliferation of information. It’s been a fun journey so far, and we’re still at the beginning. I’m just happy to be riding the wave!

• The many challenges of Social network sites
• Appreciating the challenges of social networking sites

The great thing about these sites is that they offer easy access to companies to meet their target demographic. Regardless whether you’re a mainstream player like CocaCola or a niche market like a small company selling hgh spray, social networks put you in touch with the people who matter most to your business: your customers.

With social media entering every part of our lives, both personal and professional, it’s a great opportunity to meet and discuss ideas with people working in this space. It doesn’t matter if you’re starting a company blog for a finance firm, or setting up a Twitter account for a disability appeal product or just interested in using Social Media to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing, come and join us and learn more. You can read more about it here.

The truth is, Social Media channels are really just one of a number of channels that exist today. They need to form part of your marketing plan, and not replace any previous campaigns you had without due consideration and careful thought. Look at where your audience is heading and that will give you an indication of to where you need to go. Social Media is becoming the place to be for many companies .. but not all of them. Which one are you>

I came across an interesting post the other day that puts together an action plan of how one should tackle a new social media engagement, specifically around a marketing engagement. Here are the steps it defines:

1. Understand what social media is: First of all you need to learn about social media and the different channels that make it up. Remember that these change over time. Twitter wasn’t important a year ago and who know what will be next year.
2. Understand what social media can and can’t do: It’s not a magic bullet that can cure all ills, and it’s very hard to get a hard ROI off it. Understand what benefits you’re looking for, whether it’s conversion or just brand awareness and apply them to the medium,
3. Determine where conversations are happening: Put some effort into analysing the ecosystem. There are a number of social media monitoring tools out there that you can use to understand where conversations are happening.
4. Divide .. : Decide which social networks you’re going to target. Based on capabilities, usage and profiles this will be a selection rather than the whole set.
5. and Conquer: Implement your strategy across the channels you have selected and using the mechanisms you have decided. Remember that each channel is different and what works in one may not work in another. Don’t forget to define what you consider a success in each channel.
6. Trust in the Force: Social engagement is all about Trust. You need to gain this from your channels and it’s awfully easy to lose. So be sincere and honest in your relationship as this is the key to your success.

These steps are important whether you’re promoting Britney Spears or just trying to sell social security disability online, and following a plan is always better than jumping in without looking.

Some interesting ideas in there. What do you think?

This increased granularity is extremely important in today’s marketplace. There’s no debate that the market has moved from mass markets to mass customisation to personalisation of products and services. Social Media takes marketing down the same route. The article raises 4 questions that marketeers need to ask to any social media site they plan to target:

• What proportion of the site’s content is community generated versus content generated by the site operator or third parties?
• Does the community create quality content and how is that quality guaranteed?
• Will my existing online campaigns work on a social media site?
• What technologies or services does the site offer to help marketers target specific demographics or sub-groups?

The wholesale adoption of social media without the necessary analysis and introspection can carry a significant risk of failure. These questions need to be addressed and answered before any successful campaign can be launched.