I would agree with the sentiment that radio is social. Let me rephrase this, good radio is social. It uses talk shows, open’s the lines up for conversations with listeners and is a great medium to connect with people in a personal manner.

Social media does the same, arguably with a bit more longevity to the conversations taking place. Through online conversations, that are the catalyst for opening up engagement with followers, social media touches its followers in a very unique and personal fashion.

Social media and radio are two peas in a pod. Social, engaging and exciting.

In my experience, when two social people get together the party just gets bigger and better. The same is true with campaigns, shows and conversations that utilize both radio and social media platforms to meet people.

How to best optimise radio and social media

DJ Fresh on 5FM

• Use the live nature of radio to build fanfare
• Everyone likes a bit of fanfare. It excites us and makes us interested in getting involved in something. The problem is that it normally dies down quickly.

Radio is a great medium to create fanfare for its listeners. I would suggest coupling your radio campaign with social media based calls to action (tweet us, message us on Facebook, etc) in order to introduce your platform to listeners of radio. Once these people get caught up in the excitement they may join your social media channels in order to ‘get involved.’ Opening up the opportunity for you to keep your fans involved in your brand over a longer engagement period than your radio campaign (assuming your content and engagement is useful, interesting and inline with your radio campaign objectives).

Building better brand engagement

In the book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” the Heath brothers explain how the human brain works in remembering and idea.

Your brain hosts a truly staggering number of loops. The more hooks an idea has,the better it will cling to memory. Your childhood home has a gazillion hooks in your brain. Your credit card number has one, if it’s lucky.

Using radio and social media will allow you to build deeper brand engagement and more hooks in your customers mind. I think the biggest challenge would be to build a creative campaign that leveraged the live nature of radio and then extended it to a deeper social media engagement that allowed willing customers to spend a lot of time entrenched in the campaign.

Why social media and radio are best friends originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

The truth is I made a mistake in buying a software based product before double checking with the company that the software runs on a Mac computer. To my annoyance it did not. I take complete blame at this point, it was my mistake for not checking.

Frustration?

Here’s the frustrating bit. I contacted the support department to see if there was anyway to make this software run. Their answer was simple.

“the software definitely does run on a Mac. You just need to boot it using windows software.”

Now let me explain, asking a Mac user reboot their computer into a Windows operating system is not only an insult but also hugely inconvenient.

This leads me to my point. There was a clear misunderstanding of a Mac user by this company. They felt they had a great solution but the solution only frustrates and infuriates the user at the end of the day.

It would have been better to offer an immediate refund at this point and let me know it only runs on windows. I would have been happy to send the product back at this point and restart my search for the right product.

I really liked the product and would have recommended it to other windows users I met. However now I have a personal frustration with the people at the company that makes me irritated with them. I was impressed with the company (even as a windows only platform) before but now I am annoyed with them. Enough to write something about it.

My annoyance is in that they are trying to be something they are not. They have not created a product for Mac users. That’s fine. Mac people can go elsewhere.

The problem is that they happily claim they have found a Mac based solution. They have not. They have simply kept their windows solution and asked the customer to change.

In order to use this software I would need to:

1) Pay R900 for it
2) Buy a windows operating system R1700
3) spend hours researching how to install windows on my Mac using Bootcamp.
4) or buy a Programme like Parallels to run windows on R800

This is not a customer focused solution. It is a quick fix for the company that costs the customer a fortune to make up for a bad solution.

I have one suggestion that would have helped in building a better customer experience.

Be honest

Honesty would have bought to light that the Mac solution was not actually a solution at the end of the day. Honesty would have clearly defined the problem and shown the truth before the solution was even implemented into the business.

Honesty begs people to deal with the tough facts after doing all the right research. In other words, to make the most informed and correct move given your current circumstances and knowledge of what’s right.

Honesty would have challenged the business to offer a better product to their customers.
If they made the decision to provide a Mac solution it would have come in the form of a Mac driver and not a windows emulator.

Should their honesty lead them to decide not to support Mac, this honesty would have lead to a clear and direct customer engagement that would have avoided the dissatisfaction experienced.

Your Thoughts

I would,love,to hear what you have to say about this, comment below!

Be honest and understand your customer – it makes them happier originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

To my dismay, sitting in the van, catching up on email, sat Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Who would have thought I would have the incredible opportunity to meet Jimmy sitting in a parking lot in Lagos.

Anyway, I seized the opportunity the chat to Jimmy about his experiences with Wikipedia and was able to draw out a few gems for those who read this blog.

Behind every success is a failure where alot of learning took place

I experienced this in my own life and it was nice to hear Jimmy talk about the same experience. Jimmy started a project similar to Wikipedia before starting the popular encyclopedia. It was there that he learnt how to succeed with the project by learning from the mistakes he made.

My advice to anyone looking to start something big would be to keep going no matter how much you learn (fail). It can only get better from here.

It’s all about community

Jimmy chatted about the idea that Wikipedia succeeded because of the investment into building community. The technology is only the vehicle to manage and encourage the community.

This is a an understanding that I have come to believe is fundamental to the success of any online campaign, software, project or business. Understand you consumer, the people working with you, the people supporting you and you can achieve incredible progress as you build your business.

Humility is by far the best character trait a man can possess

Jimmy spent most of his time telling me about the fantastic people who make up Wikipedia. He was not at all focused on his role in making Wikipedia successful. He only wanted to share this great idea by telling me what others had done to make this possible. His humility was refreshing and increased my respect of him ten fold.

His demeanor reminded me of a blog post I wrote last year some time about the leadership value of humility. It was great to see this wonderful trait in action again.

The vision never changes

I asked Jimmy about the vision for Wikipedia. I asked what had changed and what are his new dreams now that Wikipedia had grown to become such a well renowned project.

He quickly took me back to the core vision statement which he said has never changed – “to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language.”

Over time Wikipedia has grown tremendously but it has never wavered off it’s primary vision. This is a great example of leadership, vision and resolve to see the vision through.

Well in my 30min conversation that was all I could get out of Jimmy. I hope you learnt something, I certainly did.

Lessons from a 30min conversation with Wikipedia Founder originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

When looking at your social media policy it is a good idea to understand how people are already engaging with you. How your customers are talking to you or about you, and how your employees are doing the same. Do your best to get a clear picture of the technology your employees and customers are comfortable using.

I would then suggest you look at what you would like to see happening with you company and social media. Then take a hard look at what needs to be allowed for, encouraged or discouraged. Don’t simply create a “rule list” of do’s or dont’s. This would be very ineffective because you will simply look as though you are trying to control something you don’t have control of.

One of the best social media policies was written by IBM. It’s great because it empowers people to share company values. A value based policy will always go further than a rules based policy. Staff at IBM have hundreds of blogs and in 2005 IBM released this guideline for bloggers:

1. Speak in the first person.
2. Respect copyright and fair use laws.
3. Safeguard confidential and proprietary information.
4. Protect company clients, business partners and suppliers.
5. Respect your audience and your coworkers.
6. Add value.
7. Don’t pick fights.
8. Be the first to respond to your own mistakes.
9. Adopt a warm, open and approachable tone.

This is a good foundation to start from in your own organisation. I hope you enjoy empowering your employees inside the social media space for your organisation.

If you would like someone to help you develop and write a social media policy please feel free to touch base with me so that we can discuss this further.

The best social media policy is based on values – not rules originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

In this analysis there are some interesting and valuable pieces of information we can observe.

LinkedIn beats Twitter

LinkedIn has taken the third place as the most popular social network in South Africa. I have seen this coming for some time as more and more professionals have been taking to LinkedIn to improve their networking skills. My personal LinkedIn profile currently connects me to more people than my Facebook profile.

The rise of LinkedIn makes it clearly evident that business to business marketing become a priority through social networking. In addition, this places LinkedIn firmly in the South African recruitment industry as a network with a powerful database of industry professionals across South Africa.

First National Bank comes out on top

Banking has always been a popular activity for South Africans online. In 2010 we saw Standard Bank as the bank of choice but over the last few years FNB has comfortably claimed the first position a the online bank of choice.

FNB offers its online clients first rate online banking (although every bank has a pretty decent Internet banking service) and the big plus (which caused me to change my banking to FNB) was the iPhone app and easy connection to PayPal. FNB has done a fantastic job at identifying the needs of South Africans and offering services that appeal to them. Congratulations FNB!

To all those who are interested here is the complete list of the Top 20 websites in South Africa in 2012:

1. Google South Africa
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. YouTube
5. Yahoo
6. Gumtree
7. Wikipedia
8. LinkedIn
9. News24
10. Bid or Buy
11. Twitter
12. First National Bank
13. Blogspot
14. StandardBank South Africa
15. ABSA
16. Windows Live
17. Amazon
18. Independent Online
19. WordPress.com
20. Microsoft Corporation

Top 20 Websites in South Africa 2012 originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Social media has opened up a world where peers and colleagues decide what news is valuable and important. Articles that are shared most by your friends on Facebook show up in your Facebook news feed and Google+ highlights search content in Google that has been shared by your Google circles. Most social networks use this algorithm to highlight news. The higher the ‘share’ volume the more popular the article and the more exposure it gets on the networks. The problem is that these articles may be popular but they are not necessarily providing verified facts about the news subject.

Twitter has gone a long way with their new Twitter iPhone app by identifying trends in the most tweeted keywords and then linking that trend (or news item) to a reputable news source like CNN or BBC. This bridges the gap by highlighting the most ‘shared’ content on twitter and providing the best, most reputable source of news available. Two thumbs up to Twitter.

Aside from the steps Twitter has taken, most networks have become aggregators of popular content instead of good, reliable and verified journalistic content. This presents two scenarios that need to be addressed:

1) News readers need to learn how to apply journalist type skills in reading content online in order to make a judgement on its validity. The book discusses these techniques in more detail and is well worth the read.

2) The role of journalists must change because news readers are no longer need ‘gate-keepers’ of new content. Our social networks have become those gate-keepers for us.

The new roles that are suggested by Bill and Tom are:

“Authenticator”–The press will do more authentication of reported facts and will gather evidence in more transparent ways. In the information age, news consumers want to know not only the evidence in a report but also the process of uncovering it.
“Sense maker” – With updated news available all the time, even the slightest change in a situation can command a headline. This promotes a fragmented understanding of the world. Journalists can transcend “incremental” coverage by connecting threads in multiple reports to produce broader coverage that makes sense of the news.
“Investigator”–The news media traditionally have served as a public watch dog, alert to possible government malfeasance. Some reporters, editors and producers will play this role more vigorously, while others will avoid such verification-based journalism.
“Witness bearer” – The presence of the press at public meetings is a pillar of democracy. It shows elected officials that they are doing public business in full view. New ways of covering local government may involve partnerships between news media and part-time correspondents with no formal journalism training.
“Empowerer” – More journalists will empower their audience by providing self- service tools for learning about any subject. Journalists offering stories online now can choose among many reporting assists, like links to related data.
“Smartaggregator”–Collating online content allows news organizations to purvey information about the best websites and to offer unique news-filtering services.
“Forum organizer” – News outlets now have opportunities to distinguish themselves by producing fact-based discussions of public issues and presenting a diversity of opinions.
“Role model” – More professional journalists will become role models for citizens 
enlisted by the news media, part time, to extend their coverage base.

I would recommend reading the book if this topic interests you, especially if you are a news publisher looking to socially reinvent your business model to survive the social media revolution

How social media is changing the role of journalism originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

This has caused me to do a fair amount of research and to once again present my own view point.

There are three reasons why you should be seriously looking at creating a Google+ Profile

SEO Benefit

This is by far the main benefit. SEOMoz, a respected international search engine optimisation firm have run multiple tests and have found that companies with Google+ profiles are being prioritised inn search engines based on their social connection with the searcher.

This means that your company can getter better search engine exposure simply by creating a good Google+ page.

SEOMoz created a great video to explain this in more detail if you would like to know more.

Google+ is full of influencers

A big part of social media marketing is building relationships with key influencers in your marketplace who have the Internet savvy to take your brand to his or her networks (and hopefully viral).

Google+ is full of (over 100 million) people who are early adopters of social media technology and who have extensive networks, followers and fans. Due to the fact that Google+ is not too saturated with many people yet it provides a great opportunity to find those key influencers who can take your message to their networks on other popular platforms as well.

It’s always good to be the first

Getting into something first always presents an opportunity to capture a marketplace before your competitors. Providing an excellent competitive advantage.

We would recommend getting into Google+ early in order to build good, engaging and trusted networks for your industry before your competition does.

Three reasons to get into Google+ originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

” If you’re amongst the many people that are totally overwhelmed by Social Media, who may love and use Facebook for your personal networking or connecting with school friends but haven’t seen or understood the value of using this tool for business; if you think Twitter is for people who have too much time on their hands and can’t even begin to fathom how something like a 140 character conversation can add value; or whether Linkedin is a tool you’ve signed up for, but aren’t quite sure what to do with the connections you’ve made – Join the club, I was there as well! This bootcamp helped me understand it all!” – Vicky Coats, TomorrowToday

Some of the topics that we covered are:

• What is Social Media or Social Networking?
• An introduction to the various networks, like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, as well as blogging. How they work and whats makes then so effective when used together.
• Advertising online
• Marketing strategy; Inbound marketing; building your own strategy, and managing and measuring your strategy.

Workshop Dates

• Cape Town – 29th March 2012
• 
Johannesburg – 19th April 2012
• 
Durban – 24th May 2012
• Johannesburg – 15th August 2012
• Johannesburg – 8th November 2012

Social Media Bootcamps in South Africa originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

According to a study by TNS Surveys, Social Media has become the main reason that people access the internet. 80% of South Africans online have a Facebook account and on average they visit it twice a day. Over a million South Africans are on Twitter and YouTube ranks among the top 5 most visited websites in South Africa.

Social media has become the communication vehicle of choice for many South Africans. Quite simply, social media has bought about a new way of communicating. People now communicate to the world by tweeting and updating their status, uploading photo’s and writing on people wall.

Event Details

• Presenter: Mike Saunders
• Event Type: Social Media Bootcamps
• Date: Wednesday, March 28th 2012
• Time: 9:00am
• City: Mike Saunders in Cape Town
• Venue: Cape Town
• Country: South Africa
• Admission: R 1200
• Notes: Social Media Bootcamp hosted in Cape Town. This event is open to anyone in Cape Town who would like to know more about Social Media and how it cam help your business.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

Social Media Bootcamp in Cape Town – March 2012 originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

The Green Apron Book is a booklet that Starbucks gives its baristas.  It outlines Starbucks mission: “To provide an uplifting experience that enriches people’s daily lives,” along with 5 Principles for doing exactly that:

1. Be Welcoming: Offer everyone a sense of belonging.
2. Be Genuine: Connect, discover, respond.
3. Be Knowledgeable: Love what you do. Share it with others.
4. Be Considerate: Take care of yourself, each other, and the environment.
5. Be Involved: In the store, in the company, and in the community.

The principles promote that good business and great customer experiences come out of a personal connection between people. Social media relies on this principle as fundamental to your social media strategy. Without being personal and considerate you will struggle to build community.

Community is the centerpiece of your social media strategy, everything said and done by people inside your community will shape and define how your community evolves. By applying principles like the one’s outline here you can be sure that your community online and offline will grow and evolve into a very valuable business proposition.

Yes, this does mean that you need to allocate resources (mainly people) to manage the social media engagement for you business. Automation will just create a flat community with no energy and even less business interest.

Social Media principles from The Green Apron Book originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach