Zuckerberg's Law - 6 ways it could affect you

Mark Zuckerberg stated in 2008 that every two years or so (like Moore's Law for computing power) double the amount of information will be shared on social media as the year before.

While that may seem impossible I'm not the only one to think that something like this will happen. But what will that mean for most businesses?

Here's the reality of how this could affect you in the next few years:

* SEO and old style websites are likely be less and less relevant. Social sharing will drive site visits and the social sites will become the place more time is spent on. Social is already more popular on the web than pornography.

* TV, radio and newspapers will also be less relevant, as people spend more and more time on these social sites.

* Advertisers will take up real estate on your social feeds. And they will get cleverer. Ads will become engagement snares.

* Out bound selling will transition into content creation for inbound prospect attraction sites.

* Organisations of all types will evolve to adopt social media in HR. induction, training, on the job help, staff management, customer servicing, social activities, product development, sales and alumni networks.

* Your social life from finding a partner to creating an event will become a truly social media supported activity.

Not everyone of us or every organisation will be affected in the same way. Some will resist. A digital-less underclass will find themselves cut off from society.

How will you cope? If you need advice on anything in this post email me now: lob@yourasms.com

Newsjacking - 3 Critical Questions

A blog post led to this!

I have written previously about using news stories to insert yourself into the story. There are a three critical questions you must consider if you wish to use this method to get your blog/post or site more widely know.

They are:

1. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? In some cases this is difficult to work out. Do you have a  mission statement that might help you? If your goal is to provide reliable and secure mobile payments, for instance, you might insert yourself in stories about mobile or internet security breeches.

2. Do you have an opinion? Having an opinion helps on social media. If you pull your hair out that people aren't upgrading their Windows software or anti-virus protection, allowing hackers easy access to their passwords for instance, I think you are allowed to show frustration. The corporate mode of operation, in which everything is cool, lacks passion these days. Think about injecting some.

3. Do you know when to stop? You can get thousands of visitors to your site in a day if you create a powerful post, but you should also know when to shut up. Newsjacking isn't just about getting hits. It's about injecting what you want to say into the conversation, then stepping back.

Do you have any successful experiences of newsjacking you want to share, any observations on how to get this technique to work properly? Please use the comments below.

A plan for managing social media

I have created a seven slide online presentation on how to plan for social media.

The slideshow is here.

It proposes a six monthly cycle for all organisations based on an audit - plan - implement - audit cycle.

I suggest a six monthly cycle, as the social media world is changing so rapidly.

If you have any comments on the plan let me know. 

Blogging for business - 7 ways to get it right

Creating blog posts, whether it be for your own blog, a group blog, a LinkedIn post, a Facebook post or a community blog, is one of the key social tasks in the new online world most businesses now live in.

But what do we need to do to get it right? 

The first thing to consider is your audience. Are they consumers? Are they business owners? Are they IT specialists? Below are seven types of post you can use for clients and stakeholders of all types:

1. The first type of post, or series of posts, is to provide something useful. This is the basis for many blogs. Something useful can include: guides, FAQs lists, teach-what-you-do posts, illustrations of your product/service in action, case studies and product manual excerpts.

2. A second type of post, or series of posts, is anything to do with corporate social responsibility. Do you sponsor a charity, help a sports club, run an event for ex-employees? All of these can be featured in posts.

3. A third type of post is a free to enter contest. The prize may be small, but everyone likes to win and if you don't charge for entry it's not a lottery. You can use something like www.random.org to pick a winner from everyone who comments and shares your post, for instance. Most blogs number each comment you get.

4. A fourth type of post is brand news. News about new products, launches and updates can all be posts.

5. A fifth is about job opportunities.

6. A sixth is about special promotional offers exclusive for the readers or not.

7. And finally, a seventh are simply ads for your business. I suggest keeping these to 10-20% of your posts at a maximum.

If you mix these post types and establish a cycle of posts, new product news every month, job postings every two months, a guide to an aspect of your service every two weeks, you will build an easy to manage schedule. 

I hope this helps with your blog and general content planning. If you need any advice on making this work please email me: lob@yourasms.com

TV & radio are dying! And they are lashing out at Social Media.

Last week I listened to a radio news program interviewing a lawyer warning business people about the dangers of social media, how they could get sued if one of their employees said the wrong thing on Twitter.

There was no opposing view given, like how the words of any client facing staff can affect a company at any time. Or anything about the benefits of social media to business. At all.

It sounded like scare mongering. I suspect that TV and radio executives and journalists aren't even conscious of what they are doing. They feel the ground moving and they lash out. Their all powerful roles as arbiters of what is news and what should be popular is disappearing. Fast.

How do I know this? My thirteen year old daughter almost never watches TV. She uses YouTube and Facebook. And I rarely watch live TV too. And I don't like TV news any more. I don't like someone selecting what's important for me. Sure, I record an occasional TV program, but I could get that on Netflix, if they ever get their act together and deliver popular programs.

How long before it all vanishes? I mean the way it's currently structured. I want radio that's more like podcasts and TV that's more like YouTube. I want greater selection, control on when I watch or listen and the arbiters of taste to all retire. Their time is up. A change is coming.

My challenge to you is, can you spot the dinosaur riders of TV and radio as they try to stop social media taking over? If you do, or have ever heard this happen, please report it below in the comments.