Social Media & Business Applications

Keith Feighery: Digital Media Strategist

Overview of social media

• Use of social technologies to:• Communicate, engage, develop and be part of

communities – Internally and externally for organisations

• Create and share content and information across networks

• Build and extend social networks through interaction

• Listen and participate in discussions, threads and develop ideas and relationships

• Learn from community (crowdsourcing)

Benefits to small business

• Directly engage with existing and potential customers• Reduce media spend• Relative ease of set up and engagement

• Big investment of time

• Freely available tools and utilities– As well as proprietary third party tools

• Measurable statistics to gauge impact and success (or lack of)• Facebook Insights, GoogleAnalytics, Twitter Apps, Url

Shorteners etc..

• Social media allows small business to create a presence online that outweighs offline

Associated risks

• Loss of control of the conversation– Two way communication– Openly negative transmissions

• Brands criticised for using social channel as a marketing or PR conduit

• Can be a difficult persona for businesses to adopt– Reveal a human voice of a corporate identity

• What it is that voice?

• Starting – and then not following through – Very common as social media is time consuming– Inevitable criticism

Social Media Landscape

Key Platforms

• Social Networks

– Facebook, MySpace, Bebo (Main ones in US and Europe)

• Blogging/Micro-Blogging/RSS

– WordPress, TypePad, Twitter, Tumblr, Yammer, GoogleReader

• Video, Audio & Photo sharing

– YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, etc..

– Flickr, MugShot, Photobucket

– Podcasts & Videocasts

• Profile/Status management

– GoogleProfile, Ping.fm,

• Bookmarks/Tagging/Rating

– Delicious, Sharing and Rating Widgets, StumbleUpon

• Collaboration/Document based Networks

– Wikis, Shared Workspaces, Forums, Commenting Networks, Slideshare.net

Blogs

Twitter

Social Networks

Professional Networking

Video Sites

Photosharing Sites

Bookmarking, Sharing & RSS

Documentation

Aggregators, Status & Profiles

Recent Irish case studies of brands engaging with social media

The Big Switch

Blacknight

Pat The Baker

SandTex – Ireland Deserves Sun

Toyota Ireland

Murphys Ice cream

HairyBaby

Paddy Power

Case studies of brands not listening and managing digital crisis

Domino’s

United Airlines

Marks and Spencers

The Power of Social Media

TSA – Agent took my child (US)

Stuff White People Like

Tube Worker abuses Traveller

Best Job In the World

International case studies of brands engaging with social media

Evian

Volkswagen

American Red Cross

Charmin “Go” Campaign

Zappos

Ford - FiestaMovement

Coca Cola “206 Expedition”

Skittles

Dell

Starbucks

Best Buy

H & M

Thank You