Now that you’ve established a presence on social media and mastered the basics, you want to make the most of your experience by staying current with this ever changing field. In this session, Dave Fleet will share his insights into key trends to expect in 2011. His presentation will help you learn how to build upon your existing relationships and communities by making strategic use of social media. Takeaways: - Insights into key trends driving social media activities within businesses - Pointers on best practices for optimizing social media - Ideas for executing social media within their organizations

1. Social Media Trends for
Organizations
Thought-Starters
Dave Fleet
VP Digital, Edelman
With input from Steve Rubel
and David Armano

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Introduction

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Themes
1. Silo busting
2. Maturation of social media
3. Rise of the „less shiny object‟
4. Communication accelerates

4. Theme #1:
Silo busting

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Trend #1: Integration
Organizations will increasingly realize that social media
achieves little unless they integrate it with other communication
forms and with other business functions

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Trend #1: Best practices
• Structure social media across silos
• Plan communications across functions
• Integrate and share intelligence across the
enterprise

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Trend #2: Social customer support
Multiple factors lead companies to adopt social support
activities alongside their traditional channels

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Trend #2: Best practices
• Engage proactively AND reactively
• Where possible, solve problems in public
• Support resolution by the community
• Reward third-party advocates
Photo: angelaarcher

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Trend #3: Death of the campaign
Companies look beyond campaigns and towards ongoing
activities as drivers of results in social media activities

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ABANDONMENT VALLEYMANAGED COMMUNITY
BUILDS ON EXISTING
COMMUNITY EQUITY
CONSUMER CONVERSATIONS
ACTIVE
CAMPAIGN
SPIKE
ACTIVE
CAMPAIGN
SPIKE
Trend #3: Best practices
• Identify an executive sponsor
• Budget, staff, plan for ongoing activities
• Diversify responsibility for activities
– Between functions
– Within functions

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Trend #4: Ad Agencies Awake
2010 was the year that advertising agencies bought-in to social
media. 2011 will see that continue, albeit with bumps in the
road.

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PAID
media
SOCIAL
platforms
PARTNERSHIPS
INFLUENCER NETWORKS
BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT
NICHE PLATFORMS
EMBASSIES
RICH MEDIA CONTENTDIGITAL
PROPERTIES
WEBSITES
CUSTOM BUILT PORTALS
INTERNAL/ENTERPRISE
INFLUENCER ENGAGEMENT
ADVERTISING
BANNERS
DISPLAY
PAID
ENDORSEMENTS
OUTPOSTS
RELEVANT MESSAGE BOARDS
BLOGOSPHERE
Social Engagement
Concentrated Here
EARNED
media
OWNED
properties
Source: David Armano,
Edelman 2010, edelmandigital.com
Trend #4: Best practices
• Integrate advertising into social programs
• Balance pros and cons of different media
forms in communications programs
• Beware of purely campaign-based
approaches
• Leverage creativity while maintaining
engagement

13. Theme #2:
Maturation of social media

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Trend #5: "Influence" matures
Companies evolve their approach to influence beyond just
considering reach. Thought leadership and experts take
precedence.

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Trend #5: Best practices
• Consider context
• Consider spheres of influence outside the
top tier
• Measure outcomes to refine approach

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Trend #6: Return of websites
After several years of being told to “fish where the fish are”
businesses realize that social integration to existing web sites doesn’t
only help them become relevant—users will expect it.

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Trend #6: Best practices
• Incorporate social data from connections,
friends
• Design for function & form
• Be conservative on privacy

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Trend #7: Democratization of voice
Companies continue the path broken by others to allow
additional corporate spokespeople in the online space

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Trend #7: Best practices
• Set boundaries for free engagement
• Develop community guides to ensure
consistency in approach
• Hire experience and train for success

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Trend #8: Community management
Community management evolves beyond random engagement
and towards rigorous, measured strategic activity

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• Engage community members and
encourage participation
• Personalize interactions while reinforcing
corporate priorities
• Act transparently
• Engage respectfully
• Act as a real-time first line of defense for
online issues
Trend #8: Best practices

22. Theme #3:
Rise of the “less shiny object”

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Trend #9: Digitally driven crises
No-one thinks they're going to experience a crisis until they do.
More and more organizations will realize too late that they need
to incorporate digital into their crisis plans.

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Trend #9: Best practices
• Identify potential sources of crises
• Plan ahead; get buy-in on removing
roadblocks
• Monitor continuously for emerging issues
• Practice thorough crisis simulations

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Trend #10: Digital Curation
Social media allows everyone to produce content. Some is
good; some is bad. As the volume of information increases,
companies may benefit from curating the former.

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Trend #10: Best practices
• Identify under-served niches and meet
them
• Frame up issues and discussions;
editorialize
• Make curation collaborative and social
Photo by chrisjbarker

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Trend #11: Search strategy
Companies will increasingly factor search considerations into
the earned and social realms of their online activities.

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Trend #11: Best practices
• Think beyond SEM and on-domain SEO
• Factor search considerations into
communications planning, not just content
• Optimize activities to realize long-term
benefit from short-term campaigns

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Trend #12: Measurement matures
Measurement has long been an Achilles heel for PR.
Advertising agencies are still stuck measuring impressions.
Measurement will, by necessity, evolve in 2011.

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Trend #12: Best practices
• Mandate metric sharing
• Measure outcomes of activities, not outputs
• Consider measurement at the beginning
and middle – not just the end
• Tailor reports to the audience
• Insist on context alongside numbers

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Trend #13: Rise of the content strategist
As campaigns evolve to sit alongside ongoing community
management, content creation and optimization takes a central
place at the social media table.
Photo: John Two Persons Benedick

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Trend #13: Best practices
• Place audiences at the core of content
• Plan and maintain a flexible content
calendar
• Create social objects to drive attention
• Optimize based on previous results

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Trend #14: Developer Engagement
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Photo by bugbbq
Developers are driving innovation across all key digital platforms.
Marketing innovators will begin working with developers to scale
their programs and boost their surface area.

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Trend #14: Best practices
• Make valuable assets available for
developers – e.g. art, text, videos, data
• Build APIs and cultivate a rich developer
network
• Adopt developer creations
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35. Theme #4:
Communication accelerates

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Trend #15: Location, location, Facebook
2010 was Foursquare‟s year, but it never broke through.
Facebook is now paying attention to location, and is poised to
make location-based marketing relevant.

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Trend #15: Best practices
• Think “LoSoPhoMo,” particularly on
Facebook
• Combine real and digital world
engagement
• Reward advocates with additional
privileges and rewards

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Trend #16: Social media overload
• Social media overload is nothing new to early adopters, but it
will become an increasing issue for “average” users

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Trend #16: Best practices
• Identify and elevate your experts
• Dazzle with data
• Integrate social to cut down on new logins
• Ask and answer

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Trend #17: Marketing in Streams
Increasing prevalence of streams of news means that “what”
and “where” no longer answer enough questions. “When”
becomes an important consideration.

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Trend #17: Best practices
• Analyse your audience activity
• Schedule updates throughout the day
• Post content at optimum times
Credit: HubSpot

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Trend #18: Listening becomes mandatory
Increased occurrences of social media-driven issues, combined
with the potential for insights and for building brands and
reputations drives monitoring as a core social activity

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Trend #18: Best practices
• Formalize monitoring for the organization
• Tailor search taxonomies to functional
needs
• Establish processes to route and escalate
conversations as needed
• Extend monitoring boundaries beyond the
organization to a wider context

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Questions for you:
• What trends do you see?
• Which trends are most helpful for you?
• Which trends are most challenging?
Questions?

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LinkedIn.com/in/davefleet
dave.fleet@edelman.com
416.849.8940