a brief introduction to social media
Social media refers to a category of sites that is based on user participation and
user-generated content. They include social networking sites like
LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social
news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on
user interaction. People use these tools and technologies to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.
Some examples of these media are blogs, wikis, podcasts, videocasts, social bookmarking, social networking sites and forums.
The emergence of these new tools has changed the way the World Wide Web works. No longer is the content on the Web determined by those who have the technical expertise to build a website, or the financial resource to pay someone to build a website. Thanks to social media, which has democratised the Web as a publishing platform, consumers have become prosumers - simultaneous consumers and producers of content - who build personal digital portfolios instantaneously and unedited on sites like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and others.
This tipping point in technological innovation, and the impact it is having on connected human beings, is both an unprecedented opportunity and enormous challenge to companies and brands around the world.
Never before have consumers had the ability to spread messages (good or bad) and impact brands as profoundly as they have in the last few years, thanks to the viral and hyperlinked nature of the Internet.
How will you respond?
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Staff blog posts
BULLETS WITH BEALE: Social Media updates, in easily digestible portions
Submitted by John Beale on Wed, 2012-05-16 15:56
Today, a quick overview on GM pulling their Facebook ads
Here’s a very interesting read on GM pulling their advertising from Facebook:
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-worst-nightmare-with-gm-pulling-its-ads-heres-how-the-other-dominoes-may-fall-2012-5
The decision was made for two different reasons:
Community; love, loss and letting go
Submitted by Zahira Kharsany on Fri, 2012-05-11 14:34
It's better to have had community love and let go, then to never have had community love at all.
As a community manager, you know you’re doing something right when your community starts to grow organically and regulate itself - Its bliss; the sought after life where community managers only need to create gripping, informative and engaging content.
So what’s the hardest part of being a content and community manager? Letting go! Letting go of a community that you’ve spent an incredible amount of time cultivating and getting to know. A community that will either move to another agency or be taken in-house, as that’s seems to be the route social is going.
Crowd-sourced justice
Submitted by Reece Jacobsen on Thu, 2012-05-10 12:28
Social networks have been making the news lately, unfortunately though, it has been for all the wrong reasons. Both in my job and personal life, I am a massive advocate of social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, although after the news in recent weeks, I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to justify this support.
Two stories stand out for me. The first being the news of the so-called ‘Facebook rapist’ who lured two young models into his trap using the popular social network, and the second being @JessicaLeandra and @Tshiditee’s ridiculous antics on Twitter, sending South Africa into a nationwide racism row.
South African airspace becomes cyberspace
Submitted by Alex de Coning on Tue, 2012-05-08 15:56
In a first for South Africa, Wireless G, together with Mango and Vodacom, bring you Wi-Fi in the sky. By using G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi, Mango Guests can now surf the web when travelling between South Africa’s major centres, at 30, 000 feet.
G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi allows for full Internet connectivity on board Mango’s aircraft, including sending and receiving emails, web browsing as well as the use of all social networks. An air-to-land SMS service will also be available, managed through a web service.
Building social communities: the NOT campaign opportunity
Submitted by Craig Rodney on Mon, 2012-05-07 14:07
The quiet moments between a company’s hyped marketing and communication campaigns are overlooked and under-valued marketing opportunities. Before the rise of social media it was acceptable to ignore these moments, but we now have the tools and the techniques to convert this ”downtime” into an opportunity to build loyal communities.
Companies plan out their annual marketing campaigns with the focus of their budget spend on creating big spikes in interest and awareness. The size of the budget determines how many spikes there will be and how high they are, but regardless of the spend, there will always be quiet periods between campaigns that can be converted into customer loyalty gold.
