Engage by polar unlimited

A SUMM ARY OF

ENGAGE

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Introduction This is the encyclopedia of social media There are very few people who can claim to have moved the use and understanding of social media further than Brian Solis. Brian understood - sooner than most - that the web 2.0 revolution was going to change the way we communicate to consumers. Forever. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s written about the topic before - most notably in his book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, and quite regularly on his blog at www.brainsolis.com. His latest book, Engage, is the most comprehensive book written to date on this topic, and answers almost any question you could possibly have about social media and how communications professionals can use it to their advantage. So buckle up, and get ready for a tour de force on where social media has been and where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heading.

INTRODUCTION WELCOME TO THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Lesson #1 Social Media Creates Publishers There have been so many different definitions of “social media” that we’d forgive you for not quite understanding what the term social media actually means. If you had asked Brian (the author of this great book) this question a few years ago, he might have said that “social media is any tool or service that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations”. Ask him today and he’d tell you that: Social media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers. The difference between the first definition and the second is incredibly important to pay attention to. Just a few short years ago, social media was just a collection of tools that kids and techies paid attention to. Just a few short years ago you had no idea what Facebook, Twitter or Youtube actually were. Today, we realize that they are bringing a complete transformation in how we communicate. Consumers are no longer people to be talked at or manipulated. Today, they can talk back. Today, they can organize revolts against your company, and sometimes even your advertising. But today, they can also help you define the next big product or service in your industry. Today, they can help you reach millions of people for the cost that it takes to reach hundreds. Think of it this way. There are 3 things you could do once receiving a message. First, you could do nothing. Since the dawn of advertising, this was the default state. Sure, you may convince me to buy a product when I see it in your store, but it’s most likely I would keep your message to myself. Second, you could take offense to the message and talk back. Worse, you could organize your friends in a mass revolt of the company that sent the message. Third, you could be inspired by the message (or entertained, etc) and pass it on to the thousands of people you are connected to in your social networks. Sure, this is an oversimplification, but for the most part it’s correct. You’ll notice that options two and three were not available to us up until very recently. The point is that the brands and companies that notice this huge shift - and shift their thinking about communications accordingly, will increasingly become the companies that win. As Brian tells us, social media needs to become a much larger part of our communications strategy, and that parts two and three are going to happen with or without you. Take that definition and tape it to your wall.

LESSON #1 SOCIAL MEDIA CREATES PUBLISHERS

Lesson #2 Your customers are using social media. It’s likely that at some point you’ve been exposed to the debate about whether or not your customers are using social media. It’s a common argument, and a logical one at that. So let’s look at it. Forrester, a marketing and technology research company, has some great data on this point. First, consider that one report they published found that four in five adults (82%, to be exact) in the United States now participate socially. That’s an impressive number on its own. But lets dig a little further. In 2007, that number was 56%. That means in a couple of very short years, a full 26% of the population has now joined the game. In short, that argument might have held water a couple of years ago. Not any more. Now that we have conclusive evidence that a large number of the people you are trying to connect with use social media, let’s take a look at what people are doing in the social media space. Forrester also published a study that groups these people on rungs of their “Social Technograhpic Ladder”. Here are the diﬀerent categories your customers potentially fall in to: Inactives: you don’t participate in social media. That number today is 44% (as already discussed) Spectators: you only read blogs, listen to podcasts or watch online videos. That number today is 73%. Note that you can be in more than one category. Joiners: you have a profile on a social network like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Today that number is 51%. In 2007 it was 25%. Big shift. Collectors: you use RSS readers or alerts to bring the content from around the Internet to you in one localized place. Today, that number is 21%. Critics: you post reviews on websites about things that you have purchased. Today, that number is 37%. Creators: you actively create content for the web, including (but not limited to) blogs, podcasts and videos. Today, that number is 24%. We’ve gone from a world where there were a handful of television networks, newspapers, magazines and radio stations producing the content that we all consume, to about one quarter of the population of people in North America joining the game. Wow.

LESSON #2 YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Lesson #3 Define an online persona Here are 5 very important questions Brian urges us to ask as we create our online persona: What is it that we want to accomplish? Seems obvious, right? But for far too many people, “getting a Facebook page” or “getting a Twitter account” is a substitute for sound business strategy. So, first things first, understand what you want to accomplish with your social media plan. Sure, there will be happy surprises when you start engaging that you can’t even imagine at the moment, but “because you never know what might happen” doesn’t pass muster with many people who fund social media projects. One note of caution: be as specific as possible with this one. Growing revenues or cutting costs isn’t a strategy any more than “breathing air tomorrow morning” is. How do we wish to be viewed? This is another great question to consider before you jump into social media as a company. Once again, the social media experts might tell you to just “be yourself”. That’s fine if you are selling stamps from your basement. But if you are going to be interacting with your organization’s customers and potential customers, you probably want to think about this one a little bit harder. How are we contributing to the depiction of the brand? To take the last question a little further - how are the things you will be doing in social media reflect on the brand? Perhaps you can use social media to counteract a seemingly false perception of your brand. Or maybe you are completely happy with how your customers view you, and you want your social presence to add to this perception. Whatever you do, make sure your social media strategy ties back into your business and communication strategy. What do we stand for and what are our core values? Again, this seems like is should be obvious, but to most people, it isn’t. For instance, if you work at Zappos, you’d probably want to make sure that whatever you did online on behalf of the company connected back to one of your companies’ 10 core values. Where do we stand in these social networks, as it relates to the culture of each, and where do I as a spokesperson fit into the mix? Before you hop into the different social networks that are at your disposal, you’ll want to consider the differing cultures of each network. those countries. There are cultures and norms in each of the different social networks. Understanding them before you head out and “engage” will be critical to your success. 10

LESSON #3 DEFINE AN ONLINE PERSONA

Lesson #4 Defining the rules of engagement So you’ve done your homework and are ready to jump in to the conversation. Now you’ll want to define the “rules of engagement”. One of the concerns many companies have is how to “control” what employees do with social media, and are concerned over letting go of their brand to the masses. Ignoring the fact that these conversations will happen with or without you, the way around that is to define the ground rules that your employees will abide by. There are plenty of great examples to find in this book and online. Just type “social media policy” into your favourite search engine and you’ll find many diﬀerent examples to choose from. Although you’ll want to make sure that your policy contains a lot of the dos and don’t from a company perspective, you’ll also want to include some proactive advice on how to succeed. Here are some of my favourites from Brian’s book: Participate where your presence is advantageous and mandatory; don’t just participate anywhere and everywhere. Consistently create, contribute to, and reinforce service and value. Keep in mind that there are many diﬀerent potential uses of social media - to communicate in the traditional sense, to provide customer service, even to collaborate with your customers. Learn from each engagement. This is new ground for everybody, and we have no idea where the next 5 years will take us. A test and learn approach to the medium is critical for your success. Establish and nurture beneficial relationships online and in the real world as long as public perception and action is important for your business. Remember, social media is not all about typing on a computer. Use it to connect and engage with your stakeholders in the physical world as well.

LESSON #4 DEFINING THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

What’s next? Buy the Book! Of course, you know that a summary of a book is no replacement for the book itself. If you’ve found this summary particularly intriguing, I hope you’ll go out and buy a copy. Here are a few places you’ll likely find it for sale: www.amazon.com www.amazon.ca www.800ceoread.com www.chapters.indigo.ca www.bookdepository.co.uk PS: these are not aﬃliate links, and we truly hope you’ll consider buying this book. We only include books that we’ve read and applied to our own business, and believe that this book has at least one game-changing idea in it for you.

WHAT’S NEXT? BUY THE BOOK