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Social Media: Getting Started

by Jimmy Marks

Many companies worry about their involvement with social media (or lack thereof). We've talked about social media before, but we've never really given a list of "getting started" instructions. Hopefully, this will help your business get its feet wet. 

STEP 1: Sign up, Get going

No more of this "will we, won't we?" business. Get moving! Start turning out those blog posts, recording messages from the CEO to upload to YouTube, twittering, facebooking, emailing...whatever fits your member's tastes. Don't know what members are interested in? Hit them with a quick survey to sharpen your focus. 

More importantly, make this new communication channel someone's job. Make them track results and feedback. Stay on top of it. 

Best Practice - Set a bar and meet it. What do you WANT out of Social Media? Before you get going with anything, read this from thefinancialbrand.com about ROI and social media. 

STEP 2: Learn to Share

If you are running a blog or sending out a monthly email newsletter, you can make individual stories or pages shareable via the major social networks. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and most other networks provide links that, when set up properly, allow readers to share your content via their own account. Most blogging services provide a widget for sharing this information around. If you are a DigitalMailer ARB user, we can get you set up with the proper links and icons for sharing. 

You've probably seen buttons such as these before. When readers/members/users click these buttons, they're sharing your content and information with other people. Encourage them! 

Best Practice - Worried you don't have enough followers after a week? Don't. Building out this new way of talking to members and customers can take time. Read the CU Soapbox article "Follow-and-Friend Freeze Out" to give yourself and your organization a realistic idea of a "healthy" follower count.

STEP 3: Refine and Realign

Don't get comfy, social media trends and usage are changing day to day. Know which methods and messages are working and which aren't. Keep an eye on your stats and your referrals and make note of which method/network is giving you the best response.

Best Practice - Don't just talk, listen. If you have followers or friends eager to speak with you, address them and meet the need. You'll find that you can help users and members in a way that's simple, light and smart. You may also pick up new members and customers as a result. 

Some final food for thought:

Take a look at this video on "socialnomics". VERY thought provoking. 

SMTP vs. SMS: What’s best for text marketing?

No doubt about it: We live in a mobile world. A recent PEW Internet study (The Mobile Difference, March 25, 2009) found that 39 percent of consumers have increased their use of and improved their attitudes about mobile communication devices. This is good news for savvy e-marketers who understand the unique characteristics of reaching consumers effectively via cell phones or other wireless devices. But in the area of text marketing, a debate has been brewing: Is it best to send messages to consumers via SMTP or SMPP?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) was developed primarily as a method to send email messages. Using SMTP, marketers basically send emails to cell phone numbers. To consumers, the messages look just like texts. And like emails, there are no fees for delivering SMTP messages.

Using SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol) to exchange SMS (Short Message Service) messages, marketers send true text messages, routed through cell phone carriers. There is a fee charged for each message sent.

UPDATE - Not saying we're ahead of the curve, BUT...

by Jimmy Marks

A few days ago, Greg and I posted this story about the difference between social media comprehension and...well, what's going on nowadays. My Internet Friend (boy, THAT'S a depressing phrase) Ron Shevlin stopped by to talk about what the role of social media is and whether or not you can "vet" a social media expert. Or whether or not one exists. 

Well, Ron sent me a link to a MarketingSherpa article which shows that most organizations think that, with no social media experience, marketers are still somewhat knowledgeable about social media techniques. 

A copy of their chart: 

Chart: How Knowledgeable Are Marketers With No Social Media Experience?  

MarketingSherpa seems to have summed things up very well:

This was confirmed in MarketingSherpa's Social Media Marketing and PR study where we found that the "lack of knowledgeable staff" was the most significant barrier to social media adoption. When making the initial jump into social media, many organizations start by delegating responsibility to the first staff person they find with a profile on Facebook or LinkedIn since very few people have any level of practical experience in this new strategy. The result is usually a marketing program pre-destined to failure. [Click here for the full article from MarketingSherpa]

Exposure does not equal experience. Just keep that in mind. 

Separating the Businesses from the Bots: What Social Media REALLY Means

by Greg Crandell and Jimmy Marks

If you're a CEO of a major credit union/business/non-profit, you're probably wondering

a) Do I make so much money that people are going to start picketing me at my house?
b) Am I really worth all that money if I'm wasting my time reading this blog all day?

and, most importantly: 

c) When are all these little DORKS going to stop pestering me about Web 2.0 and Social Media?!?

A and B, we can't help you. C, we know. 

We have already talked at length about how business professionals are sick and tired of hearing about Social Media (click here to read). So they hire these people...usually whippersnappers like Jimmy*...to sign them up for the holy triumverate of bad Web 2.0 decisions: 

1. A do-nothing Facebook page that has no actionable links or content
2. A Twitter account that pats itself on the back 
3. A YouTube channel with two videos which are poorly produced 

*Jimmy's Note: Being young has NOTHING to do with being good at social media. If young people were any good at managing content online and being good at representing a cause, they'd never get in trouble for having pictures of themselves smoking marijuana on their MySpace. Vet your online content managers/web specialists with the same jaundiced eye you'd use in selecting an accountant. 

Oh no you didn't...

by Ron Daly

We are gathered here to day to mourn the death of JuicyCampus.com...wait, did I say mourn? I meant celebrate.

Now, being in the long-time internet guy that I am, I usually don't enjoy the demise of a website. I know there are plenty of people out there just trying to make an honest go of the web. But the folks behind Juicy Campus don't inspire sympathy in me. For those of you who don't know (or don't have college-aged kids), Juicy Campus was set up to let college students spread rumors about the school, campus organizations, or each other. The rumors could be benign things like "the price of parking is increasing soon" or malicious notes about people's relationships, appearances, or any other area of someone's life.

It took me two seconds to decide that this site and its mission was despicable. And it took me less time than that to be happy when I heard it was gone (click here for details on its closing).

I don't know "social networking" as well as some of my credit union contemporaries, but I do know this: a social network can't survive when it's built on hate-mongering. Juicy Campus lost out because it couldn't drum up online advertising here in the downswing. It has since been usurped by collegeACB, which stands for "Anonymous Confession Board", which doesn't encourage gossip so much as anonymous comments from anyone at any time.

Yeah, there's a BIG difference between that and Juicy Campus (sarcasm alert!).

But let's take a moment to talk about the people who are doing a GREAT job of social networking in the credit union world. And HOW are they doing a great job? They're not spitting on people and being catty.

Sharpening the Edge

by Ron Daly 

This blog was started to bring our insights to the world. In May 2008, we got going with some articles about email marketing and SPAM and mobile banking.

Since then, we've been doing our part to help you, our dear reader, understand the world wide web and its myriad uses as a communication and sales channel. 

Which is why I was surprised to read this article from MediaPost Publications. It seems that there are certain buzzwords that nobody wants to hear anymore. The top ten can be found below: 

Top 10 Buzzwords Tired of Hearing (% of Respondents)
Rank	Buzzword	2009 Report	2008 Report
1	Web 2.0	19.4%	9.1%
2	Social Networking	12.2%	6.0%
3	Social Media	11.3%	0.8%
4	Blog	7.9%	0.0%
5	Viral Marketing	6.2%	6.3%
6	Synergy	5.8%	5.6%
7	Branding	5.1%	3.2%
8	ROI	4.9%	4.8%
9	Green	4.9%	0.0%
10	SEO	3.8%	1.8%
Source: MENG & Anderson Analytics, January 2009

Well, isn't that something. 

But the really stunning thing is the fact that most marketing execs/CEOs don't know anything about the subjects in question. From the same article: 

Twice as many marketers are "sick" of hearing about Web 2.0 and related buzzwords such as "blogs" and "social networking" compared to last year's survey; however, marketers still admit they don't know enough about it. This was evident in the results of a social media study MENG released on November 6, 2008 showing 67% of executive marketers consider themselves beginners when it comes to using social media for marketing purposes.

I think it's time we here at the C.C.C.Blog change that. 

From this day forward, this blog will be working to inform the Credit Union and Financial Services Industries about the things they're having trouble understanding. Should we be afraid of the web? Not at all. It's only going to get bigger and better and more integral to the way people live their lives.

So here's your call to action: 

1) Spread the word.

Sign up for the RSS feed, send articles to friends who might need to shed some light on a subject, sign up for email updates. 

2) Tell us what we need to cover. 

You folks have thoughts of your own. Let's hear it! Guest authors welcome here, if you've got a hum-dinger article. 

3) Help us make the web better. 

We're hoping to make strides forward. Join us as we make the effort to enhance the online world. 

Twitter gets hacked. Why you need to care.

 

by Ron Daly 

BREAKING NEWS! Fox News has outed Bill O'Reilly, Rick Sanchez at CNN is addicted to crack and Britney Spears...well, the less said the better.

Obvioulsy, ALL THESE CLAIMS ARE FALSE. We have a hacker to thank for all these tidbits, which came from the fount of Internet knowledge: Twitter. 

Yes, Twitter. Folks these days don't know whether to call it a micro-blog or an instant messenger. But they do know, now, that there's a major security hole somewhere through which someone drove a bus (click here to read the story). 

Some of the biggest Twitterers (Tweeters? Tweets? Toots? Honestly, Jimmy's the one who keeps up with this stuff) were hit, including President-Elect Barack Obama, Britney Spears, Fox News and CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez. 

As someone who spends a lot of time talking about online security, I wondered whether or not this was all that news-worthy. Most twitter pages are just little blurbs about what people are doing, links to their favorite news stories, jokes back and forth with friends, etc. But then I read this article from NetworkWorld.com (read the article here). 

What would have happened if this hacker - who just threw out humiliating little gibes - had posted links to a virus? What if he'd have used email addresses or passwords he'd found to disturb people's private accounts on non-Twitter services? Does this tell you, dear reader, anything about how important it is to guard passwords? 

Jimmy and I jawboned about this for a little while. I asked what he thought was the biggest threat facing Twitter and he told me that there are so many peripheral Twitter applications that require username and password to operate. Seems like a tough sell for me, the thought of giving away security information. What do you think, folks? Respond below.

On Gaming: The Line is Blurring.

by Jimmy Marks

Gaming, at one point, was the term that referred to actively playing a video game. Getting Mario down the pipe to get more coins? Gaming. You good at Duck Hunt? You're a true gamer.

But now, gaming is different. As I wrote about a while ago (click here to read), more and more people are coming into gaming. And gaming itself is reaching new heights. 

Remember having to beg your older brother/sister to play 2-player games with you? Now your console hooks up to the internet to create a multiplayer experience. I got an XBOX 360 for Christmas (click here) and a game I recently purchased is made for multiplayer - you can only play the game offline to some degree before there's no more game to play. 

Level Up! Video games are hitting a broader audience.

by Jimmy Marks

[EDITOR'S NOTE -- This is our 50th post! Thanks for sticking by us. We hope we can keep bringing you the best of our knowledge for the next 50 posts and beyond. Pass CCCBlog along to your friends and let them know we're here and we're giving away our expertise. Again, thanks for your attention and hope you enjoy our blog for years to come!]

I got another article from eMarketer, this time about video games. I love video games. Always have. Original Nintendo? That's me. Duck Hunt? You don't know from Duck Hunt. And I've pretty much followed the trends all the way forward. I can Wii with the best of them (pardon my French). 

But I'm not the only with an affinity for video games, according to this study. I did a little digging and found CNet's list of most sold video games (and this was just in August of this year): 

1. Grand Theft Auto IV--6,293,000 units sold
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl--5,433,000 units sold
3. Mario Kart Wii--4,697,000 units sold
4. Wii Fit--3,604,000 units sold
5. Guitar Hero III--3,475,000 units sold

The C.C.C. Blog in the news

CUES, the Credit Union Executives Society,published their most recent copy of Credit Union Management magazine. And lo and behold, resident Gen-Y representative Jimmy Marks was mentioned in an article! His insights on credit union membership warranted a mention. To read the article (and Jimmy's comment), click here. 

To learn more about CUES, click here. 

To read the CUES Skybox, click here.