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How CEO’s Engage in Social Media – a Harvard Study!

barbhorne — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:21:24 +0000

I came across this excellent article that was written by Jeff Bullas regarding a study conducted by Harvard along with some of his opinions based on the statistics.

In the survey they asked questions like

Are professional networks being utilized by decision-makers in business?
Is social media typically regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals?
In what ways do professionals rely on social networks to support business decisions?
Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations?

The survey was administered online to 356 participants via online survey with close to a quarter (23%) are CEO of their organization, 50% are “Director” or “Manager”.

Company size ranged from less than 100 to over 50,000 full-time employees and age was well distributed with the greatest proportion in the 36-45 range, 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US and all respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process.

So what were the “30 Key Findings”

1. Professional decision-making is becoming more social, traditional influence cycles are being disrupted by Social Media as decision makers utilize social networks to inform and validate decisions.

2. Professionals want to be collaborative in the decision-cycle but not be marketed or sold to online, however online marketing is a preferred activity by companies.

3. The big three have emerged as leading professional networks: LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter.

4. The average professional belongs to 3-5 online networks for business use, and LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are among the top used.

5. The convergence of Internet, mobile, and social media has taken significant shape as professionals rely on anywhere access to information, relationships and networks.

6. Professional networks are emerging as decision-support tools.

7. Decision-makers are broadening reach to gather information especially among active users.

8. Professionals trust online information almost as much as information gotten from in-person.

9. Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% – combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust).

10. Reliance on web-based professional networks and online communities has increased significantly over the past 3 years.

11. Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions with reliance increasing essentially for all respondents over the past three years.

12. Social Media use patterns are not pre-determined by age or organizational affiliation with younger (20-35) and older professionals (55+) are more active users of social tools than middle aged professionals.

14. There are more people collaborating outside their company wall than within their organizational intranet.

15. Professionals tend to belong to “Multiple Social Networks” for business with

Half of respondents report participating in 3 to 5 online professional networks
Another three in ten participate in 6 or more professional networks
More than 7% used more than 10 professional networks

16. The Big Three Social Networks Have Emerged as Professional Networks, so popular social networks are now being used frequently as professional communities with

More than nine in ten respondents indicated that they use LinkedIn (91%)
Half reported using Facebook (51%)
Twitter followed closely with (41%)

Note: The closest next channel only scored 13%. Blogs were frequently listed as ‘professional networks’

17. Mobile Is Emerging as a Frequent Professional Networking Access Point with 94% using a PC and 44% using a Mobile.

18. Usage Of Professional Networks Is Increasing

Three quarters of respondents visit their social networks at least daily
Four in ten visit many times each day
All indicated that their usage has increased over the past three years
Those who belong to more online professional networks are more likely to visit many times per day
Small companies are more likely to indicate that they have increased their use significantly

19. Professional Networks Are An Increasingly Essential Decision-Support Tool

Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions
Reliance has increased for essentially all respondents over the past three years

20. High Levels of Trust Exist in Information Obtained From Online Networks

Offline is strengthened by online engagement – to extend relationships and collaborate
Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% – combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust)

21. Connecting And Collaborating Are Key Drivers For Professional Use of Social Media.

22. More than half of respondents expect that in 1-2 years their company will increase social media use to share more content.

23. Over half the respondents will increase social media use to do more company-wide communications.

24. Changes in Company External Use of Social Media with More than half of respondents foresee more marketing programs and content distribution in the next one to two years.

25. Social Media is supplementing the traditional professional decision-making cycle with great affect.

26. The era of Social Media Peer Group (SMPG) has arrived and information will travel at a business velocity that has never been seen before enabled by the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.

27. Challenges are facing marketers who endeavor to mange or control social media network content.

28. Traditional cycles of decision-making are being disrupted by Social Media Peer Group (SMPG) .. I like this new acronym!

29. Managing and influencing professional decision-making will be the major challenge as professionals often do not seek the information that marketers want to share online.

30. The greatest opportunity business has is to engage collaborative influence – via immediacy of impact through social channel.

Privacy and Social Media

barbhorne — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:39:21 +0000

Excellent blog post by Jeff Bulla’s – He was a Top Ten Blogger for 2010!

Companies are coming to terms with the growth and use of Social Media within and without their organisations and some of the companies that I deal with are grappling with its implications and how to use it in a positive way.

Currently only 29% of companies have a Social Media Policy, so I thought it would be good to put together a list of resources that would assist the other 71% to create one.

Firstly, What is a social media policy? Very simply without getting too complicated

“A social media policy outlines for employees the corporate guidelines or principles of communicating in the online world”.

Why Have a Social Media Policy?

According to Eric B. Meyer, who’s an Associate in the Labor and Employment Group of Dilworth Paxson LLP, what companies should consider from a legal perspective in developing a social media policy are.

“Employers need to be upfront with employees that they have no right to privacy with respect to social networking. “Employers reserve the right to monitor employee use of social media regardless of location (i.e. at work on a company computer or on personal time with a home computer).”
Employees “should be made aware that company policies on anti-harassment, ethics and company loyalty extend to all forms of communication (including social media) both inside and outside the workplace.” People need to remember that bashing your organization/boss/co-workers online can lead to consequences at work.”

1. 10 Must Haves For A Social Media Policy – Courtesy of Sharlyn Lauby

She says -”Whether you’re writing your social media policy from the get-go, or letting it develop organically in reaction to situations as they arise, here are 10 things you should definitely consider. These 10 tips will help you steer clear of pitfalls and allow you to focus on what’s important: engaging the customer.”

2. IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines

In the spring of 2005, IBMers used a wiki to create a set of guidelines for all IBMers who wanted to blog. These guidelines aimed to provide helpful, practical advice—and also to protect both IBM bloggers and IBM itself, as the company sought to embrace the blogosphere. Since then, many new forms of social media have emerged. So we turned to IBMers again to re-examine our guidelines and determine what needed to be modified. The effort has broadened the scope of the existing guidelines to include all forms of social computing.

3. 117 Social Media Policies – By Social Media Governance

Here is a list of and access to, social policies and protocols from organisations with documents rivalling “War and Peace” to light and brief.

American Red Cross – NGO
Australian Public Service Commission – Government Agency
Harvard Law School – Legal
Baker and Daniels – rather brief but well written with a dash of humour

4. Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines – by Laurel Papworth

She says “This list also includes policies called; Staff blogging policies, enterprise social network guidelines, Employee Blogging Policies, Staff engagement in online communities, and so on. I’ve done a few press (radio, print) interviews this week re: Telstra so I thought I should have another look at how Enterprise, Government, Corporates, Not for Profits are handling the fact that their staff are members of social networks too”

5. Corporate Top 10 Social Media Guidelines – from Todd Defren’s Blog

He covers how corporate employees’ participation in Social Media can be dealt with and managed in a way that liberates them — without putting the company at risk.

So , what is revealing is that a lot of common sense .. which is what a good policy is based upon, certainly seems to prevail through most of the social media policies, though the length of the policies can vary from the sublime to the adventurous.

What were your challenges in creating a Social Media Policy for your organisation?

Excellent Marketing Tool for Twitter; Relief to all Social Media Mangers!

barbhorne — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:23:20 +0000

I had the opportunity to listen to an excellent presentation about a new tool that is available for managing your Twitter account (s). It is so easy and has a lot of great features. Because I know so many people that are looking for something like this, Below is some addtitional information provided by Supreme Social Media. The tool is called Market Me Tweet -

http://www.supremesocial.com/2010/03/new-twitter-tool-offers-brand-awareness/

How Do You Back Up Your Social Media?

barbhorne — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:29:46 +0000

I read this great blog posted by Diane Rayfield, it is loaded with awesome information about protecting your social media accounts and backing them up!

http://harpsocial.com/2010/03/5-apps-to-backup-your-social-media-accounts/

Thank you Diane!

Diane Rayfield, Harp Social has the certified expertise, tools and social media acumen to take your SEO and social media marketing campaigns to the next level. Find out how we can help you use search marketing and social media more effectively for your business. Email or call 630.691.9500 today to get started today!

Social Media is about making Connections

barbhorne — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:32:32 +0000

I had the opportunity last evening to hear the most amazing and inspiring story that I felt I needed to use what I know in the world of social media to share it. Dr. Chris Coppola, a pediatric surgeon spoke on his personal experiences as a surgeon serving in Iraq. Noticed I said surgeon, because according to Chris, anything was fair game if you were a doctor serving in our military. He has recently published a book that reflects on stories of families both american and from Iraq. What was so amazing to me was not only his strong commitment to his profession – his belief in everyone getting medical care – but how his experience reaffirmed his commitment to his family and how blessed we all are to live in our country. His talk was only 45 minutes, I could have sat there for hours.

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend reviewing his website, he has a short video that gives you a sample of what he saw. Plus a few chapters in his book.

This was my first time meeting Chris and his wife which was an honor in itself. After spending an evening with them both, it reinforced to me that it is all about the connections we make in life that can shape who we are. Of course I came home and immediately went to his website and began following him on Twitter

Chris, thank you for sharing your story and being so inspiring!

Twitter Is the Fastest Growing Social Media Channel Among the Fortune 500, According to New Research Study

barbhorne — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:28:37 +0000

Twitter Is the Fastest Growing Social Media Channel Among the Fortune 500, According to New Research Study

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Facebook and Outlook Might Become one source for your Contacts!

barbhorne — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:21:06 +0000

I love that Outlook has started to embrace social media. The tool that they created to link your contacts from LinkedIn into Outlook is awesome. As I read this blog post, this is an additional advantage for Facebook Fans that we will all get to utilize when it goes live. Talking about building our contact lists… Fast!

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/23/1494574/microsoft-outlook-to-add-social.html

Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing!

barbhorne — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:09:36 +0000

E-Marketer had a great post yesterday speaking to the use of email and social media! We all still like our email but I think this article also shows that social media sites caught up very quickly to a way for people to schedule and confirm their appointments. I know I do! Take a look at the entire article !

This is awesome news – what a great way

barbhorne — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:37:00 +0000

This is awesome news – what a great way to stay connected with everyone on all social networking platforms http://mashable.com/2010/02/17/outlook-facebook-myspace/

12 Auto-Post Tools for Social Media

barbhorne — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:59:04 +0000

This is a great blog I read posted by Jennifer Stalford of YourRealtyPortal.com that states all of the awesome tools there are for posting your social media information. Of course I am a big fan of Hootsuite – especially for the feature of being able to schedule your posts when you are out of town.

But as Jennifer states, what you need to keep in mind is; Although these are time savers for your marketing plan, auto-posts are not positively revered by all social media members. A social media plan only succeeds when the user provides valuable content to that specific community and interacts with those members!

Check out the helpful tools!