As mentioned in the end of the previous article Vol.55 – How to Measure Online Influence, engagement, the requirement to make loyal customers, as well as influence, is the key in measurement and success of marketing.
In this article, the author would like to discuss some possible metrics to measure online engagement online that contributes to revenue and business.
She would like to do so three perspectives; loyalty to the website, ROI per web visitor/customer, and acquisition and retention of customers, based on how metrics/KPI are usually set in traditional marketing.
1. Loyalty to the website
1) What is it?
It is how much web users visit website and how they are satisfied and greater the better. This is because loyal web users are engaged and such web users would frequently visit the website and are active web users of the website.
From web management perspective, this can be said that the website is “sticky” and “meeting customer satisfaction”.
2) How can it be measured?
It can be measured by quantity of the web user visits and how long the web user stays in the website per visit (or other online pages such as blogs, SNS etc.).
The quantity of the web visits can be measured by the number of web visits i.e. PV (page view) and the number of web users visited the web site i.e. number of unique users/visitors (an IP address plus a further identifier).
The duration of the web user stays in the website can be measured by the total time an average web visitor stays in the website, which can be broken into the average time by a web visitor spent on one page of the website and the average pages visited by a web visitor.
The average pages visited by a web visitor can be an indicator of how active the web visitor is. This is because usually an active web visitor not only spends long time in the website but also visits many pages to access variety of contents/services.
Website can be paraphrased to blogs, SNS (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn) microblogging (e.g. Twitter), video portal (e.g. YouTube) and all other online sites as well.
2. Acquisition and retention of customers
1) What is it?
It is how many customers remain as customers (i.e. repeaters) once they have become customers from mere web visitors to “buy” something, i.e. take action as anticipated (planned) by the marketer. This is all about acquisition and retention of customers by maximizing new customers acquired and minimizing attrition of customers.
The greater the retention rate, the greater the ROI because as always said, it costs 5 times as much to acquire new customers than retaining customers.
2) How can it be measured?
If it is of anything of membership and subscription, it can be measured by the number of members and subscribers.
In the case of SNS, such indicators as number of group members/fans would help in the measurement.
If it is a website or a blog, bookmarking, RSS subscription and registration to be a reader also help in the measurement.
However, a web visitor becoming a member or subscriber does not necessarily mean he/she is truly engaged and loyal, bringing value to the website i.e. contributing to generating revenue and growth in business.
For this reason, the third perspective is also required.
3. ROI per web visitor/customer
1) What is it?
It is how much value per web visitor (who becomes to be valuable customer) brings in to the website. This is because it is the engaged loyal web visitors that brings in value and those who bring in monetary value are customers.
Unlike valuation of corporation and brands, valuation of websites is not yet feasible, especially non-EC websites (e.g. corporate website); however, measurement from ROI perspective is critical. It goes without saying that the websites that many customers bring in (monetary) value is of high ROI and web equity of such websites are high.
2) How can it be measured?
Simply put, it can be measured by conversion rate of landing pages. The web visitor would likely to have gone through the persuasion scenario mentioned in the previous article Vol.13 – How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario? by the time he/she has arrived at transactional landing page(s).
This clears requirements of engagement and loyalty of web users mentioned in #1. And conversion (web user to “buy”) is the objective of the website. Such buying can be anything from subscription and applying for events/seminar to purchasing online.
And in general the more engaged and loyal the customer is the larger value brought in by the customer meaning the larger the ROI. From marketing perspective, this is fulfilled by up-selling and cross-selling.
In the case of social media (e.g. SNS, blogs, microblogging) it can be measured by the value of information shared. It is difficult to set a numeric metric but what can be said is that such information often helps people online to solve problems or make them enjoy and by reading contents whether the information shared is of value or not can be easily determined.
Website can be paraphrased to blogs, SNS (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn) microblogging (e.g. Twitter), video portal (e.g. YouTube) and all other online sites as well.
ROI per web visitor/customer is perhaps more severe yet measurable for online sites of “click and click” business model such as EC sites and paid content/service sites than “click and mortar” business model online sites.
4. The author’s final thoughts
Web users access website when they pay attention and get interested in the website and become web visitor. It is often when he/she becomes is satisfied that he/she become active, clicking and visiting multiple pages etc. otherwise he/she would go away just by a click. With appropriate conversation/interaction the satisfaction would likely to increase and he/she is to become engaged and loyal. Such people may well be actively sharing information and commenting as well.
As they go through the “funnel” web visitors become customers, and if loyalty remains he/she would likely to “buy” as well as visit repeatedly, turning to be repeaters. Retention is making such repeated visits and buying and it requires engagement of the customers.
#1 through #3 is measuring such steps, which is all about measuring the requirements to maximize CLV (customer lifetime value). This is the value provided to customers in through their lives. The greater the CLV, the better for both the marketer and the customer; greater ROI for the marketer and greater value provided to the customer therefore of Win-Win relationship.
Thoughts and discussion developed from the author's MBA thesis titled "Concept and Miximization of Web Equity" submitted in March 2006. The objective is to make an attempt to clarify her awareness and quest, and share with marketing professionals about recent Web 2.0 and social media issues and ideas.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Friday, 15 April 2011
Vol.55 – How to Measure Online Influence
Influencers in social media online world enabled by web 2.0 technologies are often said to be different from those of traditional media of TV, magazine, newspaper, and radio. Despite the difference in influencers, the main objective of communicating by online of offline media is the same; to influence opinion leaders and the general public to gain positive effect such as enhancement of reputation.
In this article, the author would like to discuss possible indicators to be used in measuring online influence, both the quantity (size and scope) and quality (positive or negative).
1. How influence can be measured in traditional media?
This is about defining metrics and indicators of measuring effectiveness of traditional media. It is usually rating for TV, the number of newspapers and magazines published, the number of people tuned in for radio, and the number of visitors for tradeshows and seminars.
Many PR professionals examine coverage of mass media as well. In the case of the company the author used to work for, what was examined were the space covered by the article of magazines and newspapers and duration of footage of the report of the company in the TV news. The tones of the articles and reports (i.e. whether positive or negative) were also examined, evaluated by 5 ratings.
By no means, positive tone is what PR professionals aim for. Negative tone coverage indicates that the influence itself is large.
Influence of an individual can also be measured in a similar way.
2. How online influence can be measured?
The author would like to discuss one by one of some major online media/channels.
1) Websites and YouTube
In the case of a (corporate) website, web metrics (indicators) to measure popularity of the website provide a guidance of the online influence. Such web metrics include PV (page view = number of pages viewed), number of unique users/visitors (an IP address plus a further identifier) and the average or total duration of web visitor(s) stay in the website.
If the website is made social, the number of people who has set RSS is also valuable indicators, so is the number of e-mail (e-newsletter) subscribers. The number of tweets, digs, shares and likes on Facebook etc. are also important indicators to examine the online influence of a website.
From such indicators, it is quite clear that the more social the website, the greater possibility of becoming more influential by viral marketing, creating “buzz”. This is why in today’s web 2.0 era it is ideal to make website or webpage social.
The author would also note how the website is mentioned in traditional media such as magazines, in online articles of traditional media, and blogs, in the similar way as measuring influence in traditional media already mentioned.
The same concept and methodology can be adopted for YouTube just that PV would be the number of time played/viewed.
2) Blogs
The concept and methodology of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators for websites can be adopted for blogs as well.
One additional point to take note is comment; i.e. number and quality of comments.
It goes without saying that larger the number of comments the greater the influence and therefore the better, especially when only 1 out of 10 people are said to leave comments.
The quality of comment(s) has multiple aspects.
One is whether the comments are positive or negative. Of course positive comments are better, but negative comments indicate much influence because unless the person has strong emotion he/she would not make negative comments. Also negative comments tend to provoke further comments and discussions, meaning increase in influence. In addition, if the blogger act appropriately to negative comments, in many cases the person of negative comment becomes a fan and future evangelist.
Another point to examine is whether the comment adds value to the blog community. Such comments are those that provide additional information, different views and so forth. Similarly to negative comments, value-adding comments also provoke further comments leading to constructive discussions and this means greater influence.
3) E-mails
The concept and methodology for defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of blogs can be adopted for e-mails, too.
Common metrics and indicators for e-mails include percentage of subscribers who actually opened/read the e-mail as well as the number of subscribers. Number of clicks to access the links in the e-mail is also an important metric/indicator. The author would also add the number and the quality of comments, similarly to blogs, also determine how influential the e-mail is.
The number of e-mails forwarded would also be a good metric because it indicates the effectiveness of “going viral” similarly to (re)tweets, digging, and sharing/liking of Facebook mentioned later in the article. However, with today’s technology it is almost impossible to be measured.
4) Twitter
Twitter is micro blogging and thus concept of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of blogs can be adopted for Twitter. However, concrete methodology needs to be developed because of its unique functions.
The most popular metric/indicator is by no means the number of followers but as discussed in many English blog articles it is not just about the quantity (number) of followers. The quality (who follows) of followers is also important. The more influential people follow you the better.
Another good metric/indicator is lists. This is likely to be a better indicator to see the degree of engagement than followers because people would usually scrutinize more carefully before listing someone than simply following someone.
This means people who follow your list are highly engaged and thus the number of people following your list is a trustworthy indicator of the engagement. The more people follow your list, the greater possibility of being influential. Actually a social media expert (giving seminars in multiple countries) and a great online friend of the author explicitly said that what he really cares is who follows his lists than who follows him.
Other metrics/indicators to see the influence are the number of retweets and mentions. Number of retweets includes retweet(s) of the retweet i.e. viral of retweets. Retweets tends to go viral when an influential follower retweets your tweet because then the followers of the influential follower retweet the retweet of your original tweet, thus the influence is amplified. This is quite prominent from the author’s everyday tweeting, and there was an excellent example of this today. This is the power of viral marketing on Twitter/social media.
The concept of evaluating the tone of the retweet/mentions, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of websites and comments of blogs.
5) Facebook
Together with Twitter, Facebook is one of the major social media and the concept of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of Twitter can be adopted for Facebook.
The most popular metric/indicator is of course the number of friends. However, similarly to Twitter, it is not just the quantity (number) of friends but quality (who are the) of friends also counts. The more influential people you friend with the better.
Other metrics/indicators to examine are the number of shares and likes, similarly to retweets and mentions of Twitter. It is the posts tend to go viral by shares and likes if it is once shared and liked by an influential person, similarly to Twitter.
Of course, similarly to blogs, number of comments, especially the positive ones, is another indicator. As in blogs, negative and value-adding comments needs attention and analysis to measure influence.
Another good indicator is fan pages/groups. This is in a sense an equivalent of “lists” of Twitter. People who join the fan pages/groups are more likely to be thoughtful of joining the group than simply accepting friend request. For this reason this is a good indicator to see the degree of engagement than normal friends.
The concept of evaluating the tone of the comments to the posts, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of websites and comments of blogs.
6) LinkedIn
Same as Facebook, LinkedIn is categorized as SNS (Social Networking Site) therefore basic concept and methodology of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators with Facebook can be adopted for LinkedIn.
The differences in wording from Facebook although the meanings are the same are:-
a) friends in Facebook are called connections in LinkedIn
b) fan page / page in Facebook are called LinkedIn groups
The same functions with Facebook that helps viral marketing are:-
a) shares
b) likes
The concept of evaluating the tone of the comments to the posts on group discussion, Q&A and updates, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of website, blogs and Facebook.
3. The author’s final thoughts
As in all other measurement, analysis and evaluation, online influence needs to be measured, analyzed and evaluated from both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
In taking the quantitative approach, metrics/indicators are easier to be defined and monitored online than offline traditional media.
However, just like other data (including accounting and financial statements), there can be numerous possible indicators and selecting the optimum ones meeting the objective of measurement, analysis and evaluation is crucial. This requires defining online influence and making consensus with related parties.
What is more, numbers can be “manipulated”. Even in accounting, the output numbers differ according to the accounting principle(s) adopted.
Taking the qualitative approach is even more challenging; there cannot be one-fits-for-all methodology. This also requires defining online influence and making consensus with related parties to coming up with the optimum methodology.
What can be said is that “engagement” as well as "viral/buzz" is the key of online influence. Engagement is one of the many topics that has been discussed in many blog articles about social media. The author also would like to discuss this topic in one of her upcoming articles.
Resources:-
Measuring online influence requires quantitative and qualitative approach, both of which requires defining, measuring and evaluating optimum indicators based on the objective of measuring online influence, of reaching consensus with related parties. Basic concept is the same for all major online media just that concrete methodologies differ according to the different functions of each media. What can be said that engagement as well as viral/buzz is the key of online influence.
In this article, the author would like to discuss possible indicators to be used in measuring online influence, both the quantity (size and scope) and quality (positive or negative).
1. How influence can be measured in traditional media?
This is about defining metrics and indicators of measuring effectiveness of traditional media. It is usually rating for TV, the number of newspapers and magazines published, the number of people tuned in for radio, and the number of visitors for tradeshows and seminars.
Many PR professionals examine coverage of mass media as well. In the case of the company the author used to work for, what was examined were the space covered by the article of magazines and newspapers and duration of footage of the report of the company in the TV news. The tones of the articles and reports (i.e. whether positive or negative) were also examined, evaluated by 5 ratings.
By no means, positive tone is what PR professionals aim for. Negative tone coverage indicates that the influence itself is large.
Influence of an individual can also be measured in a similar way.
2. How online influence can be measured?
The author would like to discuss one by one of some major online media/channels.
1) Websites and YouTube
In the case of a (corporate) website, web metrics (indicators) to measure popularity of the website provide a guidance of the online influence. Such web metrics include PV (page view = number of pages viewed), number of unique users/visitors (an IP address plus a further identifier) and the average or total duration of web visitor(s) stay in the website.
If the website is made social, the number of people who has set RSS is also valuable indicators, so is the number of e-mail (e-newsletter) subscribers. The number of tweets, digs, shares and likes on Facebook etc. are also important indicators to examine the online influence of a website.
From such indicators, it is quite clear that the more social the website, the greater possibility of becoming more influential by viral marketing, creating “buzz”. This is why in today’s web 2.0 era it is ideal to make website or webpage social.
The author would also note how the website is mentioned in traditional media such as magazines, in online articles of traditional media, and blogs, in the similar way as measuring influence in traditional media already mentioned.
The same concept and methodology can be adopted for YouTube just that PV would be the number of time played/viewed.
2) Blogs
The concept and methodology of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators for websites can be adopted for blogs as well.
One additional point to take note is comment; i.e. number and quality of comments.
It goes without saying that larger the number of comments the greater the influence and therefore the better, especially when only 1 out of 10 people are said to leave comments.
The quality of comment(s) has multiple aspects.
One is whether the comments are positive or negative. Of course positive comments are better, but negative comments indicate much influence because unless the person has strong emotion he/she would not make negative comments. Also negative comments tend to provoke further comments and discussions, meaning increase in influence. In addition, if the blogger act appropriately to negative comments, in many cases the person of negative comment becomes a fan and future evangelist.
Another point to examine is whether the comment adds value to the blog community. Such comments are those that provide additional information, different views and so forth. Similarly to negative comments, value-adding comments also provoke further comments leading to constructive discussions and this means greater influence.
3) E-mails
The concept and methodology for defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of blogs can be adopted for e-mails, too.
Common metrics and indicators for e-mails include percentage of subscribers who actually opened/read the e-mail as well as the number of subscribers. Number of clicks to access the links in the e-mail is also an important metric/indicator. The author would also add the number and the quality of comments, similarly to blogs, also determine how influential the e-mail is.
The number of e-mails forwarded would also be a good metric because it indicates the effectiveness of “going viral” similarly to (re)tweets, digging, and sharing/liking of Facebook mentioned later in the article. However, with today’s technology it is almost impossible to be measured.
4) Twitter
Twitter is micro blogging and thus concept of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of blogs can be adopted for Twitter. However, concrete methodology needs to be developed because of its unique functions.
The most popular metric/indicator is by no means the number of followers but as discussed in many English blog articles it is not just about the quantity (number) of followers. The quality (who follows) of followers is also important. The more influential people follow you the better.
Another good metric/indicator is lists. This is likely to be a better indicator to see the degree of engagement than followers because people would usually scrutinize more carefully before listing someone than simply following someone.
This means people who follow your list are highly engaged and thus the number of people following your list is a trustworthy indicator of the engagement. The more people follow your list, the greater possibility of being influential. Actually a social media expert (giving seminars in multiple countries) and a great online friend of the author explicitly said that what he really cares is who follows his lists than who follows him.
Other metrics/indicators to see the influence are the number of retweets and mentions. Number of retweets includes retweet(s) of the retweet i.e. viral of retweets. Retweets tends to go viral when an influential follower retweets your tweet because then the followers of the influential follower retweet the retweet of your original tweet, thus the influence is amplified. This is quite prominent from the author’s everyday tweeting, and there was an excellent example of this today. This is the power of viral marketing on Twitter/social media.
The concept of evaluating the tone of the retweet/mentions, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of websites and comments of blogs.
5) Facebook
Together with Twitter, Facebook is one of the major social media and the concept of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators of Twitter can be adopted for Facebook.
The most popular metric/indicator is of course the number of friends. However, similarly to Twitter, it is not just the quantity (number) of friends but quality (who are the) of friends also counts. The more influential people you friend with the better.
Other metrics/indicators to examine are the number of shares and likes, similarly to retweets and mentions of Twitter. It is the posts tend to go viral by shares and likes if it is once shared and liked by an influential person, similarly to Twitter.
Of course, similarly to blogs, number of comments, especially the positive ones, is another indicator. As in blogs, negative and value-adding comments needs attention and analysis to measure influence.
Another good indicator is fan pages/groups. This is in a sense an equivalent of “lists” of Twitter. People who join the fan pages/groups are more likely to be thoughtful of joining the group than simply accepting friend request. For this reason this is a good indicator to see the degree of engagement than normal friends.
The concept of evaluating the tone of the comments to the posts, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of websites and comments of blogs.
6) LinkedIn
Same as Facebook, LinkedIn is categorized as SNS (Social Networking Site) therefore basic concept and methodology of defining, measuring and evaluating indicators with Facebook can be adopted for LinkedIn.
The differences in wording from Facebook although the meanings are the same are:-
a) friends in Facebook are called connections in LinkedIn
b) fan page / page in Facebook are called LinkedIn groups
The same functions with Facebook that helps viral marketing are:-
a) shares
b) likes
The concept of evaluating the tone of the comments to the posts on group discussion, Q&A and updates, i.e. positive or negative tone is the same as those of website, blogs and Facebook.
3. The author’s final thoughts
As in all other measurement, analysis and evaluation, online influence needs to be measured, analyzed and evaluated from both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
In taking the quantitative approach, metrics/indicators are easier to be defined and monitored online than offline traditional media.
However, just like other data (including accounting and financial statements), there can be numerous possible indicators and selecting the optimum ones meeting the objective of measurement, analysis and evaluation is crucial. This requires defining online influence and making consensus with related parties.
What is more, numbers can be “manipulated”. Even in accounting, the output numbers differ according to the accounting principle(s) adopted.
Taking the qualitative approach is even more challenging; there cannot be one-fits-for-all methodology. This also requires defining online influence and making consensus with related parties to coming up with the optimum methodology.
What can be said is that “engagement” as well as "viral/buzz" is the key of online influence. Engagement is one of the many topics that has been discussed in many blog articles about social media. The author also would like to discuss this topic in one of her upcoming articles.
Resources:-
Measuring online influence requires quantitative and qualitative approach, both of which requires defining, measuring and evaluating optimum indicators based on the objective of measuring online influence, of reaching consensus with related parties. Basic concept is the same for all major online media just that concrete methodologies differ according to the different functions of each media. What can be said that engagement as well as viral/buzz is the key of online influence.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Vol.54 – Leveraging Social Media for Strategic Integrated Interactive Communication
Many people including the author use multiple social media vehicles, using them differently based on the functions and characteristics of each vehicle and how to leverage and integrating them all requires strategic approach.
The author had written many articles that introduce social media realized by web 2.0 technologies and that present strategic integrated communication leveraging Internet (websites and social media) and traditional media for online and offline synergies and therefore there are some overlaps from such articles.
In this article, she would like to summarize how 5 major social media vehicles of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube are effectively used in attributing to what characteristics of each.
1. Twitter
Twitter is likely to be used to collect and share information, and monitoring reputation and interests of the public, attributing to the following characteristics unique to Twitter.
As in the case of the author, she has been doing so with 2 Twitter accounts. One is @MegOyanagi for worldwide audience (English speaking community) and the other one @MOyanagiJP for Japanese audience (Japanese speaking community). With two different accounts, she could compare what has been said about the Japan disaster in Japan and outside Japan, by western media in particular.
1) Multiple accounts acceptable by a single user
This is means an organization or an individual can open multiple accounts according to their segmented target audience. The user then will be able to share information that better meets needs of the segmented target audience.
2) Large network
In most cases, the Twitter network (the number of people connected i.e. following or being followed) is the greatest among all social network by 1 digit or more. This makes Twitter ideal for “broadcasting” of contents.
3) Use of hash tags
This allows people on twitter to search and access to contents that are not necessarily tweeted by people they follow, meaning wider source of information to access with a clear objective and appropriate key word(s). This is what the author did to gather online articles about effect of the Japan disaster on global economy.
This function also makes Twitter ideal for monitoring reputation of specific brand(s), organization(s), individual(s) and topic(s).
2. Facebook
Facebook is likely to be used to share and exchange with connections/online friends what is happening around themselves and additional information and views on updates for the following unique characteristics of Facebook.
It was from Facebook friends that the author obtained live information about how the “planned” blackout has been affecting everyday lives as well as businesses and how goods had “disappeared” from shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores in Kanto region because of the Japan disaster.
1) Threads with little word limitation
Threads with records is what distinguished SNS (e.g. Facebook) from microblogging (e.g. Twitter) and allows users easily develop chain of threads which turn out to be a discussion as users sharing and exchanging information, opinions and views from a post.
Also, unlike Twitter for example (with limit of 140 characters), there is little limitation in the volume of updates and comments in Facebook. If the user would like to post a very long update he/she can do so by posting as “notes”.
2) Photos
Photos can be uploaded with an update, which is visible without clicking on the photo to open the link. Therefore the author could understand at a glance from her news feeds what was going on in Kanto that would have been difficult to understand just by online articles of mass media from updates of her Facebook friends in Kanto area with photos of the train station platform flooded with people going to work or school, outdoor in the middle of Tokyo at night without sufficient lighting, empty shelves of a supermarket etc.
3) Fan page / Group
This allows users to build an online community with a clear common value, objective and/or interest. Threads/discussions of a group would strengthen the value and message of the group and therefore communication tends to be more of drilling down on a topic and can be extremely strategic and effective.
It was by joining a group to raise 5 billion yen to save Japan immediately after break out of the disaster that the author obtained in-depth, pin-point critical information about what is said by western media difficult to obtain from other sources.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is also a SNS so it is quite similar to Facebook, positioned as often said as “business version of Facebook, global online community of business professionals” for the characteristics below. They are also the reason why it is mostly from LinkedIn that specific business deals (e.g. new opportunity, consulting/support offer/request, partnership) are requested, discussed and accepted.
In the case of the Japan disaster it was from a LinkedIn connection located in Europe that she has a message explicitly offering any help, specifying the channels he could leverage such as access to Japanese community in his country as well as his 3,400+ LinkedIn connections. She asked him to spread and convey her message leveraging his possible channels that Japan is doing what it can do but urgently needs aids around the globe explaining the status in Japan.
1) Profile is an online resume
What distinguishes LinkedIn from many other social media its profile page. The format and content is of resume including work history, education and awards which is why LinkedIn is often called “an online resume”. More information can be incorporated because the page allows making links to website(s) and social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook).
The author has been leveraging this page by attaching links/URL of her LinkedIn profile page in English social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.) and in her hard copy resume. This makes her online friends better understand who the author, facilitating her to be authentic and gain credibility.
2) Functions and applications directly related to business (e.g. job postings, LinkedIn profile is online resume
Easy to understand examples include presentation function and “jobs you might be interested in”. Some people leverage presentation function to upload documents explaining their business and/or appealing their expertise, achievements and so forth, anything that helps them win credibility. “Jobs you might be interested in” facilitates employers and hiring managers in their recruitment and job seekers in finding and landing on an opportunity.
3) Limited language localization
Compared to Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn language localization is limited and Japanese is not yet available (to arrive in June?). Currently profiles in Japanese can be created but either English or Japanese profile page must be chosen and discussions, commenting etc. cannot be in Japanese. Therefore in reality English would have to be used to leverage LinkedIn similarly in global meetings and conferences of the international community.
This is probably why it is only a few Japanese bilinguals who are truly comfortable communicating in English in international community that register, network and join groups and their discussions, and this is why the author have only a few Japanese friends on LinkedIn.
4. Blogs and YouTube
Blogs are ideal to discuss and express views on a topic of the blogger’s interest and/or expertise for the reasons below. Basic concept of YouTube is the same as blogs just that the content is in moving pictures (video) unlike blogs in text. Both media can be used in variety of settings for variety of targets and are often used together with other social media as embedded links to drive web users to the two media.
The author has been leveraging blogs and YouTubes to express her view and/or understand those of others, recently regarding the Japan disaster in particular.
1) Little limit to lengths = volume of content
Blob posts can be as short as a few hundred words to thousand pages of multiple pages and YouTube can be as short as 10 seconds to over 10 minutes.
2) Flexibility in design and style
Although the degree may depend on the blog platform, background, design and layout can be very creative and more flexible than other social media and the style can be from formal and businesslike to casual and personal. Being such a rich media YouTube can be even more innovative with creativity.
5. The author’s final thoughts
Understanding the characteristics of each social media is one of IT literacy skill and is a requirement to leverage them all at maximum and to strategically integrating them, which allows quick access to valuable and helpful information and efficient information sharing delivering strong, effective message. This was prominent when there is a strong objective and topic of information sharing such as the Japan disaster.
The author had written many articles that introduce social media realized by web 2.0 technologies and that present strategic integrated communication leveraging Internet (websites and social media) and traditional media for online and offline synergies and therefore there are some overlaps from such articles.
In this article, she would like to summarize how 5 major social media vehicles of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and YouTube are effectively used in attributing to what characteristics of each.
1. Twitter
Twitter is likely to be used to collect and share information, and monitoring reputation and interests of the public, attributing to the following characteristics unique to Twitter.
As in the case of the author, she has been doing so with 2 Twitter accounts. One is @MegOyanagi for worldwide audience (English speaking community) and the other one @MOyanagiJP for Japanese audience (Japanese speaking community). With two different accounts, she could compare what has been said about the Japan disaster in Japan and outside Japan, by western media in particular.
1) Multiple accounts acceptable by a single user
This is means an organization or an individual can open multiple accounts according to their segmented target audience. The user then will be able to share information that better meets needs of the segmented target audience.
2) Large network
In most cases, the Twitter network (the number of people connected i.e. following or being followed) is the greatest among all social network by 1 digit or more. This makes Twitter ideal for “broadcasting” of contents.
3) Use of hash tags
This allows people on twitter to search and access to contents that are not necessarily tweeted by people they follow, meaning wider source of information to access with a clear objective and appropriate key word(s). This is what the author did to gather online articles about effect of the Japan disaster on global economy.
This function also makes Twitter ideal for monitoring reputation of specific brand(s), organization(s), individual(s) and topic(s).
2. Facebook
Facebook is likely to be used to share and exchange with connections/online friends what is happening around themselves and additional information and views on updates for the following unique characteristics of Facebook.
It was from Facebook friends that the author obtained live information about how the “planned” blackout has been affecting everyday lives as well as businesses and how goods had “disappeared” from shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores in Kanto region because of the Japan disaster.
1) Threads with little word limitation
Threads with records is what distinguished SNS (e.g. Facebook) from microblogging (e.g. Twitter) and allows users easily develop chain of threads which turn out to be a discussion as users sharing and exchanging information, opinions and views from a post.
Also, unlike Twitter for example (with limit of 140 characters), there is little limitation in the volume of updates and comments in Facebook. If the user would like to post a very long update he/she can do so by posting as “notes”.
2) Photos
Photos can be uploaded with an update, which is visible without clicking on the photo to open the link. Therefore the author could understand at a glance from her news feeds what was going on in Kanto that would have been difficult to understand just by online articles of mass media from updates of her Facebook friends in Kanto area with photos of the train station platform flooded with people going to work or school, outdoor in the middle of Tokyo at night without sufficient lighting, empty shelves of a supermarket etc.
3) Fan page / Group
This allows users to build an online community with a clear common value, objective and/or interest. Threads/discussions of a group would strengthen the value and message of the group and therefore communication tends to be more of drilling down on a topic and can be extremely strategic and effective.
It was by joining a group to raise 5 billion yen to save Japan immediately after break out of the disaster that the author obtained in-depth, pin-point critical information about what is said by western media difficult to obtain from other sources.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is also a SNS so it is quite similar to Facebook, positioned as often said as “business version of Facebook, global online community of business professionals” for the characteristics below. They are also the reason why it is mostly from LinkedIn that specific business deals (e.g. new opportunity, consulting/support offer/request, partnership) are requested, discussed and accepted.
In the case of the Japan disaster it was from a LinkedIn connection located in Europe that she has a message explicitly offering any help, specifying the channels he could leverage such as access to Japanese community in his country as well as his 3,400+ LinkedIn connections. She asked him to spread and convey her message leveraging his possible channels that Japan is doing what it can do but urgently needs aids around the globe explaining the status in Japan.
1) Profile is an online resume
What distinguishes LinkedIn from many other social media its profile page. The format and content is of resume including work history, education and awards which is why LinkedIn is often called “an online resume”. More information can be incorporated because the page allows making links to website(s) and social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook).
The author has been leveraging this page by attaching links/URL of her LinkedIn profile page in English social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.) and in her hard copy resume. This makes her online friends better understand who the author, facilitating her to be authentic and gain credibility.
2) Functions and applications directly related to business (e.g. job postings, LinkedIn profile is online resume
Easy to understand examples include presentation function and “jobs you might be interested in”. Some people leverage presentation function to upload documents explaining their business and/or appealing their expertise, achievements and so forth, anything that helps them win credibility. “Jobs you might be interested in” facilitates employers and hiring managers in their recruitment and job seekers in finding and landing on an opportunity.
3) Limited language localization
Compared to Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn language localization is limited and Japanese is not yet available (to arrive in June?). Currently profiles in Japanese can be created but either English or Japanese profile page must be chosen and discussions, commenting etc. cannot be in Japanese. Therefore in reality English would have to be used to leverage LinkedIn similarly in global meetings and conferences of the international community.
This is probably why it is only a few Japanese bilinguals who are truly comfortable communicating in English in international community that register, network and join groups and their discussions, and this is why the author have only a few Japanese friends on LinkedIn.
4. Blogs and YouTube
Blogs are ideal to discuss and express views on a topic of the blogger’s interest and/or expertise for the reasons below. Basic concept of YouTube is the same as blogs just that the content is in moving pictures (video) unlike blogs in text. Both media can be used in variety of settings for variety of targets and are often used together with other social media as embedded links to drive web users to the two media.
The author has been leveraging blogs and YouTubes to express her view and/or understand those of others, recently regarding the Japan disaster in particular.
1) Little limit to lengths = volume of content
Blob posts can be as short as a few hundred words to thousand pages of multiple pages and YouTube can be as short as 10 seconds to over 10 minutes.
2) Flexibility in design and style
Although the degree may depend on the blog platform, background, design and layout can be very creative and more flexible than other social media and the style can be from formal and businesslike to casual and personal. Being such a rich media YouTube can be even more innovative with creativity.
5. The author’s final thoughts
Understanding the characteristics of each social media is one of IT literacy skill and is a requirement to leverage them all at maximum and to strategically integrating them, which allows quick access to valuable and helpful information and efficient information sharing delivering strong, effective message. This was prominent when there is a strong objective and topic of information sharing such as the Japan disaster.