Social Media in Africa

I spoke to pan-African technology news site Human IPO last week. The discussion was based on my 2013 social media trends post (part two is coming, I promise!). The journalist also posed a number of questions about the social media scene in Africa. To be honest, it isn't something I've looked at in detail (I'm hardly the  'expert' the headline flags), but I feel African markets are in a great position to accelerate their development thanks to mobile technologies.

In any case, here's a link to the full article. Let me know what you think (and please ignore the photograph. The one they used is a little creepy).

Big Social Media and Digital Trends for 2013 – Part 1

Make up your mind! by quinn.anya CC BY-SA 2.0

2012 will go down in history as a significant year for social media. Facebook went public, hit a billion users and bought hipster darling Instagram, Twitter went out of its way to annoy the developer community, Pinterest exploded but few people could really explain why, and the London Olympics won gold for revolutionizing social media sports coverage but DNF’d by expelling athletes for tweeting. 

So what will 2013 hold? Unlike Danish physicist Niels Bohr who famously said “…prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future,” I’m throwing caution to the wind and present the following big five social media trends to watch out for. The next five will follow in a couple of days.

Time to think mobile first (your customers are)

Wave those mobile phones by James Cridland CC BY-2.0

The only thing growing faster than mobile usage is the number of analyst reports citing the growth of mobile. With more than six billion mobile subscribers worldwide, it is clear that desktops haven’t quite had their day – but the mobiles are becoming the computing vehicle of choice.

Having a mobile strategy isn’t just a nice-to-have or afterthought – increasingly marketers need to think mobile first. And it isn’t just check-ins and Instagram updates – the mobile web is dominating B2B website traffic site too. Businesses need to move forward with their customers as shoppers reach for their mobiles first, changing the path to purchase forever. The age of the mobile app is upon us – it is time to move as your customers move.

Social business won’t wait for marketing

Sad Clown by keith.bellvay CC BY-2.0 

I admit I said 2012 would be the year of social business. Sure, there’s been progress but we’re not seeing McKinsey’s $1.3 trillion in annual value just yet. What we will see, though, is a lack of patience across the enterprise for marketing-led social business initiatives to gain traction. 

Human resources, sales, research and development and customer support will make their own social business plays as their audiences demand new and better ways to work with them. The neat cultural shifts that marketers ponder and carefully brand will happen with our without them. BYOD, cloud storage and the app explosion will force IT and marketers to adapt on the fly as their businesses evolve around them.

It’s all social, stupid

Be the first of your friends to like this post! by katerha CC BY-2.0

Led by Twitter, Facebook and dark-horse LinkedIn, social networks will continue to evolve and offer new content and collaboration services in response to ‘traditional’ media outlets that show a greater command of social media channels.

Niche communities will grow but we’ll also see consolidation as venture capital burns out and the larger media companies acquire social networks and digital properties to grow their share (leading to inevitable hipster outrage). There will also be a greater demand for ROI from social media as big data reveals the actual role social networks are playing in buying decisions (or not). As a result, B2B brands in particular will build custom, on-domain social networks.

Marketing silos crumble

old silo by Valerie Everett CC BY-SA 2.0 

Marketers will be confronted by the dawning realization that their audiences simply don’t care whether they’re from PR, advertising, web or search. We’re talking to the most marketing savvy generation in history who can spot a marketer from 100 yards (91.44 metres).

This means marketers of all disciplines will have to play nice. PR folks who saw advertising as a dark art now must embrace Facebook ads, sponsored tweets and understand PPC. Graphic design and photography skills need to be part of every community manager’s toolkit. An average of eight content assets are consumed by IT decision makers in selecting a vendor. This means our collective understanding of what makes people buy, be it paid, owned, earned or social, is no longer non-negotiable.

Who is my customer anyway? 

Kirlian face by thekeithhall CC BY-2.0 

While 2012 saw marketers embracing the idea of big data, the question remains, is it being used effectively?  Ponder all you want, but it will be critical in 2013 to know customers beyond demographics and really understand their behaviours.

We’ll see CIOs rise up in response, with the realization that knowing how to track data, personalizing websites, semantic analysis and so on will be vital in helping companies catch up with their fickle and chameleon-like customers. For marketers still struggling with social media monitoring and measurement, this might require some remedial mathematics. Add to this the complexity of data generated by multiple interactions across multiple devices and platforms, and we’ll need the CIO even more. Content may drive the decision, but data directs the content.

1’ll put up part two of this post in a couple of days. As always, your thoughts are very welcome. To discuss directly with me, fire a note to woolf.jeremy@gmail.com.

A version of this post first appeared on my employer's blog, HyperText.

Are Premium Social Networks the Future of Social Media?

Funny you should ask...

I was posed this question by Campaign Asia in response to a quote from WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell. My thoughts below... 

As social networks such as Facebook and Twitter reach a critical mass of users, consumers will demand more intimate social networking experiences. Premium and niche networks (such as Path, which limits your network to 50 friends) are becoming popular. Invitation only/qualified participant networks including Internations and Spootnik.com are offering more focused discussions in exclusive settings (expats and high-end product consumers respectively). The larger networks aren’t resting on their laurels. Google+’s circles and Facebook’s ability to segment friends are examples of how they’re encouraging more intimate communities.

So is the future of social networking premium/closed networks? A qualified ‘sort-of’. Premium and niche networks will emerge until the larger networks offer better tools for creating more intimate sub-networks. Once this happens, social networking overload, ease of navigation and simple sign-on will see more people joining niche sub-communities within trusted larger networks. Fear of giving up credentials to a fly-by-night network and too few members will make it hard for niche and premium networks to flourish.

Agree? Disagree? Add your thoughts in Text100's LinkedIn Group, Communication Conversation here...

Fake reviews on the rise - Just another weapon in the PR arsenal or a slap in social media's 'face'?

Text100 client Gartner's Report "The Consequences of Fake Fans, 'Likes' and Reviews on Social Networks" predicts that by 2014, 10-15% of social media reviews will be paid for. With the rabid drive for likes, fans, and followers, brands are using cash, coupons and promotions to pay for good reviews.

While paying for endorsement is hardly a new thing, modern marketers have to weigh up the possible benefits against potential damage to their reputation and also legal ramifications.

What says the group? Is the return greater than the risk? Do give-a-ways in return for positive shares on Facebook or using a competition #tag to potentially win a prize fit into this cash-for-comments model? Should we accept this as a cost of doing business - or fight against it with all of our might?

Add your thoughts in Text100's LinkedIn group, Communication Conversation...

Will Klout's Changes Help PR Folks Influence the Influencers?

Influence scoring company Klout recently changed its algorithm, increasing the number of 'signals' it analyzes to create an influence ranking. What's encouraging - at least if you go by this post from Eric Qualman is that Klout is attempting to ascertain actual influence (or at least, engagement). By measuring things like Facebook mentions, likes, comments and so on, it's focusing more on reaction. Earlier builds looked at fewer 'signals' and were more a measure of your opportunity to influence.

Engagement is emphasized over audience size and I also like the inclusion of LinkedIn titles and Wikipedia pages in the algorithm. What's missing for me - unless I'm reading it wrong - is follower / fan analysis. If you're a cloud computing expert and you can influence people who's titles are IT managers, for example, then it should increase your Klout. Would also be good to build in automated fake follower analysis too given the recent Facebook and Twitter revelations.

This comment originally appeared in Text100's LinkedIn Group, Communication Conversation. Join the discussion here.
Photo credit: Scales of Justice Brisbane Courts-1=, Sheba_Also

Chick-Fil-A: Which Came First, The Chicken or the CEO?

My colleague Allie Macpherson posted a discussion thread on US fast food chain Chick-Fil-A's recent PR challenges following its CEO's anti-gay marriage statements. There's a nice summary from Forbes here. I've dived into the discussion and my thoughts follow...

From my POV, the issue is whether or not you can separate the views of a company's senior executives from the company's brand.

I don't believe you can, especially when this particular brand has overtly linked business to the beliefs of its CEO Don Cathy - such as not opening on Sundays. In terms of response, Chick-Fil-A has tried not to draw attention to the issue. Last time I looked, there was nominal response on Facebook and Twitter (and nothing on the .com), other than to say they're wanting to separate politics from chicken selling.

This is a tough stance - especially on social media - where Chick-Fil-A has been held up as a savvy social media marketer. You can't turn social on and off like a light-switch. Either you want to build and engage with your community - or you don't. You can't duck ('fowl' pun intended) the issue just because your community wants to talk about something other than how good your biscuits are. You do need a stance and should deflect as much as possible to a place where that stance can be debated. Chick-Fil-A needs to divert as much attention as possible away from the brand - and in this case it means Don Cathy needs to step up.

The brand needs to acknowledge Cathy's ' right to express an opinion - which is protected under the First Amendment as many commentators have pointed out. And having made this statement, it should defer to Cathy's own social media presence / website. And then keep deferring. This will require Cathy to invest considerably more in his own brand and social channels, but as he's made his own views very public, it's a step he needs to take if Chick-Fil-A's marketing is to get back on track.

Cathy's website should spell out his POV and Chick-Fil-A should refer discussion away from their public properties to this site. Won't work 100% of the time but will at least divert some of the discussion - good and bad (from the brand's POV).

Beyond this? Chick-Fil-A should set up another website that responds to rumours (like the fake Facebook pages that were allegedly set up by the PR function). Show evidence to prove that this wasn't a Chick-Fil-A initiative. This type of site has worked well in the past for Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama and can help squash repeat rumours.

And then endure. The brand's most senior executive has drawn a line in the sand. I assume he did so knowing the potential impact on the brand. Cathy should have the strength of his convictions to manage this stance through the courts of traditional and social media. This will never completely isolate the issue but will help the brand get back on its feet.

This discussion is now part of the brand's DNA, and therefore needs to form part of the ongoing PR response. While the conversation explosion will die down, and things will generally return to discussions about chicken, steps like agreed consistent messaging and deflecting the discussion to the rumour / CEO's personal site will help Chick-Fil-A focus on more chicken-centric marketing. But Cathy needs to step up with his own branding to allow this to happen.

On a rather sad side note, Chick-Fil-A's VP of PR Don Perry died of a heart attack last Friday.

Photo Credit: Jenherra, Day 3: Protest Photography

Twitter Suspends Journalist for Alleged Policy Breach - Internet Tweets its Fury

My colleague Amber Rinehard posted a discussion thread on Twitter's recent suspension of journalist Guy Adam's Twitter account at Text100's LinkedIn Communication Conversation.  Adams was a vocal critic  of NBC's Olympics coverage, and was apparently suspended for tweeting the email address of NBC's Olympics President Gary Zenkel.

A nice summary from GigaOm here. I've dived into the discussion and my thoughts follow...

Not being a lawyer, difficult to offer feedback on whether or not Twitter acted within its guidelines in suspending Adams, nor whether or not Adams acted legally in publishing Zenkel's email address. He claimed it is publicly available, but Search Engine Land disputes this here.

But that's in the past. While the interwebs are a-buzz over this one, it does seem to show Twitter acting against type, having previously stood up for freedom of expression. Especially muddy given its commercial relationship with NBC. Muddier still as it is now rumoured that Twitter brought the offending tweet to NBC's attention and gave them instructions for how to complain.

Given that Zenkel's email address is now certainly in the public domain, will Twitter take action against the Spartacus-like retweeters? It's set itself a nasty precedent, especially as it hasn't taken this type of action before.

If I were Twitter, I'd use this as a catalyst for a wider - and overdue - discussion. While NBC won't relent on its policy of pretending the Olympics is happening in US prime time, some good could come of this. Perhaps host a post-Olympics Twitter forum whereby interested parties could examine Twitter's role in society. It's a private company after all, and can set its own rule. It's also, though, a company whose function (and criticality) has evolved dramatically since the first tweet was sent.

Forbes also presents an interesting POV here.

If you've got an opinion, feel free to leave a comment or join the Text100's Communication Conversation here.

Photo Credit: Celeste343, Dead Bird