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Paul Armstrong, Kindred's Director of Social Media (http://www.kindredagency.com), on how to drink from the ever-changing social media / digital communication firehose. Paul has previous worked for MySpace Corporate Communications in Los Angeles and has devised digital strategies for Sony, Activision, Yahoo! properties amongst others.
Social media - the cat's out of the bag, it had kittens who had other kittens who are blogging about their dads. Are you listening?
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I've been thinking a lot recently about how complex ideas are delivered quicker and quicker to more and more people [fyi - more to come]. Not only from a generational perspective but also a cognitive one. From infographics to RSS, Twitter to social networks, people seem to assimilate and spread information quicker than ever and they don't need your permission. One thing they do still want from you is your attention. Whether it's to take note of the finger they are pointing, wagging or um...saluting you with, they are still communicating and it's up to you to scribble down notes and (if appropriate) respond.
You'll see another post from me on the recent YouTube / United Airlines fiasco but suffice to say even with social media (finally) recently being heralded as a money spinner if you spend time/money on it [Charlene Li] listening is the beginning of any brands' journey online.
Here are my three tops tips (with free tools) that you can do to make sure you are listening:
1) Set up email alerts - sounds simple but most people aren't searching forums and messageboards still - this is where key influencers and potential brand ambassadors can be found. TOOL: Google Alerts (and Yahoo! and Socialmention, and Nutshell and Ensembli etc etc etc)
2) Monitor Wikipedia early - it's high up in the rankings for most brands' search results yet most aren't policing them as much as they should. Start monitoring and you'll minimize bad additions before they appear. TOOL: WikiAlarm / WikiAlert 3) Stop overestimating Twitter - go real-time for 1/2 a day - just sit there, really sit there and see what's being said about your brand. Who knows? You might just learn a new blog to add to a media list or find out that no-one is actually talking about you until you hit send on the press release. Either way you'll see what the 'statusphere' (sic) has to offer you. TOOL: Twitter search, Tweetdeck and the million others.
What does all this mean? Nothing has fundamentally changed, we still have two ears, eyes, hands and a nose and
mouth. Telepathy is almost here but we're pretty much a few years away
from the X-Men (sadly). This all said it's the MOST exciting time to be a
communication IMHO. Why? Think about the choices, the strategies,
the ability to reach new markets and influence more people into making choices
that will help them to help themselves and other others. It's unstoppable,
the cat is out of the bag and their kittens have had kittens. Go forth and enjoy.
LINKBAIT
The future of the music industry - tips, tips, tips! [WalletPop] The Tron and Alice in Wonderland movies look slightly amazing / dogs bolloxy [Tron / AinW] Facebooks wants to share your more of your information...um... more. [TechCrunch]
