Updates and Great Links

This post has info for the students as well as for other interested parties (go to the end of the post).

For the students:

Now that the mid-term exam is over, we can focus on the road ahead of us over the second half of the term:

• August 6: Viral marketing and intro to final project – guest speakers from Brickfish
• August 13: Microblogging and widgets
• August 20: NO CLASS - work on your projects!
• August 27: Communities and Creating a Social Media Plan -guest speaker from Intuit
• September 3: Final Project presentations

Our final project will be to put together a social media plan for the non-profit organization We Rock 4 Kids! Be sure to bring your questions, as we will get the "client brief" tomorrow night in class.

For Everyone

In my Google Reader today, I spotted a great graphic that was shared with me by Phil Gerbyshak of the Make It Great! blog (thanks, Phil!). The graphic was part of a blog post put together by Matt McDonald as an easy way to explain social media. Here is the graphic:

Matt goes on to explain the difference between his three circles of socially created content, social networking, and socially highlighted content (as well as the in-between content!). In class, we have covered the first two quite a bit; the latter weeks of class will round that out, as well as dig into the power of social media in highlighting content for others (the "collectors" written about in Groundswell, our textbook).

Check out the comments, too, for a discussion by the community on where improvements could be made to the model (including "swirly circles within circles and bathroom people"). I have added my take to it as well, as I am not sure how this would go over in a "B2B" or business-to-business company.

I believe it is important for us to be able to speak the language of our audience in order to share our ideas well. I think we are on our way, but many times, we are best at speaking our own language (as it is the most comfortable for us). Right, international students?

What do you think?

Is Matt missing anything? Does this picture make social media easier to understand? Add your comments here or on Matt's blog!

(Photo credit: 3pod)

Are Blogs Good for Business?

One of my students sent me an email with this opinion:

"I'm not a fan of blogs. I receive the Google alerts for news and blogs related to my field, and virtually 100% of the blogs are essentially a waste of space. I feel compelled to read them in the event something interesting is written (which I cannot afford to miss), but my ROI on reading blogs is truly negative. Indeed, I spend 15 minutes of my day reading blogs that add no value. That is 62 1/2 hours of wasted time a year.

Most of the useful stuff people accomplish through blogs seem perfectly capable of being accomplished via Facebook or related tools. I therefore only see personal reasons for having blogs, versus business reasons. Granted, some Fortune 500 companies have blogs, but that isn't exactly an endorsement."

A blog is not appropriate for every business. It makes sense when companies want to create a two-way dialogue with their customers/clients/donors. For some, it has created a lot of discussion. For example, the Southwest Airlines Nuts About Southwest blog requests customer feedback, and Southwest employees definitely respond. The most comments seem to come on posts where the airline is discussing something controversial, such as this one announcing their winter schedule.

It is great to have varying viewpoints, as they create a healthy discussion. So, let's open this up for conversation!

- Can Facebook or other social media tools accomplish what blogs can accomplish for a business?

- There are many reasons for a business to have a blog (listen to customers, talk with them, be seen as an expert, create a community). Which reasons have you seen work, and for which company?
- Has your company tried a blog that didn't work out? (I showed the example of Moosetopia, from Denali Ice Cream, to my students last week; it was cute, but didn't get much interaction from customers.)

Let's hear about it!
(Photo credit: head-off)

To the Students

Every now and then, I will have a blog entry geared to the students in my class. This is one of those!




Homework

Please continue posting to your blogs, as well as linking to and commenting on each other's blogs. I would also like to see links to blogs that are similar to yours. The best way to link is to write a post, then refer to someone else's blog in your post. Be sure to include the address of the blog post you are referring to in your post link! You can also add blogs to your blogroll/blog list.


Remember, in social media, participation and conversation are key!


Textbook Reading



You should be working your way through Groundswell, with a goal of reading through at least Chapter 7, Energizing the Groundswell, by class this week.


Midterm Exam



The midterm will be next Wednesday, July 30! It will be a few multiple-choice questions, but most of it will be a written response. You will be getting a case study to read and work through, targeted at what you would recommend for this company.


Slides



I have been trying to figure out the best way to get you slides, and I am still working on it (the file sizes are huge). Blackboard is probably it, and I am trying to get them up there. I will have something for you this week so you can review for the midterm!
(Photo credit: kjpargeter)