Week 5 plus Week 4 Supplement on Facebook

What is social media for business? 

Any website or mobile phone function that allows you to share content and ideas with other people. Just think of it as a variety of methods for getting in touch with like minded people from all over the world. There are hundreds of social media sites but the most popular site function as explained below:

This is funny but important because it helps you think about how to USE each of these sites to get to: 

Customers
Employees
Shareholders
Media

And with these are also getting responses from these audiences in real time. In many companies there are people whose sole job is to respond to people online.

Let's start with Facebook. Take a look at these corporate Facebook pages: 

• https://www.facebook.com/porsche
• https://www.facebook.com/NHL
• https://www.facebook.com/Mabelhood
• https://www.facebook.com/burtsbees
• https://www.facebook.com/Starbucks
• https://www.facebook.com/smartpassiveincome (this is a single person business perfect for the entrepreneurial types) 

Don't think about personal pages but what works here as a business. Take a look at how they are interaction with customers. These are considered the best companies that use Facebook as a way to interact with thier customers. How are they doing it? Take good notes and look at all six of these pages - What do they have in common? What is different? What do you find to be the most compelling content (Even if you are not interested in cars or coffee look for what good companies do - that is your job as a professional.)

Twitter

Do you have a twitter account? If you don't you should. Don't think if it as a declaration of "I'm eating a # donut" but use it as a tool to keep with with your industry and your target audiences. many use Twitter, like Facebook, as part of their overall social visibility. 

 You can also use it personally make contacts with possible customers, to see what the competition is doing and for getting creative by seeing what others are working on and suggesting. The Huffington Post offers the following list of companies and individuals to follow in the Twitter-verse. Take a look. Choose a few you think are relevant to you. 

Top 100 Business, Leadership and Technology Twitter Accounts You Must Follow

You Tube 

As students you spend a lot of time on You Tube watching cats, looking at music videos and watching your peers do really stupid things. You can also use it for your business. Watch this and understand what works:

http://www.youtube.com/bestbuy
http://www.youtube.com/allstate
http://www.youtube.com/KraftCookingSchool
and the genius http://www.youtube.com/Blendtec (I happen to love this video series - watch several of these. They will make you laugh.)

Again watch these and take notes about what works (you need all of this information for the assignment below)

It is important to study this stuff but it is also important not to get distracted. You are trying to grow a business not your social media accounts.

There are here also dangers when getting involved in the social media labyrinth.

1. People are critical of bad products
Well, lets be honest. People are always critical of bad products its just that now they can talk about them on Twitter.

If you provide a bad service or product you can be you will be flamed (chastised) on Twitter. Be ready for it.

The thing to realize here is that those people are already talking about you. It is therefore extremely important to get on and start talking to them, helping them and addressing their concerns.

2. Bad timing and poor planing can be deadly
A few months ago QANTAS, Australia’s national airline, grounded all its flights around the world due to ongoing industrial action. It left thousands of people stranded across the globe and a media storm unlike I have ever seen in Australia lasted for weeks.

Many people were angry at the CEO’s decision to ground the fleet, while others thought he had no other option and did the right thing.

Shortly after this massive event (and a lot of negative PR) QANTAS launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #QantasLuxury saying:

To enter tell us ‘What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury.”

Bad idea.

A few of the resulting Tweets from QANTAS’ Twitter competition.

Now, in case you don’t know, a Twitter hashtag is something you use when you want everyone involved to be reading the same thing. For example, you’ll often see hashtags about sporting events like the Super Bowl because the promoters want to get people talking in the same place.

And thanks to a website called Storify we can see a record of all thee nasty, mean and hilarious replies that QANTAS got as entries into this competition.

This is an extreme example of what can happen with bad timing and a poorly thought out campaign. This Twitter competition might have worked wonders if goodwill towards the company was not at such a temporary low (QANTAS is normally a much-loved Australian brand).

The Assignment

Look at all of the examples - the good and bad of using social media. 

Write a memo outlining what we should be doing with our cooperate social media. Use the memo format and tell me what you have learned and how you think we should apply it to our business. It is important that you explain WHY you are making these suggestions about our social media. This will be due Monday, June 27 by noon. Remember this memo should only be one page. Use bullet points and have links to things that you would like your CEO (me) to see. 

To help you come up with some interesting ideas I will tell you what kind of widgets that we make - we make sunglasses.