Derrick Dean
Communication 6150
June 19, 2011
Social Media Messages
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, for social media messages anyway; a
time of poster boards and number charts, inter-mingled with bad hair, large-rimed eyeglasses and
no internet. It was a time when corporate executives would stand around the water cooler on a
Monday morning explaining in grand detail their exciting weekend in San Francisco or their
dinner and night out on the town in New York City. People would meet each other and
sometimes connect with other people by introducing him or herself in person, usually
accompanied by a formal-like gesture of interlocking their palms, popularly known as shaking
hands. The clamor of business executives and the sound of the hurried Doc Marten step would
radiate throughout the office as ringing telephones and deadlines distracted the attention of those
passing one of many mail couriers from the mailroom who with any luck would soon be
delivering some highly anticipated good news from a potential money making client.
Calling collect your boss, client or friend from a rotary-dial payphone in response to a
message received on your pager to discuss mullets and floppy disks wasn’t considered an
anecdote of the time but commonplace to the ideas and routines of the day. Before the
advancement of dial-up internet and the genius marketing strategy of paying for the
internet by the minute or kilobyte used the business world had not yet stumbled onto the path of
social media messages as we now know it. We take a quick glance
at Ed Calhoon, a vice-president of an advertising agency from the
1960s, who finds himself right in the middle of a project for a new ad
campaign. Mr. Calhoon is trying to figure out the best way to capture
the attention and interest of new clients worldwide by finding the
absolute best conventional marketing strategy that would make his clients product the best and
propel him into being No. 1. Unfortunately for Ed, Mark Zuckerburg, (the founder of Facebook)
and other social media moguls who later will paint the scene with their presence, have not yet
graced the world of social media in the business world and therefore he will have to revert to
primitive and less effective styles and communicate his advertising techniques and ideas with
his clients and the public.
Ed’s assign ment is to promote the new Grime Bar body soap; he will do this through
radio ads, television commercials and print in newspapers,
magazines and billboards. Though his many months of attempts
will sell many boxes of soap and push him higher up the corporate
ladder, his success doesn’t compare to the success of one tweet
from one of today’s top vocal artists, Lady Gaga, who on June 4, 2011 received nearly 200,000
views or responses by simply posting, “Making dinner for my best friend. Killer Monster Food.”
The many weekly tweets by the superstar fashion singer attract millions of fans and help create
hundreds of millions in ticket sales, music downloads and other Lady gaga merchandise; far
more success than any possible idea ever possibly construed by a businessman of the 1960’or for
anyone else prior to the arrival of the internet and social media.
Marketing warfare strategies were limited
prior to the arrival of the internet and social
media when compared to the military marketing
strategies of today or the business applied
technologies of tomorrow. Social Media
mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace
and YouTube clearly define social media; its ever-changing advertising content and convenient
product placement help to set a formal precedent of how the many messages of business are
now taking shape in today’s world of social media.
The effect of Internet use with social media messaging and the social relationships it
encompasses, continues to be a topic of debate. A recent study examined the relationship
between the usage of social media mediums, such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and
others to determine their network size in comparison to their emotional closeness, using a sample
of 117 people between the ages of 18 and 63. The majority of the time these individuals spent
online was with friends, however it also appears that the number of people using these sites for
business related purposes is increasing. This study concluded by demonstrating how by using
social media messaging, people tend to gain a sense of stronger relationships with those they are
communicating, including the many businesses whom are now using social media as well.
A broad range and variety of types of success and failure are present in any organization
with using the world of social media message; there are companies who do it well and many that
lack the apparent gift of social media communication. Intel is one successful company whose
policy on social media messaging has gained popular media attention when it comes to their
expertise and wise regard to policies and procedures when it comes to social media. Intel has set
specific and official guidelines for social media practices including blogs, wikis, social networks,
virtual worlds, and any other kind of social media both off and on intel.com. These guidelines
continue to evolve along with every other part of social media and therefore they require their
employees to adhere to the policies very closely and maintain their professional education by
updating their knowledge frequently.
Social media has up-and-coming platforms for online communication; this information is
changing rapidly, often monthly and sometimes daily. Intel, among other emerging companies
believe that social networking and computing can more effectively link more successful business
relationships, helping them to become stronger and take part in international communication.
Intel has created some guidelines they enforce to ensure their success in the social media world;
a few of these guidelines state:
- Stick to your area of expertise and provide unique, individual perspectives on what’s going on at Intel and in the world.
- Post meaningful, respectful comments—in other words, no spam and no remarks that are off-topic or offensive.
- Always pause and think before posting. They said, reply to comments in a timely manner, when a response is appropriate.
- Respect proprietary information and content, and confidentiality.
- When disagreeing with other’s opinions, keep it appropriate and polite.
- Know and follow the Intel Code of Conduct and the Intel Privacy Policy.
Many companies these days are slowly beginning to integrate the traditional style of
social communication with the new social media styles.
Dentyne for example recently came out with a new ad
campaigning the new integrating the traditional emotion
style of social messaging; it uses the traditional because
it causes emotion and uses the social media messages by
incorporating the well-known “friend request accepted”
saying. This is a brilliant style of incorporating the two
methods because it creates a sense of automatic trust and
familiarity with the product. What’s even more
important is that it stands out to the younger generation; Silver Patron, a popular alcoholic
beverage also uses social networking to
promote their product. This ad creates an
elegant appearance for the younger
generations and integrates its use with social
media including text messaging.
T-Mobile also recently created an ad campaign in London, England when they used text
messaging as their preferred medium in social media by converting Trafalgar Square into a
karaoke bar; by sending a mass text advertising the event to many of their subscribers, they were
able to turn it into a major marketing event. This guerilla style marketing is a popular strategy
used among those who currently implement social media messaging into their companies.
Companies use a wide variety of platforms to incorporate their social media and
marketing strategies in hopes of sharing their message or product with others in their community
and worldwide. By adopting social media messaging, large organizations can reach out on a
larger scale to audiences and customers they’ve never known. Companies like amazon.com can
sell products to someone on the other side of the world thanks to its intelligent use of using
social media sites like Facebook and the other popular sites. Many universities have also begun
to implement the usage of texting (e2campus), an emergency messaging platform, first
developed by Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri; this system is mainly used for weather,
campus shutdowns and life safety purposes
Some sites continue to dominate others when it comes to popularity; the battle however
continues to rage on and the war seems like it will never end. Although many of these mediums
can be operated at an individual level, many companies are integrating the use of combining
these programs to enhance their multi-level marketing; combining YouTube with Facebook for
example by posting a URL link directly to someone’s Facebook wall, the video appears and
viola, there you have clever combinations. Listed below are some ways which companies
currently use social media to promote their products, name and services.
1. Facebook
The Facebook community excels above all others in social media messaging; recently
announced by Business Week Magazine as being ranked the No. 1 globally visited website, with
Google coming in at No. 2. Facebook incorporates a tracking system that compiles what users
“like” or “dislike” and use the gathered data to create and post appropriate ads which the user
will see with links that will lead them to that particular Facebook page or website. For instance,
a user of Facebook may come across an ad for the television show Bones; if they click on the ad
it will link them to various production photos, clips from the show and other memorabilia and
even occasional contests.
2. Blogs and Websites
Blogs and websites typically do not share the same content restrictions that Facebook has
set in place. Bloggers can subscribe to other blogs, can post comments and read or share other
available information with the blogging community in ways Facebook cannot. Blogs were
initially created to obtain additional information and reviews on books but now extends to many
different communities; quite popular among house-wives but now even businesses are dipping
their feet and realizing that it is becoming a very lucrative aspect of social media messaging.
3. Email
Email is the new and improved modern form of snail mail; Billions of emails are sent out
each day from businesses soliciting or seeking services such as job postings or other similar
information. The average person will send an estimated 10 emails per day, read about 20 and
delete around 35. Fortunately with all these new businesses email platforms have arranged there
to be a Spam button. Email is one of the fastest ways to communicate messages online.
4. Banner Ads
Banner ads are primarily used to get access to potential buyers outside of the influence and
use the power of Google and Facebook to target the right audience. On this Yahoo site for
instance, we can see right away a
banner ad for Progressive
Insurance, promising a free quote
by just entering in the ZIP Code.
Unlike Facebook, these ads are
more generalized by types of
people who use the sites and are
less personal.
5. PowerPoint and YouTube slideshows
PowerPoint is an amazing tool that can be used during presentations as well as be viewed
online, posted on sites and sent in emails; it can be shared and Liked on Facebook, Re-Tweeted
on Twitter and embedded in an infinite number of websites and even turned into a slideshow on
YouTube. Creating a slideshow and adding a touch of the right music, can create a very
powerful slideshow.
As with anything else there are of course rules of engagement to the social media messaging
world, for this reason it’s extremely important to quickly establish your reputation. That is why
Intel acknowledges the fact that honesty and dishonesty are quickly noticed inside the social
media environment; they encourage their employees to use their real names, properly identify
themselves as Intel employees and share their role properly with those with who they deal while
still maintaining the proper levels of confidentiality and legal guidelines. Here are 10 guidelines
and tips to remember when working with social media messages:
1. Write About What You Know
By staying within your own area of expertise, you can write and expound on your topics as
related to the company and avoid embarrassing false statements that can sometimes occur by
ignorant self-proclaimed experts. When you are discussing a particular topic but are not
necessarily the expert you should make that known to the readers by stating such; for example,
“experts on social networking state that…” this helps to clarify that it is not you is making the
statement but the expert. Also, in writing about what you know it is also important to maintain
confidentiality agreements, financial disclosure laws, copyright and trademark laws or any other
type of protected content.
2. Perception is Key
Online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter often don’t discriminate between social
and professional or the private and public. An employee for Interstate Batteries was recently
fired from his position due to what his employers deemed inappropriate Facebook activity. This
employee posted pictures of himself partying and displaying very inappropriate activity at an
after-party for a company event. Unfortunately, a rather important client of the company had
seen these pictures and it created a negative perception for the company resulting in this
employees untimely dismissal an apology to the client and a “please don’t leave us” gift basket.
Online social messaging for companies can create positive or negative perceptions for many
employees, shareholders and even the customers who use the product or service. Hence, it is
often high priority for companies to maintain a positive public relations campaign in addition to
maintaining appropriate perception in the social media network.
3. Use Conversation-Style Speech
In many organizations, it’s easy to get caught up in using specific jargon or specialized words
within the industry or company; this often times leads to additional frustrations and
miscommunication. When dealing with social media messages for your company use language
that your audience will relate to and understand. Use your own personality and feel free to say
what’s on your mind when appropriate. Invite people to respond to what your company says;
encourage open-ended conversations and create links to others who are also blogging about the
same topic and allow your information, conversation and content to be shared and syndicated.
By allowing this, the amount of viewing audience increases and broadens the scope for potential
clients and consumers.
4. Where is the Value?
Make sure that the communication and language that is being used is positively contributing
to your company’s success. There are millions of conversations that are constantly going on
with hundreds and thousands of websites being constantly visited; the best way to get your
company noticed is by contributing items of value; communication people will respect and allow
them to join in shared communication. The communication should be thought-provoking and
should make the audience feel like they are part of the conversation and community. Many
times company websites have additional sponsorship that they receive based on the amount of
people who visit the site; by creating events and contests, additional value can be added to the
organization and website.
5. Create Exciting Content
Radio stations generally excel when it comes to creating excitement for its listeners and
participants of its online sites and programs; with contests to win trips to Disneyland, a romantic
getaway for two on a luxury cruise line or tickets to your favorite band that will be coming to
town this weekend. Many sites also offer discounts and additional coupons or gift cards for
filling out surveys or referrals; this can reward members for contributing to the company by
helping potentially create a larger client market, so in the end it’s a win/win situation for the
company and the clientele. Businesses are also creating activities involving an increase on high-
value innovation. Sharing with the world the exciting things that are happening with the
company with up-and-coming events, ideas, products, etc. can create high levels of excitement
for both employees and consumers—by allowing an open-ended dialogue between the two, it
opens the channels of communication between the two and other potential companies or site
followers and allow the company to learn even more from the consumer.
6. Lead the Communication
Online social messages can be healthy and quite successful; however, they can also lead to
heated debates and negative reactions. It is important to never belittle any competitors or the
company itself; there is no reason to respond to every single negative comment. Direct the
conversation in a way that will invite additional comments and points of view allowing further
communication to take place without offending those who read the content. Politics, religion and
other heated topics are usually best left out because sensitive topics such as these can often lead
to passionate debates. Choose your words and meanings carefully. Be considerate and make
sure your conversation doesn’t carry dual meanings of facts or statements which others could
possibly misconstrue. Once something online is published or posted, it is virtually impossible to
retract them 100%; and heated debates are generally difficult to stop. Facebook is an excellent
example in this case, where often someone will post a heated topic such as, “Obama is an illegal
alien and has no right being the President of the U.S. He’s a racist pig!” This statement was
taken from someone on Facebook and had 91 comments within seven hours of being posted;
imagine the negative publicity that could have come from this had it been a company profile, the
damage could have been irreversible; hence the importance of maintaining a positive leader of
communication within social media mediums or platforms.
7. Fix Mistakes, Admit Them and Move On
Companies are run by people; people are imperfect and therefore susceptible to making
mistakes from time to time. When this happens on an online platform, it is best to admit the
mistake and quickly correct it. If the mistake happens on the company website, you may decide
to erase the mistake, note the change and clarify any particular details that would be good to
know. If your company is posting to a blog, Facebook, Twitter or other similar platforms and
you choose to modify earlier posts, it is important to clarify that you have done so. Once you
have done all that you can do, move on. The public usually only lingers on topics and incidences
that the media just won’t let die. Don’t take part in the never-ending sequence that can
sometimes plague some companies, fix your mistakes, say your peace and move on.
8. If You Think It May Offend, It Probably Will
When publishing posts online it is particularly easy, especially in the world of today, to
offend someone. This can lead to unhappy clients and consumers which can cause a business to
fail or at least head in that direction. If you have hesitations when considering particular content,
it is probably best review further the information, possibly discuss it with a manager or legal
counsel and then correct any possible mistakes or potential offending bits, publish it and hope
that everything will be fine.
9. Moderation in All Things
Online moderation companies, such as emoderation, work with agencies and clients to
protect brands and users from the risks associated with user generated content, and the
emoderation community management team helps brands to build happy and thriving social
media communities. Moderation in terms of online use is the act of reviewing and approving
content before it’s published on the site. Many sites such as Intel use moderators to ensure that
they are protected from potentially damaging content from third party users. Many sites attempt
to combat this by requiring pre-moderation, where emails, usernames and passwords are required
prior to posting anything on the site.
Many companies or websites will
incorporate what is known as a Robot
Blocker, that is used to block automatic
computer hackers. In this case, the
company requires that you type in the
box 67SC after you have entered your
username and password. This further protects the site and the user against hackers and
potentially damaging content. Community moderation is another form of moderation that many
platforms such as Facebook incorporates. Here, users are able to easily report a message or
photo by clicking on the report icon. Once they do that a dialogue box opens giving them the
following options:
Is this photo about you or a friend?
· Yes, this photo is about me or a friend:
o I don't like this photo of me
o It's harassing me
o It's harassing a friend
· No, this photo is about something else:
§ Spam or scam
§ Nudity or pornography
§ Graphic violence
§ Hate speech or symbol
§ Illegal drug use
In a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal, Delta Air Lines along with others
in the flight industry have started an effort to monitor and respond to negative comments through
social media messaging like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social sites. Delta gives
extreme special attention to help resolve some of these customer complaints through its use of
social media; Delta even has their own Facebook page where they occasionally post deals and
special pricing information.
Balanced online moderation is important in the success of a healthy social media
messaging community. In moderation it is important to follow three basic guidelines as used by
Intel: the Good, the Bad, but not the Ugly. When content is positive or negative and pertains to
the conversation, then there is no reason not to approve the content; it doesn’t matter if it’s
constructive or negative feedback; however, if the content is repulsive, offensive, damaging or
denigrating or completely out of context, it is highly suggestible that the content be rejected and
erased. By healthily balancing what is posted, users will feel more at ease to explore company
content and share their thoughts and ideas.
10. Honesty
Maintaining honesty is important on many levels and in many ways; it strengthens
reputation and creates stronger business relationships with clients and the public. The
information and any additional intellectual property that you create or use needs to be protected
and used with the proper permission; it is important to obtain the proper trademark, copyright or
licensed agreement necessary because said information can exist for an indefinite amount of
time. When people feel that an organization or company is honest they are often eager to do
business with them. The popular website Amazon.com is very good at honestly depicting what
they have for sale on their site, the correct price listing and if the item is in Good, New, Like
New, or used shape. Intel is a company that supports transparency.
In their policy they state, “We are committed to ensuring that our social media
practitioners (including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other forums and any other social media)
clearly disclose relationships and endorsements, and that statements about Intel and products are
truthful and substantiated.” Intel, like many successful companies, understands the importance
of an honest and integrity bound company and they reap their rewards for doing so. In a recent
article released by Steven Rubel in Advertising Age, the author states how he shut down his blog
site and decided to go with other social media messaging platforms such as Twitter, YouTube
and Facebook because he states they offer better and easier ways to communicate and reach out
to consumers who prefer content they can scan and skim.
Interviewing Andrew Mair
Andrew Mair is a producer, writer, actor and director who co-manages a Utah theatre,
The Village Green, where he writes, directs, produces and often acts in his own productions as
well as other popular theatrical performances. I sat down with Andrew and interviewed him on
his usage and implementation of Social Media within his profession.
How do you professionally and personally use social media?
“I use a lot of different websites and platforms to promote myself and my theatre. I have
my own personal Facebook profile and I have a page for my theatre and production company. I
will a lot of times use Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to showcase a lot of my work. Facebook
is a great way to implement the use of a lot of the videos that I make. When I write an article or
story, I will post them in blogs and then place the link on my Facebook page so that the article
and the two sites are interconnected. It’s also such a great tool because it’s so popular.
What role do social media play in your writing life?
I use social media as a way to test a lot of my research that I gather; I find what people’s
likes and dislikes are by using these social mediums and communicating through various posts
and surveys from time to time. Sometimes I’m on Facebook and Twitter simultaneously, other
times I use local sites like Utahactorsning.com and LinkedIn and other sites to help network my
ideas and combine my talents with others.
Benefits, disappointments or surprises?
Because I'm an actor, producer, writer and director there is a lot of work to do.
Sometimes I have to write releases for certain shows or events that we hold at our theatre and
some of the benefits of having social media is that I am able to share a wide range of information
with a very large audience; most of whom are already known associates of mine, so it’s not
exactly like I’m making new contacts and sending out information to people I don’t already
know; although there are many who I don’t know or have met yet. Sometimes I am disappointed
when I hold an event which I have created through Facebook and say, maybe 200-300 people
stated they would be attending and only about 10 of them actually show up in the end. This is
hard because when people say they are coming, it’s something we as a theatre troop count on.
I've earned credibility on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. I have followers on
Twitter, for example; many of them enjoy my random comments and enjoy hearing about
my upcoming events that I’m holding at my theatre; LinkedIn also helps spread the word.
The financial benefit?
It has certainly helped spread the word about my theatre, but it's really impossible to
determine how that has translated into actual ticket sales. I think my own personal Facebook and
Twitter account has been more beneficial than the account connected to my theater because my
personal account has more flexibility in terms of subject matter, while the account linked to my
book is defined by the book's subject matter. On my personal account, I have many funny and
random sayings that I use from comedians or favorite comedies; my theatre page is strictly
professional. It’s great to use because it is free; I’m able to access these sites by using my
Blackberry and it just makes it all the easier. I would estimate that my involvement with social
media is probably only 1.5 percent of my annual income, so I still need to keep my day job at
this point.” (This concluded my interview with Andy Mair).
Social media messaging has many benefits to companies worldwide, when used in
the right way and under the proper circumstances it can generate commercial audience growth
and potentially boost the company’s productivity and consumer levels through its proper use.
Even girl scouts from the Arizona Cactus Pine Council (GSACPC) realize the intelligence and
importance of using online social media messaging for their benefit when they saw their
donation amounts beginning to dwindle. The girl scouts began to work with an Allegra Print &
Imaging campaign to develop and build stronger relationships with its alumni and community.
They used multiple social media mediums to target their specific audience, send out their
message and unite their fellow girl scouts and supporters, creating a success and ultimately
improving their donations by 30% from the previous year.
These girls knew and helped prove that when uniting the right message with the right
medium and the right product or service, you can easily spell success within your company and
achieve greatness; what better way to help create that success than with social media messaging.
Whether it be a popular social media site, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, blogging about
your work on a personal or company blog or even if it’s sending simple or in depth emails to
individuals such as CEOs, VPs or large groups, social media is there to get the job done and to
spread the word, however fantastic, fictional or factual it may be.
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