Warning: Social media may be hazardous to your health
Oct 29th
A lot has been written about the “danger” social media poses to companies and brands, but what about the real threat it poses to us as individuals?
Immediate, transparent, global, free communication is one of the most breathtaking information advances since the telephone. But when there is an opportunity for human corruption, there probably WILL be human corruption. Here are the biggest threats posed by the advent of social media:
Risk to personal security. For fun, I follow a few celebrities on Twitter, the digital Post-it note. The other day, one of them tweeted: “Down at Gino’s having a pizza with my boys.” Earlier in the day he had established the city he was in. With this kind of shoot-from-the-hip public broadcasting, it’s only a matter of time before we see the first Twitter-related crimes. Even for non-celebrities, how safe is it to post to the world, “My husband and I are off to Boston for the Web 3.0 conference.” Not very … unless you want your next post to be “Our house got wiped out by crooks while we were away!”
Risk to personal finances. Every time you register for a site, sign up for an app, or populate a social media profile, you are adding to a databank all about you. Strangers can find names, birth dates, family members, school and work history, e-mail addresses and much more. One blog writer recently quipped, “Honestly, it doesn’t take a genius to steal a person’s identity online.” Even more severe than identity theft and the obvious financial ramifications for an individual — we will begin to see online crimes being committed under the alias of another person.
Risk to personal reputation. Thankfully, nobody was holding a video camera in my face during my college years. But the lives of today’s youth are explicitly documented on You Tube, blogs, photo albums, and social media sites, creating a permanent online record. One corporate recruiter told me that a web search is more important to him than a resume. How will your Google-image affect your future job prospects, personal relationships, political aspirations? Did you read about the teen girls who took pictures of themselves in their bras at a sleepover, texted them to friends and then hours later ended up on porn sites? How do you erase something like that? Google never forgets.
Risk to data and information. A few weeks ago, a computer worm, using Twitter, infected tens of thousands of computers as it replicated itself across the Internet. The worm was created by a 17-year-old to “expose the vulnerabilities” in Twitter. The red-hot social networking/microblogging service has been scrambling to plug cross-site scripting and other Web site vulnerabilities to thwart worm attacks but, as one researcher points out, it’s much easier to misuse the Twitter API as a “weak link” to send worms squirming through Twitter.
Risk to personal health. Neurologists and doctors warn that obsessive immersion in screen technologies and social network sites will lead to short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize, weight gain, and a tenuous sense of identity.
Risk to personal productivity. A friend recently told me that he needed to find a way to block himself from social media sites at work. “I’m hooked,” he said. “I can’t stop myself from getting online every minute that I can.” According to a U.K. study, British firms are losing $264 million A DAY on lost productivity due to undercover activities on Facebook. Businesses are starting to look for ways to deal with the social networking problem. Several companies in America already block social media sites.
So, where does this lead?
I’m a fan of social media. These new platforms have connected me to countless interesting people, opportunities and ideas. The purpose of this article is to serve as a counter-point to those who seem to be hypnotized by the hyperbole and beat the drum of social media while ignoring these certain consequences. There is virtually NO dialogue on the risks of the inevitable corruption that will result from having a free and pervasive window into YOUR life.
I’m hoping the dialogue will start now …
The case for social media marketing and "Extreme B2B"
Sep 14th
At one point in my career, I had one of the largest (if not THE largest!) sales positions in the world. I had just one customer and they bought more than US$1.5 billion of goods and services from my company every year. That’s what I call Extreme B2B. Long sales cycle. High stakes. Extraordinary power in the hands of the buyer.
Is there a place for social media marketing even in “Extreme B2B?” Before applying any tactic like social media — in any situation — you first need to consider the strategy. In my position, there were four strategies I employed to keep and grow this mega-customer:
Apply high-touch throughout the organization. With a customer that large, you can imagine that operations were dispersed throughout the world. So my contacts were broad … and they were also deep – from the CEO to the machine operator on the floor, from Purchasing to R&D. There were dozens of people who influenced the purchasing decision and I had to earn trust with all of them! It was also a challenge connecting all the communication synapses between the two companies: executive, manufacturing, R&D, etc.
Raise switching costs through service innovations. Not only did I want to grow my business at this customer, I wanted to do it at the most profitable plant locations. To achieve this, I wanted to provide some extraordinary service that would make it painful for the plant to switch to a competitor. For example, at our most profitable customer location, we designed a special truck that could haul away their waste material after delivering a shipment of finished product, saving them waste hauling fees. Those trucks made us a lot of money!
Improve profitability through incremental cost savings. With an account that large, the purchasing power is extreme and that keeps margins low. It was always a challenge to find small ways to save money, especially if it also provided a win for the customer. With revenues that large, even an improvement of a fraction of a cent per unit could have a dramatic impact on profitability.
Listen better, act faster. Listening to my customer was serious business. We actually conducted formal “listen to the customer” visits using trained facilitators. Information from these visits, conducted throughout the world, was carefully compiled, thoroughly analyzed and used to create our marketing and R&D plans.
In summary, my strategy was: Be accessible, innovate through service, lower costs, and listen effectively. Hmmm … doesn’t that sound like a PERFECT business case for social media applications? Even in a case of extreme B2B there are likely applications for these new tools, right?
Yes … and no. I’m sure you can think of many great social web applications to support these strategies, but that doesn’t mean that B2B companies will necessarily act on them. Why not?
Even with a strong business case, there may be very good reasons why a B2B company should reject social media marketing (gasp!). More on that in the next post!
Can Twitter read your mind?
Sep 11th
I saw an inventive little advertisement from Volkswagen - you type in your Twitter handle and it recommends a car for you based on your tweets. One friend tried it and said it recommended the very car she was going to buy.
Other, playful sites (contributed by {grow} community member Nancy Scott) provide psychographic profiles on demand: Tweetpsyche and Personas.
Twitter contest promotes economic development
Aug 15th
“The Great Retweet” is using hashtags, links and give-aways to involve members in a viral campaign to promote its first “Demo Day & Tech Expo” in Roanoke, VA, September 18.
Up until the day of the event, anybody who promotes the region through a tweet and includes the hashtag reference #NCTCDemoDay is eligible to win a weekly prize drawing that includes:
· Two tickets to a collge football game
· A free weekend stay at a local hotel
· A free tradeshow booth
· $100 cash
The contest has some other rules, including provisions against turning this into a spam fest, but I think it is a wonderful and innovative use of Twitter to promote an event, generate engagement among a target audience, and provide some good fun!
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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