How social technologies are extending the organisation

The following article is my view on the best bits from the McKinsey Global Institute fifth annual survey. Full report can be found on my SlideShare.

Companies are realising that social technologies are changing the way clients interact. As a result they no MUST incorporate these to enhance and exploit opportunities. There are both opportunities to improve internal process’s and also to explore new markets.

Seventy two percent of respondents are deploying at least one technology and more than 40 percent are now incorporating blogs and networking tools.

86 percent of companies are in high tech and telecommunications.

Executives at internally networked organisations note the highest improvement in benefits from interactions from employees; those at externally networked organisations from interactions with customer, partners and suppliers.

Another key performance measure, self reported operating-margin improvements, correlated positively with the reported percentage of employees whose use of social technologies was integrated into their day-to-day work.

Looking Ahead

Senior executives should think strategically about how social technologies can support business processes. Integrating social technologies into the workflow and using them to optimise internal processes will provide additional competitive benefits

Don’t rest on your laurels: competition will increase as the adoption of social tools and
technologies such as real estate software continues to rise and as progressive companies use them to improve their
processes. Indeed, many companies we categorized as networked organizations last year
slipped to a lower rung this year as the benefits their executives reported fell. Integrating
Web technologies into the daily workflow, our results suggest, is the most effective way
to maintain competitive position or become more networked.

Companies should prepare for more substantial disruptions. Since many executives believe that significant changes will occur as (or if) constraints on social tools and technologies are lifted, companies that can create change themselves—instead of reacting to it—are likely to benefit the most.

Category: Social Media

Glasgow’s leadership in the area of fuel poverty is to be commended

The Leader of Glasgow City Council has today launched a £1m affordable warmth initiative marking the start of efforts to eradicate fuel poverty in the city.

Councillor Gordon Matheson said £100 dividends would be paid to 11,000 of Glasgow’s most vulnerable elderly citizens.

It will help give every Glaswegian over 80 and who receives Pension Credit an extra hand as the city moves into the winter months.

The initiative was one of a number of new measures announced today aimed at helping to make Glasgow one of Europe’s most sustainable and green cities through the Sustainable Glasgow partnership.

Speaking at the BaseGlasgow sustainability conference, Councillor Matheson, who is also chair of Sustainable Glasgow, said: “This winter we will give a £100 affordable warmth dividend to every Glaswegian over 80 on Pension Credit. That’s 11,000 of our most vulnerable citizens.

“It’s money to help these people so they don’t have to worry about putting on heating and ensure they can keep healthy and warm during the winter.

“All partners in the Sustainable Glasgow partnership are working for all the people living in our city. This new initiative is a measure of our commitment – a green future, social justice and leaving no one behind.

“The Warm Glasgow project will tap into savings and income generated by future sustainability projects to ensure that affordable warmth becomes a reality for all our citizens.”

Councillor Matheson also told delegates that the Sustainable Glasgow partnership was a key commitment of his administration.

He said he would be asking the Sustainable Glasgow partners to join the council in tackling the challenge of affordable warmth through the creation of a new taskforce on the issue.

This announcement comes just months after Glasgow was named as the UK’s first winner of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. IBM experts were asked to help Glasgow with the issues around fuel poverty or affordable warmth and report back to the council on a way forward.

Councillor Matheson said: “I’m going to use the IBM report as a basis for a new affordable warmth strategy. I’m not prepared to see another winter of hardship for our people. Affordable warmth is my commitment. Sustainable Glasgow is the means by which we will deliver it.”

He also announced two major projects with a Sustainable Glasgow partner – SSE.
The council and SSE have now reached the final agreements on a wind farm in the south of Glasgow, and the second is the launch of a £2 million pilot to renew 1000 lighting columns in the city which will use “green” technology.

He added: “I’m also delighted to announce that my council will allocate our revenue share from the wind farm to an affordable warmth commitment. This money will be used to provide direct support to some of our most vulnerable communities.

“On lighting we have been exploring a public private partnership which will look at the renewal of the city’s lighting network. There are currently 69,000 lighting columns in Glasgow – almost half of which are over 30 years old. The pilot to renew 1000 lighting columns is a first step looking at using new technology to save energy and carbon.

“That is the Sustainable Glasgow dividend – green energy, strong partnerships and benefits for all Glaswegians.”

The Sustainable Glasgow partnership includes Glasgow City Council, the University of Strathclyde, Clyde Gateway, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Glasgow Housing Association, Scottish Enterprise, Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, IBM, BT, Honeywell, Siemens, ScottishPower, SSE, Scottish Water and the City of Glasgow College.

Through this ambitious city strategy, Glasgow has been positioned as a new centre of excellence in renewable-energy research and industry. Hundreds of new green jobs have been created in Glasgow by industry leaders including SSE, Mitsubishi and Iberdrola, the Spanish firm which owns ScottishPower.

Sustainable Glasgow partners are also supporting many hundreds of groups across the city which are running green community-led initiatives. These projects will be vital in helping the Sustainable Glasgow partnership hit its target to reduce Glasgow’s carbon emissions by 30% within 10 years.

Councillor Matheson told delegates that the city was well on track to meet this target. He said: “Our most recent results on this are just in and they show there has been almost a 9% reduction in Glasgow’s CO2 emissions. The trends show that Glasgow should meet our 2020 reduction targets.

“But I would challenge all the people who live and work in Glasgow to make a difference in their own lives so our city can beat this target.

“We’re on the cusp of a new and green industrial age in Glasgow. By everyone working together in partnership I am determined to let Sustainable Glasgow flourish.”

Mark Wakefield, IBM Corporate Citizenship Manager, said: “Glasgow’s leadership in the area of fuel poverty is to be commended – whilst it is demonstrably a priority issue for Glasgow, this is a universal and rapidly escalating challenge for us all.

“Glasgow’s response to our report demonstrates their aspiration to become the most energy literate city in the UK. We welcome Glasgow’s clear commitment to inclusion and the establishment of the task force to implement its recommendations. We hope that the 60 insights from our report can help others address fuel poverty in their cities.”

Category: Smarter Planet

6 Things You Must Know About Social Media and Your Workforce

By Eric B. Meye

Cisco just completed this study, which shows just how much social media, device freedom, and mobile work means to the next generation.

Thinking about banning social media in the workplace? Before you flip the kill switch, read this:

More than half of students (55 percent) and an even larger proportion of end users (62 percent) indicate they could not live without the Internet; and one-third of respondents in each subgroup consider the Internet to be as important as water, food, air, and shelter.
Half of those surveyed would rather lose their wallet or purse than their smart phone or mobile device.
More than two out of five 20-somethings would accept a lower-paying job that offered more choices in the device they use at work, social media access, and mobility compared with a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

Can you handle a productivity hit?

So it would appear that your young workforce seemingly can’t live without a Facebook fix. But can you handle the productivity hit? Consider these numbers:

Nearly three quarters of your young college-educated workforce indicate accessing their Facebook page at least once a day or more frequently. 1 in 10 have their Facebook pages up all day.
Seven in ten young college-educated employees have friended a co-worker, manager, or both on Facebook.
Approximately 43 percent of college students admit being distracted or interrupted by social media, IM, phone, or a desire to check Facebook, at least three times per hour.

For a good summary of the Cisco survey, click on the infographic below or click here for a summary of these surprising numbers

Whatever your position on social media in the workplace, address it at the job interview.

The reality is that even if you restrict network access to social media, employees — young and old — are going to whip out their smartphones and hit up Facebook, Twitter and the Internet.
A question for the job interview

Obviously, each company has to decide for itself, whether employee use of social media is a good thing for business, a bad thing for business, or no thing at all. For those who consider it a bad thing, consider asking about social-media usage during the job interview. If you don’t bring it up, expect that college-grad candidate to broach the subject. The Cisco study indicates that two-thirds of college grads ask about social-media policies in job interviews.

When the topic of social media comes up, don’t ask candidates for their social-media logins and passwords to access to their private sites. That shows a complete lack of trust and, frankly, a candidate who takes precautions to protect what they post on the Internet from your eyes shows good judgment.

But, much like candidates will want to know whether Facebook at the office is feasible or firewalled, you should ask questions about the quantity — not quality — of social-media use. This will help you to determine whether these candidates, if hired, will devote more time in the office to work versus commenting on Facebook from work about workr

Category: Social Media

Over a third of Britain’s want to do more for the planet but don’t know how

A YouGov survey of more than 2000 GB adults shows that although 73 per cent of British citizens consider sustainable living to be important to them, more than a third (36 per cent) admit being confused about what they should or shouldn’t do to do more for the planet. In response to the growing need to change consumer behaviour, and specifically the role businesses can play in inspiring people to do more with less, an IBM (IBM:NYSE) summit is bringing together some of the biggest brands in the UK on 1 November to discuss new ways that businesses can empower consumers to achieve sustainable behaviour change.

This event follows the success of last year’s IBM Summit at Start held in association with Start, a charitable initiative by HRH The Prince of Wales to inspire people with simple steps for sustainable living. Last year’s summit saw 1000 British business leaders collaborate over nine days to discuss some of the key business, economic, societal and environmental issues of the 21st century.

“We believe the imperative for sustainable action is strong and businesses have a real hunger to make a difference. No one organisation can do this alone and collaborative approaches are now needed to discover new ways for businesses to empower consumers to create a new era of innovation and growth” said Stephen Leonard, Chief Executive, IBM UK and Ireland. “To help make the planet smarter IBM is uniting powerful brands and some of Britain’s leading business figures to identify how they can play their part in driving social change by encouraging customers across the UK to think, act and live more sustainably.”

This year’s summit – START Now START Today! – has been organised by IBM, The Marketing Society, and Start. The summit will see some of the UK’s best-known brands including P&G, M&S, Asda and British Gas join forces to discuss how to engage consumers on sustainability issues, while providing real value back to business, with the ultimate goal of driving social change and encouraging the British public to live more sustainably.

“Start Today aims to unite powerful brands to inspire behaviour change in the UK public towards more sustainable living. The IBM Summit is central to this mission as it brings together some of the UK’s leading brands to examine the role of businesses in driving change for a sustainable future.” said Joey Tabone, CEO of Start. “Small changes in behaviour when multiplied by millions of consumers can make a real difference and show that marketing and marketers can be a force for good.”

The research, commissioned by Start, also found that although just under half (49 per cent) of those surveyed believe they themselves (i.e. the general public) are ultimately the most responsible for encouraging others in the UK to live more sustainably, a quarter (25 per cent) feel this is the responsibility of the Government, and one in six say it should be the role of British businesses (17 per cent).

Additionally, just over a third (34 per cent) said a simple idea to help them live more sustainably from a company whose products they already buy would make them more inclined to try the idea than if the Government suggested it. However, if multiple companies came together with a set of ideas, this number rose to almost three in five (57 per cent), highlighting the power of collaboration and working together to tackle this important issue.

During the course of the day attendees will discuss how businesses can reach out and influence consumers, ultimately driving social change to start building a smarter planet. They will be addressed by inspiring keynote speakers including Stephen Leonard of IBM and David Green, CEO of Ecolsland. Delegates will then break into smaller groups to debate key issues such as ‘how to engage and empower customers’, and what ‘incentives will be effective in accelerating behavioral change’.

At the end of the conference each delegate will be given a summary of the actions and decisions taken to help put these ideas into practice and make the UK smarter and more sustainable.

For further information please visit: www.ibm.com/uk/start/

Join the conversation : Click Here

Notes to Editors

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2107 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 10th – 12th October 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

Category: Smarter Planet

UK Retailers must prepare for mobile and social media Christmas rush

Sales driven by social media, and mobile retail are both set to play a bigger role in this year’s Christmas shopping season according to the IBM Coremetrics 2011 UK Christmas Season Readiness Report.

Using data gathered from more than 150 contributing UK retailers, IBM predicts that mobile traffic as a percentage of all retail site visits will hit double figures by Christmas 2011, having grown from just over 4 per cent to 7.2 per cent between November 2010 and May 2011. In the same time period, the contribution of mobile as a per cent of all online site sales nearly doubled, from 3.2 per cent to 6.1 per cent, which suggests further growth for mobile as a sales channel is likely in the run-up to Christmas.

The benchmark also found that mobile users exhibit a trend for fewer page views (5.8 compared with an average of 8.4, across all means of going online), spend less time on websites (4 minutes and 13 seconds, versus 6 minutes and 24 seconds across all means of going online) and display higher bounce rates to other sites (39.6 per cent compared with 32.8 per cent).

“Despite the attractiveness of engaging with customers on the move, mobile brings with it unique considerations and challenges,” said Marcel Holsheimer, global marketing executive for Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) for IBM. “Using a mobile device to browse, compare prices, check availability and store locations or make a purchase is convenient for the consumer, which can translate into significant conversion opportunities – but only if the etailer delivers a compelling mobile experience. Etailers therefore need to monitor and optimise the mobile browsing experience to counteract mobile users’ tendency for short and erratic periods online.”

Social media contribution to retailer site traffic also grew consistently during the 7 months covered by the report.

From a social media perspective, users behave in a more efficient manner in terms of sales conversion. They are twice as likely to convert, at an average rate of 11 per cent versus 6 per cent overall. This conversion rate, when viewed in conjunction with other behaviour, also suggests social users are more receptive to offers. Their high bounce rate of nearly 62 per cent, coupled with a low average time spent on the websites of just over 3 minutes, suggests they are responding to social media-only offers – such as Facebook coupons or exclusive offers advertised on Twitter.

“With the recession still very much front of mind, many savvy e-shopper are buying surgically,” said Holsheimer, “They know what they want and can hone in on it with far less browsing than in previous years. Smart etailers still have time to step up and expand their mobile and social networking platforms in time for this year’s festive season, as way to deepen engagement with their prized customers, strengthen their long-term loyalty – and, convert sales via the customer’s personal channel of choice.”

The IBM Coremetrics 2011 UK Christmas Readiness Report is available to download in full here http://measure.coremetrics.com/corem/getform/reguk/holiday2011-wp

About IBM Coremetrics Benchmark

The findings in this press release is based on data collected by Coremetrics Benchmark between November 2010 and May 2011. Coremetrics Benchamrk captures online marketing results and commerce data from more than 150 contributing UK retailers.

Category: Mobile, Retail, Social Media

IBM study: 68% of global CMOs are ‘under prepared’ to manage social media

According to IBM‘s new, inaugural Global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Study, 68% of CMO’s are under prepared to manage the impact of key changes in the marketing arena that relate to social media.

The survey, based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,700 CMOs worldwide, highlighted that CMOs see four challenges as pervasive, universal game-changers in the world of marketing:

1.The explosion of data
2. Social media
3. The proliferation of channels and devices
4. Shifting consumer demographics.

When it comes to social media, CMO’s are acutely aware that social media is challenging older, mass-marketing assumptions, skill sets and approaches, and while the most proactive CMO’s are mining new digital data sources to discover what individual customers want, relatively few CMO’s are exploiting the full power of the digital or social media. In fact, only three-quarters use customer analytics to mine data, only 26% track blogs, only 42% track third-party reviews and only 48% are tracking consumer reviews. The reasons behind this are attributed to the fact that the tools, processes and metrics that CMO’s are using are not designed to capture and evaluate the unstructured data produced by social platforms.

More than half of all CMO’s think social media is a key channel for engaging with customers and four-fifths of respondents plan to use customer analytics, customer relationship management (CRM), social media and mobile applications more extensively over the next three to five years.

Of the top 10 priorities for managing the shift to digital technologies, 4 relate directly to social media, with another 3 potentially being impacted by social media. It’s also interesting to note that social media metrics appear as one of seven important measures for gauging marketing success – two years ago this would never have been the case.

The fact that so many global CMO’s are concerned about the impact of social media, and how they are going to resource, manage, analyse and measure it, highlights that social media is finally moving beyond the numbers of views or fans on various channels. CMO’s are starting to realise that social media can help achieve strategic objectives and transform their business if they invest in the right resource and planning and set metrics that match their key business goals.

Click Here For the Full Study

Category: Marketing, Social Media

“The World is Hanging Up”

Written by Jeff Bullas

I was involved recently with a telecommunications company that had been operating with no web site for nearly a year and its main form of marketing was cold calling …you know the type that call you in your office or home and offer you… that special latest mobile phone deal. So what was their target market.. every business that drew breath… and what value did they offer the cusomer except maybe a cheaper price… very little. So their marketing was made up of one strategy, cold calling. The marketing department consisted of staff calling for up to 6 hours per day and only booking one appointment in that time. People were literally hanging up on them. There is a better way! Our lives are so busy now and and with so much media noise and clutter that traditional marketing is becoming less and less efficient.

So how would a company stand out from the pack by using Internet Marketing such as a search engine optimised (SEO) web site, low cost blogs and inbound marketing instead of expensive traditonal marketing .

10 Tips To Stand Out From The Crowd In Your Industry

Have a web site that helps your buyers and provides value with new interesting content that assists your buyers.. not just a static web site that doesn’t change.
Offer content that shows how to do something with step by step instructions that adds value to your customers, or potential clients.
Have a video on the web site showing something interesting about your industry, this can be even a Youtube video that you just provide the video link for.
Target a Segment and really understand it by producing content on the web site that addresses their needs specifically.
If you are passionate about your business, contribute to the conversations in the other blogs in your industry so you can start becoming known as a thought leader.

Create a blog that keeps adding new content that helps place you further up the search engines rankings as search engines love new content.
Create Links to sites that are also well known in your industry this will assist in your Search Engine Optimisation and get you up in the Google rankings.
Join Twitter and start experimenting like putting links between twitter, your blog and web site.
Join a social media site like Facebook and then join groups in your industry that are part of Facebook.
Offer an E-book subscription that captures email from your online inquiries so you can start engaging with your clients and potential buyers .

Ths challenge with anything is just.. doing it… You can research forever but just start the journey. The one thing that a company can easily do is start a blog, and add a content to that blog and update it regularly. It is easy to do you, you can go to WordPress and set up a blog for free and be up and running within a very short time frame.

Category: Blogging, Social Media

Latest Study: How The Fortune 100 Are Using Twitter

Originally written by Jeff Bullas

I have recently been reviewing social media in a general sense so a new study by Weber Shandwick on Twitter that I came across was an opportunity to provide a more specific social media channel review about Twitter, that looks at the current use by the Fortune 100 and how they are currently implementing Twitter across their companies.
Twitter is quite often dismissed by a lot of people as a platform that broadcasts inane pointless babble and conversations about, “what you had for breakfast” or “your weekend activities”. Most people are starting to realise that Twitter can be used for your business or brand in ways that are only limited by your creativity. Two other recent studies showed that the Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies and the Top 200 Non Profits in the USA were the leaders in their use of Social Media and Twitter as compared to the Fortune 500.
The major finding in essence, was that the Fortune 100 are really not utilizing Twitters full potential to engage, communicate, promote their brand and promote and drive a position of being a thought leader in their industry amongst many other shortcomings. So here are some rather telling statistics, facts and figures that show their sins of omission rather than a compelling example of best practice.

73 percent of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts.
About three-quarters (76 percent) of those accounts did not post tweets very often.
More than half (52 percent) were not actively engaged (This was measured by engagement metrics such as numbers of links, hashtags, references and retweets.)
50 percent of the Fortune 100 accounts had fewer than 500 followers, a small number in relation to the size and reach of a major corporation.
15 percent were inactive; of those,11 percent were merely placeholder accounts — unused accounts to protect corporate names against so-called brand-jacking on Twitter — and 4 percent were abandoned after being used for a specific event.
26 percent of their Twitter accounts were primarily used as a one-way flow of information (either by RSSnews feeds or manual tweets) that offered no engagement with followers.
Tweets did not provide opinions or encourage discussions.This contradicts the value of Twitter as a two-way dialogue to build relationships with customers and advocates.
A sizeable 24 percent of the Twitter accounts were primarily used for brand awareness.
Many appeared to be on Twitter simply to have an online presence.
They did not use the platform to reach out to the community and demonstrate that their brand is a trusted source of valuable information, a business that not only talks but also listens to customers.
Surprisingly, only 16 percent of the Fortune 100 accounts were used mainly as sales vehicles for company products and services.Other companies did not appear to understand that sales growth can be achieved by posting special Twitter offers, coupons, limited bargains and sales prices, or by searching for customers who mention a company product and reaching out to them to build a relationship.
Customer service was the focus of only 9 percent of the accounts; it is highly likely that these companies are worried about corporate reputation — posts that might be damaging to a brand.In addition, success requires a commitment to respond “quickly to customer queries, suggestions or complaints. Note: According to Twitter’s own best practices, “your reply should come within a day, if not within hours”.
“Thought leadership appeared to be the least prominent Twitter strategy by Fortune 100 companies, with only 8 percent focused on it. Corporate reputation and authority can be extended onto Twitter, but are most effective only after thought leadership is demonstrated in newspapers, trade publications or recognized by analysts and bloggers. This I think demonstrates the blog and website as your “home base” and Twitter as your one of your “Outposts”
Finally, another 14 percent of accounts were used for other reasons such as recruitment or employee-specific information, or their accounts were locked and not visible.These companies were unable to build relationships with interested communities.

It was interesting to observe that best practices were not followed by most of the Fortune 100 accounts examined by Weber Shandwick study with the following being the major Twitter sins.

Few followers: Half of those accounts had fewer than 500 followers, while
More than half did not meet engagement metrics that were analyzed in Twitalyzer (e.g.numbers of links, hashtags, references and retweets)
Three-quarters (76 percent) of those accounts posted fewer than 500 tweets.This indicates either a lack of engagement by many companies with their followers, or newly established accounts that haven’t yet started using the platform to build relationships.
Twenty-four percent of the Twitter accounts were primarily used for brand awareness; however many of them appeared to be on Twitter simply to have an online presence

This falls short of the opportunity that Twitter offers as a valuable communications channel and strategic social network.For those companies what are the activities that they should pursue?

Create a companywide engagement strategy; a set of guidelines with best practices
Demonstrate a consistent and comprehensive brand presence
Build a dialogue that paves the way to new relationships with customers and advocates
Generate loyalty among new and existing communities
To maximize the benefits of Twitter, companies should
offer opinions and encourage discussions
reach out to their communities of customers and advocates
build relationships with new customers and look for untapped supporters.

Weber Shandwick prescribed five essential steps as a starting point for Fortune 100 companies to create true engagement and market interaction on Twitter:

1.Listen to conversations

2.Participate in conversations

3.Update frequently with valuable information

4.Reply to people who talk about issues that are important to your company

5.Retweet relevant conversations

So here are “7 Twitter Best Practices” from the study revealing that in the majority, the Fortune 100 were not implementing

Listen to and monitor conversations
Participate in conversations instead of just listening
Provide frequent updates with valuable information that can demonstrate thought leadership.
Have a large number of followers
Reply to people who talk about issues that are important to them rather than sit on the sidelines
Retweet those conversations which can help promote the brand
Reply or refer to other accounts with @username, and in turn, they are referred to by other accounts.

By following the best “7 Best Practices”, Twitter can be used by businesses for many purposes, as its value differs for each company. If best practices are followed, businesses can

Promote and distribute their news in a very cost efficient manner “World Wide” or “Locally”.
Broadcast their products and services offerings with a wider audience
Increase brand awareness,
Gain new customers
Boost sales
Provide customer service.
Demonstrate “thought Leadership

Conclusion

For the majority of Fortune 100 companies, Twitter remains a missed opportunity. Many of their Twitter accounts, examined by Weber Shandwick, did not appear to listen to or engage with their readers, instead offering a one-way broadcast of press releases, company blog posts and event information.

The number of active Twitter users in the United States already exceeds 20 million and can be expected to continue to grow.This is a massive human database to tap, companies that understand the value of Twitter can benefit from its potential as a viable engagement platform. A majority of Fortune 100 companies are not using Twitter for its intended benefit: to create meaningful connections and relationships with customers, potential advocates, media and other business contacts.

Category: Social Media, Twitter

20 Ideas for Social Media Content That Engages

The cry of “Content is King” has been a rallying call for bloggers and on-line publishers for years

Creating and marketing your content is now as easy as typing text and uploading images and videos and then hitting the publishing button.

This has been facilitated by the advent of social networks and blogging software that facilitate fast efficient multi-media publishing.

The reality is that everyone is now a publisher as social media has provided easy to use tools which has put a personal printing press in everyone’s hand.

We are not only creating but sharing this content on desktops, laptops, ipads and smart phones to our Facebook and Twitter streams. The mobility of the smart phones has accelerated this publishing revolution that allows us to share anytime and anywhere as the impulse takes us.

The more engaging the content whether it be video or text the more likely it is to be shared.

The “Content” Explosion

To put some perspective on the scale of this on-line publishing phenomenon here are some facts and figures

In 2010 on Facebook alone there were 30 billion images published by millions of “authors”
5 Billion Photos published on Flickr by 2010
YouTube figures reveal that 48 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded every minute as of May, 2011
It is estimated that over 330 million blog posts are published every year

Content is what drives people to subscribe to blogs, search on YouTube and play on Facebook. Internet users are looking for information and content that

Informs
Educates
Solves problems
Entertains

The Thirst for Knowledge

In a knowledge economy the thirst for information and meaningful content is never ending.

If you dig deeper into the term “social media” you will be reminded that content can be any type of media and format. Media in all its formats that was previously hidden on personal computers or buried in files offline can be published to a variety of social media platforms that host and make public your previously unpublished media. These include social media platforms such as Flickr for photos and images as well as Slideshare for presentations such as your last Powerpoint workshop.

I often hear questions from new and aspiring bloggers about what should you publish and how do you find the inspiration for the content. It isn’t difficult if you start to let the imagination run free.

20 Types of Content Types and Formats that Engage

1.Videos

The development of inexpensive video cameras with high definition and now included in smart phones as a standard feature allow you to record impromptu interviews or capture presentations and keynote speakers. The mantra to keep top of mind is to “think like a publisher”

What can you video and publish?

Formal interviews which are arranged in advance with prepared questions and answers
Casual impromptu video interviews at a conference
Presentations either in part or full and full edited or unedited
Video products such as clothes or items that you can publish to your on line store that show the product and how it can be adjusted or worn
“How To” videos that instruct and teach
Grab your smart phone and obtain people’s feedback or comments as they happen about your product, service or store. This will provide authentic and real testimonials that money cannot buy

2. Presentations

Slideshare is the primary site to upload your presentations and with over 50 million monthly visitors and 90 million pageviews it now ranks as one of the top 250 websites in the world. It also supports document sharing.

Share PowerPoint and open office presentations privately with colleagues and clients
Share publicly with the world
Publish documents from MSOffice, OpenOffice and iWorks
Upload PDF’s that educate and inform

Also make sure that the presentations and PDF’s are well structured for scanning and skimming with good headings and subtitles.

3. Images

King of image uploading is Flickr but other platforms to consider is Google’s Picasa (now included in Google+) and of course Facebook. High definition images that are well produced can provide high engagement.

Images that should be publicly shared do not just have to be photos but can be creative designs in high definition that visually present a concept. If you have an inquiry, you may visit sites like EverPresent to assist you in film transferring and photo scanning
Photos at events demonstrates active participation in your industry and can provide high credibility through association
Product images that display your products in all their high definition glorious detail
Appropriate photos of staff at work and at play can provide a personal insight to a company that humanizes companies which is vital on a social web

4. Text Content

Text content is one of the oldest of formats since the pen and pencil was invented but still maintains its importance as a primary publishing medium.

What are some highly engaging text formats that help you sell your products and services?

White papers – these are typically topical reports that demonstrate thought leadership vital for prospects and buyers and are generally 8-12 pages in length
eBooks – Sometimes called a whitepaper on steroids can be 20-100 pages in length and can be free (in the short form) and maybe sold in the longer format. Presents complex information that is visually attractive
Case Studies – Customer and readers love case studies that validate strategies and tactics. They are typically 1-2 pages long and with the narrative structure of the a story and are based upon real life events.
Enewsletter – Email is a very powerful form of marketing with a list that you own and people have opted into a subscription. It can be purely text based or you can create HTML formats that includes images, links and optimized for a social web making it easy for people to share with their friends

5. Audio

Audio and radio has not died but evolved and podcasts and audio are still widely used. Podcasts can also be very effective when packaged together with a Slideshare presentation and a PDF

Podcasts: Pre-recorded presentations either by one person or a goup that dicuss a topic that educates and solves problems for your listeners
Live on-line radio shows with interviews of experts

This list is not exhaustive but will provide you with some tips that will maybe inspire you to engage in many media types that communicate with your readers , prospects and customers.

Sometimes bundling a range of formats for the same information will allow you to reach a broader audience that a singular media type cannot.

What media and formats do you use for your content marketing and what is most effective for you?

Source of Facts and Figures: Royal Pingdom

Image by dirkshaw

Written by Jeff Bullas

The cry of “Content is King” has been a rallying call for bloggers and on-line publishers for years.

Creating and marketing your content is now as easy as typing text and uploading images and videos

Category: Social Media

☞ The Tech Wrap by Ben Martin☜

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Glasgow’s leadership in the area of fuel poverty is to be commended

Over a third of Britain’s want to do more for the planet but don’t know how