April 6 – The Social Media Academy announced a new research about social media for enterprises. Yes, the report itself is a hit but what made it to the top? 10 Students who worked with their friends to actually create the report used their network to tell others who may find the report relevant.
But it is an ENTERPRISE SOCIAL MEDIA report not a cool cell phone or a new ring tone. So how could that happen? It’s all about relevance. The report seems to be relevant to many people in sales and marketing in any business in all industries.
Go to Google and enter “Social Media” “Dow Chemical” or “Social Media” “John Deere” the report is on the top 5. Or google: Mindshare Report – despite the fact that Ogilvy, one of the worlds biggest ad agencies used that term for years, the Social Media Academy Mindshare Report comes out first.
But get this: They didn’t do ANYTHING on the SEO side of the world. No keywords, no sophisticated website updates NOTHING.
The whole buzz was generated by:
1) A product (the report) that was interesting and is of value
2) Online chat with a lot of business friends who are interested
3) Explaining the the value so that it was easy to talk to others
4) A lot of tweeting, blogging, commenting and more – simple work
5) A no nonsense story – important for enterprises
6) Provocation – the report exposed big companies like never before
7) Using all kinds of social media tools from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, SlideShre, Issuue and many others
8) Blogging not only on your own little blog but on professional blogs like here, Customer Think but also on company blogs
9) Connecting with the relevant people a few days before the report was ready
10) Socializing to the wazoo
Social Media is the 1,000x accelerator for conversations and communication. Not an email blast into the ether – totally underestimated power if done right. Enterprise, B2B any industry.
OK a bid of planning, assessing the ecosystem that might be interesting, an execution strategy etc. is part of it as well but it is no “magic” it is professional work – and it happens in the enterprise world.
Remember, all it took was 10 students and 48 hours.
And of course great content in a world of worthless, ten-a-penny reports from every Tom, Dick and Harry with something to sell.
Great blog post. An inspiration to us all.
Graham Hill
Customer-driven Innovator
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It’s a blessing, no doubt, when you witness the fruit of your labor. The dynamics of a group effort are wondrous indeed! So how did we, the students, create such reach you ask?
Months ago in a virtual happy classroom spanning the globe, we first shored up our profiles across all networks with consistency in nomenclature, photos, and messages. We began to consistently participate in the relevant public spaces on topics that were important to the group, reaching out to those with similar interests. As a result this dynamic produced growth within our personal network thus, as our reach extended over time, (as this doesn’t happen over night), we created our own Social Capitol Value.
Next came our personal X-Team – a core team of about10 people who you nurture and who understand and believe in your mission enough to pass on your “simple to repeat” messages to their own network. The X-Team participates, not because they are your pal buddy buster — but because the information you ask for them to pass on is content worth spreading!
So you see now where the multiplier comes in and how the dynamics of a small but mighty community reach out & touch – with pertinence and purpose for the benefit of all. The mighty message that resonated in this blast can be found @ http://www.socialmedia-academy.com/Research.
Axel, your post is a formula for social media success. If this is the kind of hands-on advice you give students in the Social Media Academy, then their time is well spent. There is to much blabber in social media and not enough wisdom. Socializing good information to the wazoo (and to the right people) is the only way to go.
This is truly amazing. It just helps demonstrate the power of people’s voices. We can create a movement and we are truly what matters.
Axel does a terrific job of defining a practical, systematic, repeatable and effective approach for generating successful buzz. You can’t argue with results.