It seems like the pendulum has swung too far on social media.  There are some camps that treat social media as a panacea: “Anyone can do it and it’s free!”

That last part really irks me.  Sure, there are lots of free tools that can help you monitor conversations, distribute content and engage with influencers, but unless you think your time isn’t worth anything, social media is most certainly not free.  Cost-effective, yes, but like most things, it takes time to do it right.  And for most people, time is valuable.

But beyond the financial question, effective social media requires a sound strategy based on developing answers to some key questions:

• What are my business goals?
• Who are the influencers shaping my market?
• What topics are those influencers discussing and where is the discussion taking place?
• How can I contribute to the conversation and engage those influencers?
• What does success look like for my company?

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It’s no secret that tech tradeshow attendance has dropped dramatically in the past two years.  In times past these tech tradeshows were among the only venues where IT professionals could network with their peers and schmooze with vendors.  Perhaps the most stark example of the demise of the tech tradeshow is B2B Magazine’s recent coverage of TechTarget’s recent revenue loss and announcement to cut 2010 events by 25 percent.  TechTarget has long been the success story of the tech publishing sector, and it has built its reputation by creating exclusive, peer-to-peer networking events (e.g. StorageDecisions) for short-term buyers of particular category of tech solution.  Vendors are not able to present at these events, nor can they even attend the sessions – they can only exhibit in a different area of the event that is open only a few hours a day.  For TechTarget, the Q4’09 events revenue dropped nearly 50 percent from same quarter ’08.

While companies are not springing for their employees to travel for peer-to-peer engagement opportunities, IT decisionmakers still have to connect with their peers somewhere.  It’s the perfect opportunity to build and cultivate peer-to-peer connections via vendor forums (see Vyatta’s online community), participation in LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Answers, Twitter Tweet-Up events and peer-to-peer site sponsorship – such as Intel does with the CIO Leadership Network, run by Evanta.  Contact us to learn more about Eastwick Communications’ specific programs for peer-to-peer engagement.

Recent results from Hitwise (see ReadWrite Web’s March 1 story) confirm that Facebook drives traffic to broadcast news sites, while Google News angles users toward traditional print outlets.  While that may not be shocking, some of the sites that made the top 10 on both sides are surprising.  News aggregators like Yahoo! News and Google News made the top 10 in Facebook traffic, as did disruptors topix and Drudge Report.  On the Google News side, venerable institutions of journalism like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post topped the list, while BBC News and The Huffington Post also placed in the mainstream.  Reuters made the Google News list instead of wire-service competitor The Associated Press likely because of Google’s seven-week suspension of AP content due to a legal dispute that was resolved at the beginning of February.

Does that mean broadcast is still king and Mad Ave can rejoice?  Not quite.  Last week, ABC News cut half its domestic correspondents and closed all its physical bureaus nationwide, except in Washington.  The Los Angeles Times reported this of ABC News’ LA bureau: “The 40-plus staffers were told this week that only a few producers would remain and only two correspondents would be assigned to cover the West, down from a total of six who work out of Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Many functions that had been done out of the bureau will be handled by a ‘logistics desk’ in New York.”

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With Richard Edelman and Barbera Bates of Eastwick http://twitpic.com/164vwk 6:43 PM Mar 1st via Twitterrific.

It’s tempting to think about user-generated content, peer influence and viral communications as new concepts.  But the reality is that these social concepts have been around for a long time.  When we were sharing the Architecture of Influence concept with Chris Shipley, she pointed out that housewives in the 50’s were coming up with jingles and entering contests — a form of user-generated content.  The product company — whether cereal or dish soap — got creative ideas and very engaged customers, for little cost.  Tupperware and Amway are two other classic examples of the power of word of mouth and peer influence at work.

And don’t forget the classic chain letter.  I remember painstakingly copying letters and sending them on to my friends, for fear of breaking the chain and incurring the wrath of the broken chain letter gods.  “Do not break the chain!”, the letters admonished, always citing examples of the poor sap who got hit by a truck or some other calamity.  Turns out the concept of the chain letter goes back to the Middle Ages, when a letter, purported to be from an Emperor of Rome, made the rounds in various forms.

As anyone with email knows, the chain letter is alive and well.  There are entire web sites devoted to chain letters.  http://chainletters.net/chainletters/ The web has breathed new life into many classic forms of communication.  It’s easier than ever to come up with your own content and share it with friends and colleagues.  Some might argue it’s too easy.  But either way, the sharing culture is firmly entrenched and here to stay.

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Over the last six months, we’ve been focusing on influence - blogging about it, talking to client and colleagues, researching the impact of online influence.  What started as a basic premise - the idea that amidst all the new dynamics in the market, influence still matters - has grown into a full-blown methodology that is shaping the way Eastwick does business.

We call it the Architecture of Influence.

We’ve all experienced how much marketing and communications has changed over the last several years with the advent of social media.  That’s old news.  Eastwick’s new framework is based on a data-driven approach that uncovers the real influencers in a market, not based on gut feel or old assumptions but what the data tells us about who really matters.  On top of that, we layer our smarts about the market and how those influencers work in order to drive awareness and influence sales.

We’re talking evolution not revolution, but the change is an important one and makes it possible for us to measure the results of communications in terms that matter most to our clients - market awareness, influencer engagement and customer preference, to name a few.

Architecture of Influence

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Increasingly, marketing executives are being asked to show how social media strategies drive sales leads. There is ongoing debate as to whether social media has the potential to serve as a lead-gen tool. On the one hand, some experts don’t think social media channels are scalable enough to drive sales: how much bang can you get for your buck, and can you invest the necessary amount of time to make the channels worthwhile? These points need to be taken into consideration when determining how, and to what extent, companies want to leverage social media channels to share information and receive feedback.   On the other hand, as more and more companies track success of their social media strategies, the indication is that business goals – including lead gen – can be supported. According to a recent BtoB article, a Business.com study did find that “purely” social media channels such as microblogs function strongly as lead gen channels, even to the point of helping build databases of prospects. Entrepreneur also covered this debate recently, citing Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell, who points to evidence of national brands using social media to drive sales. For example, Southwest posted Twitter specials resulting in $3 M in sales. The potential shouldn’t be ignored, and best practices are cropping up everywhere to help track success of social media programs. This list of 20 metrics is a great place to start, and this list of metrics focuses specifically on lead gen.    Bottom line: an integrated communications campaign helps increase mindshare, site traffic, and can also have a hand in generating trackable sales leads. And while there still may be many questions about social media lead gen, we may as well have some fun trying to find the answers.

Change always accompanies a New Year, and 2010 will be no different.  Join us again in January as we analyze new trends, reveal new methodologies, and examine the overlapping worlds of technology and communications.

All of us at Eastwick wish you a happy, healthy 2010!

Anyone who’s written for an audience can attest to the humbling experience of having one’s work edited. A Ragan.com feature titled “Black and white and red all over” is an assortment of communicators’ recollections about the first time they experienced the wrath of the red pen.

The advice ranges from the stylistic, like avoiding Gonzo journalism and questionable metaphors, to the emotional - not falling in love with your own words.

That may be the toughest advice to take, as that love can be as enduring as your very first crush. (In my case, “baseball Brad.”) Painful as it may be, though, it is still vital instruction to follow in order to communicate effectively with your audience by using language that is meaningful to them rather than your ego.

This leads us to another item of interest: Americans are consuming more information overall.

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Having started my career in journalism, I can relate to how painful it can feel for a reporter to deal with PR people. They can be overly demanding, pitch things that they know nothing about, and on top of that, pitch topics to reporters that are completely NOT relevant to the reporter’s beat – all major no-no’s in the PR industry.

However, there’s something more to working with the media than just doing your basic PR job right. As the landscape has shifted a bit, and we start to deal with entities outside traditional media (such as bloggers and influential customers) it is even MORE important to step it up in the niceness factor with these guys. Not only are you talking to a reporter who could end up writing a story about your company, you also could potentially be talking to the actual end-user who will ultimately buy your product – and well, that’s the bottom line to success.

We’ve all heard these tips before, but I think it is a good reminder to keep these things in mind as you work with reporters, influencers, bloggers, analysts, customers, etc. – these days, it could be anyone!!

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