Smart folks are already gearing up their PR and comment opportunities for the end of the year review articles and blog posts, so I had one of those questionnaires through from a friendly agency the other day. The questions got me thinking, so I thought I’d share my answers here too…
What’s the one thing about social media that you know now that you wish you’d known a year ago?
I’m a PR man by trade, and no one ever went into PR because they were good at maths. So the fact that I have become an evangelist for analytics and data in communications programmes over the past year is a bit of a shock, even to myself.
The most important thing I’ve learned in the last year - so I guess I would like to have learned it earlier if I could have done - is that to develop strategy for brands in social media you need numbers and stories in equal measure. And when you are developing programmes thinking about how you will measure is as, if not more important than creative concepts.
It was around November last yar when my colleague Jason Ryan joined the iCrossing team to lead on data analysis and user experience and at about the same time I saw a Forrester presentation about under-used analytics data was by business. Combining our approaches in social media qual research with this data driven approach has accelerated everything we do related to social media both in terms of understanding networks better and developing new services for clients.
Who or what has been your social media hero/villain of 2008 and why?
Dell continues to be my hero brand in social media. Why? Because they are continuing to evolve their marketing and business strategy as a result of engaging in networks. Andy Lark, their Global VP of Marketing says social media’s the most important thing Dell is doing right now. Dell’s an inspiration to me and continues to be so.
In terms of individuals, Clay Shirky’s my hero of the year. His book Here Comes Everybody was a great pulling together of ideas about how the social web is changing everything.
Brands need to stay ahead of the game in social media – what three pieces of advice would you give a brand for 2009?
We have three rules in the iCrossing social media team which we think of as the starting point for all brands:
1. Understand your networks: Where are the networks of people and communities online that are important to you? How do they work individually and as a whole?
2. Be useful to your networks: How can you be a legitimate part of the networks that matter to you? What value can you add by listening, conversing, creating etc?
3. Be live in your networks: Be present, be adaptive. understand how your online world is evolvig and be prepared to adapt and change accordingly.
What are the big technology trends that will shape social media in 2009?
Mobile web: iPhone - and most likely Android - are going to become more important. New uses of the social web and new services will arrive as a result.
Location based services: This is a particular element which is set to rapidly evolve social media and related services.
Broadband tenure: The steady progress of more and more people having broadband at home for longer means that numbers of people engaging with social media in more sophisticated ways will grow.
