The last post here looked at why it is important to engage in the existing communities which have been built around your industry or context. Community outreach should be the starting point for brands getting into social media before they begin building their own communities on social networks as communication channels with the customer.

Some more research has come out over the last few weeks, looking at why people visit or engage on a brand’s Facebook page. and again here . Facebook is a personal network. But even on a personal level, the interaction isn’t as widespread as the overall numbers and posts suggest. The average person has around 130 friends on Facebook . I know many Gen Y-ers have thousands but this is more of  a product of collecting ‘weak ties’ over time at school and college. Sure you can acquire meaningless ties with thousands of people over time but they aren’t what you would call engaged. So, ask yourself…of my 100-200 friends that you actually know in real life, how many do you chat to, post to, interact with on a daily basis? 1? 2? I bet no more than 5. So, that’s 5 people of your close friends!! What chance to brands have of getting people to actually talk to them? Especially if they buy into the “build it and they will come” myth.There are a few exceptions such as sports teams, celebs, bands etc but even then I think it’s a case of fans joining but actually engaging? And by that I mean offering useful product or service feedback and ideas…not a chance. Why?  Its still far too early for all brands to understand the space.

Many social media success stories are still old, broadcast media dressed up as social (Old Spice). The ones that have worked on an operational level are the innovators like Dell, Starbucks, or the ones using it provide customer service and integrating it into the enterprise.

Most are still setting up presences to then do exactly what they have done for years. The opportunities ARE most definitely there in social for brands, but you’ve got to look deeper than the current biggest, personal network to generate the kind of interaction and intelligence to form meaningful business decisions.

Last week I spoke at the social media and sports summit in Nottingham organized by the UK Sports Network. The name of the half day conference was ‘Breaking down the barriers’ as many in the UK sports industry are still tentatively feeling their way into social media. Keeping with the same theme, here are five of the barriers I have encountered when talking with sports clubs, but they apply to any organizations that are new to social media.

1. Too much hype

It is getting very hard to ignore the social media bandwagon. Each day brands and organizations are being bombarded with stats showing that Facebook now has more users than there are stars in the sky, businesses are making millions of pounds through Twitter and more people are watching YouTube than TV. The result has been many organizations jumping on the bandwagon without doing the necessary planning to work out how social media can help the overall business . It is easy to see the opportunities with social media and sales and marketing teams are always going to jump on these, but taking a step back, developing a clear strategy for social to: help sell more stuff, create better dialogue with the customers or improve the service will be far more valuable in the long run.

2. Social media is mislabeled

The boss still thinks social media is something his teenage daughter wastes her time on when she should be studying! Sound familiar? I think social media is currently mislabeled and (hopefully) will eventually become another channel that businesses use to connect with their customers. Businesses need agencies and consultants to come to them with business or communication strategies and programs that use social technologies to deliver better customer experiences, not social media campaigns. While it is seen as an independent program, it will be treated with skepticism by those who haven’t grown up with the new social tools.

3. Shiny object syndrome

This ties in the with hype problem. All we hear from the ‘mainstream media’ is the tools – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and the phenomenal growth they are enjoying. This leads to organisations and brands focusing on developing strategies based around the technology, when they might not be the most effective channel to the customer. Organisations need to do their research on their customers and find out which networks their customers use, how they use them, what content they like producing and sharing and who is influential. Once they have this knowledge and have done some internal planning on what resources they have, then they can choose the technology platform(s) which best suit their needs. Also, be wary about marrying your communications to one channel. As we have seen with MySpace, Bebo and Friendster, the network of the moment can quickly shed users or change focus.

4. Culture

The biggest barrier to adoption at the moment is for businesses to become more social.  For centuries, business has been used to communications being a one way street and companies have constructed their internal processes accordingly. Successful social media adoption means a cultural shift away from controlling messages and staff communications and letting go of some of the notions that shaped the media landscape – brand identity, press releases, corporate policies. Yes, it sounds scary and yes, new processes and technology need to be used to help it scale but organizations need to buy in to the reality that customers are going to dictate how and what they want to buy and the type of service that is necessary for them to become a brand advocate and spread positive WOM. Once that sinks in, then social needs to be integrated from the top down or bottom up (depending where the spark happens!).

5. Confusion over measurement

There are no universal metrics for measuring social media yet, and there might never be. Measurement of social programs has to be in context to the individual business, it is not as simple as impressions and clicks. What equals success for one company might not for the next and that makes universal metrics very hard to establish. However, if you have done your planning and know what your business objectives (sales, foster dialogue, increase customer engagement, gain market intelligence) are, then you can track these metrics and work out what equals success for your business.

There also seems to be confusion over ROI. This could be a post in itself, but if you are confused about ROI of social media then check out this presentation by Olivier Blanchard. He explains it better than I ever could!

What have I missed? What other barriers have you experienced to social media adoption? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Each day, more and more sports teams, organizations and athletes are launching social media programs, joining social networks and starting to jump on the social media bandwagon. The reasons are obvious – Their fans have shifted their media habits towards social platforms over official websites and want greater interaction with their team. The social tools allow a greater level of interaction and richer user experience and there is measurable commercial value to be realized by being active.

However, just setting up a Facebook Fan Page or Twitter account without an understanding of the rules of social engagement can result in missed opportunities or worse, the alienation and general pissing off of the people you want to engage with. So with that in mind, here are five, broad, best practices to kick things off.

1. Don’t be scared!

The main barrier seems to be a fear that getting into social media will open up a wave of regular and uncalled for criticism by the fans. In the same way that the fans vent, with furious anger, each time the team loses down the pub, on the forums and phone ins, this will now happen tenfold on Facebook or Twitter. Truth is, it probably will…for a while! Your fans love your team, so when they lose they aren’t rational but most of them are doing it because they care, with all their body parts they care and this should be embraced. Sure, there are the ones who will be unnecessarily negative, but with the correct engagement plan, they can be minimised and your social channel can become a valuable area to engage. Alongside the abuse will be valid points on how to improve the service at the game, the outlets in the ground and the customer service.

A clever dude (Aristotle) once said – “To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” If you aren’t involved in these conversations, it doesn’t mean they won’t be happening. You can’t control the community anymore but you can manage, learn and use the insights from it. Plus, it won’t all be negative!

2. Dedicate the resources.

Social isn’t as expensive as other media in terms of creation…but the cost is in the time your staff have to dedicate to do it properly. There really isn’t any hiding from this. You will get out what you put in and the more of your staff (and that includes the players) that you can get interacting with the customers in a way that is valuable to them…then the returns can be exponential. Hire a £20,000 per year intern and you will get what you pay for. In the same way that most of your staff have email and a telephone, social can become another communication tool for them to provide a better service to the fans.

3. Do your research

You know your customers (or you should do!) and what they want based on historical research. You need to do the same in social. This means spending time in the communities that already exist and listening to what works, what doesn’t, who’s influential, what media they like to consume. There is also software (free and paid) which can help with this and will give you a full picture of the type of tactics and the tools you need to be successful when you start to engage.

4. Integrate social with your other channels

Social isn’t a silver bullet. It needs to work in conjunction with your other media channels, online and offline. Your website is your official online home and will still be the place to convert sales and to make official statements but the conversations, UGC  and interaction will happen off site (for now). Make sure your social presences are designed properly, the content is engaging and integrates with the official site and that there are clear calls to action on your other marketing materials and programs.

5. View the engagement as your marketing and customer service

Your fans (or customers) are already active on the social web on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs or the multitude of forums and unofficial fan sites. By engaging with them on these platforms and your own official channels in the correct way, you can turbo charge your marketing, customer service and research programs. The fans are talking and exchanging opinions and ideas about your brand on a regular basis whether you are there or not. You can use these channels as a cost effective way to listen, learn and engage with them.

Going for a 50/50 split this week between raw social media and social media and sport. Excited? Thought so!

1. How to Use Facebook for Business and Marketing - Tamar Weinberg

With nearly half a billion users, Facebook is now a ‘must have’ for most businesses. However, creating the perfect Facebook page is easier said than done so this post looks at some case studies and examples to show you what’s possible.

2.  Are You Slow Enough to Succeed in Social Media? – Jay Baer

A top post from Jay Baer pointing out that while the sales and customer interaction opportunites are obvious with social media, the challenge is to build relationships…and that takes time and patience to realize the full value. Remember, you are dealing with real people so treat them with the respect and time they deserve.

3. Trend: Social CRM Consolidation - Jeremiah Owyang

There have been some high profile acquisitions of social media monitoring firms by CRM companies in the last few months as the race to provide Social CRM solutions hots up. It’s a natural fit as organizations are going to need to integrate the opportunities gleaned from social data into their CRM databases. Expect this trend to continue throughout 2010 and into next year.

And now onto the Sports…

4. Cleveland Browns Draft Player From YouTube – Megan O’Neill

Thought this quite cool! Joel Reinders, an undradfted rookie landed himself a contract with the Cleveland Browns (American Football team for those that don’t know!) by posting his ‘show reel’ on YouTube. Nice work, and probably sets a precedent for more athletes getting discovered through social media.

5. Auto Racing Capsules: Drivers use social media to gain All-Star support – Pete Iacobelli

Motor sport in general, seems to have grasped social media better than most sports. This post has a look at how the likes of NASCAR and Formula 1 are bringing the fans closer to the drivers and teams using a range of social platforms.

6. Which World Cup Fans Are the Most Passionate? Facebook Knows – Jennifer Van Grove

Just under a month to go until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa and Facebook and Involver have had a quick look at which nation’s fans are the most passionate based on the number of likes each team gets on the app commissioned by Facebook. Current holders, Italy are leading the way…but we still think Brazil will win! (sorry England).

Have a good weekend.

Ash Read is the co-founder of FundSport.com and a consultant here at Spearfish Labs. These roles allow Ash to combine his passions for social media and the development of sports at the grassroots level. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14

David Haye has the world at his feet. For those of you who may not know Haye is the WBA Heavyweight Champion of the World, and last month he made his first defence of his title, beating John Ruiz in style with a 9^th round stoppage.

David Haye doesn’t struggle to get coverage and let’s be honest, he’s doing just fine without social media, but, I feel if Haye was to utilise the tools at his disposal he could become one of the world’s biggest sports stars.

Online presence.

If you take a look at Haye’s official website you’ll notice that under the Hayemaker videos section only one of the six videos shows highlights of Haye’s boxing, the others are interviews on chat shows and TV appearances – to me this highlights that Haye and his team want to show his personality to the fans.

Another thing you’ll notice on the site is social media links to Haye’s Twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages, this shows he’s interested and keen to utilise social media. I follow Haye on both Twitter and Facebook, and his updates tend to come mainly when he has an upcoming fight and for me aren’t frequent enough.

Haye has nearly 25,000 followers on Twitter and around 72,000 fans on Facebook – a combined reach of nearly 100,000, without posting much content and little interaction.

How can Haye better utilise social media?

Here are my suggestions for Haye on how to utilise social media to grow his fan base and the Hayemaker brand.

Blog: Include a blog section on hayemaker.com, this would allow Haye to keep fans up to date with what he’s doing and what’s going on behind the scenes. A blog doesn’t have to be written either; Haye is comfortable and confident in front of a camera so my suggestion would be to video blog for fans once or twice a week

The video blog would provide great content and give fans a reason to visit Hayemaker.com, it would also increase website traffic and fan engagement, which in return could increase merchandise sales, ticket sales and pay per view subscriptions in future fights. He could even open up an “Ask the Hayemaker” section where fans could use email, Twitter and Facebook to send questions to Haye and he will answer selected ones in his blog.

Live streaming: When training for his next fight I’d like to see Haye utilise live streaming to give fans a piece of the action during training, live streaming nowadays couldn’t be easier with tools like Ustream and Livestream.

Obviously there will be sections of training that Haye won’t want to broadcast to the world, but showing fans a bit of pad work would be provide them with an awesome insight.

Twitter: Haye mainly uses Twitter in the build up to his fights, I’d like to see him update on a more regular basis, and posting updates a few times a day to keep fans engaged even when he doesn’t have a fight coming up. It would also be great to see Haye posting behind the scenes images and video to Twitter, fans love multimedia content and this type of content usually sparks the most conversation.

Facebook: Again I’d like to see Haye posting updates more regularly on Facebook. The official David Haye Facebook page is an extension of his brand and a great opportunity to build up a vibrant community. However, to build up a real community he needs post relevant and compelling content on a more regular basis.

I’d also add a custom lading tab to his Facebook page, something to really make it clear that this is his official page – something the New York Jets and New Jersey Nets do well. A custom landing tab would provide Haye with a great opportunity to present visitors with engaging content and grab their attention as soon as they arrive on his page.

Conclusion.

The heavyweight boxing world has been crying out for an exciting, charismatic fighter for years and Haye is just that, he has a massive opportunity to become one of the world’s most well known fighters, and social media can help him along the way.

The tools and ideas mentioned above are just scraping the surface of what can be done with social media and I truly feel that with the right strategies and content Haye could become one of the world’s most popular sporting figures.

Utilising social media won’t only help Haye to grow his personal brand, it would also help to grow the Hayemaker Boxing/Hayemaker Promotions brands too, and give him the platform to promote any up and coming Hayemaker fighters, such as George Groves.

What do you think about David Haye? Would you like to see him utilizing social media? And how do you think other boxers could utilise social media?

Decided to drop the ‘Friday’ tag as I keep missing the Friday deadline, it would seem! Here are the picks for this week.

1.    Will It Blend? – iPad – Blendtec

It would have been easy to go blind with all the iPad reviews over the past week so I thought it would be nice to kick things off this week with a video of one of them getting the blendtec treatment! Happy viewing!

2.    ESPN nabs Premier League mobile highlights rights – Stuart Dredge

Not that exciting for anyone not interested in digital developments in sport, but this one could have some big implications down the line. ESPN have been buying up all kinds of sports broadcast realestate and this week nabbed the rights to show Premier League football and rugby highlights via mobile. This is potentially a big market and an area the clubs should be seriously looking at in the future as devices and connectivity get better…there will be money to be made!

3.    Social Networks are Touchpoints for Customer Acquisition and Retention – Brian Solis

Some good stats here showing how online shoppers are active on social networks and looking to connect with brands if they are going to get some value in terms of interaction and probably a few offers here and there. There is a gap between the consumer activity on the social web and the number of brands providing a meaningful connection with them.

4.  The Problem With Conversational Marketing – Jason Falls

A good one from Jason Falls looking at the challenges of marketing ‘correctly’ through social media – its tough to try and sell someone something on a community platform where the audience doesn’t like salesmen…but does like interaction and buying! As he says, “its fun to explore”.

5.    Report: Corporate Fan Pages Increase Purchase Intent More Than Banners And Widgets – Neil Vidyarthi

Similar to #3 , This one looks at a recent study which indicates that brands allowing fans or customers to connect with them on a social platform, create more purchase intent than common ad formats. Anything that can exercise your customers brains a bit more than passively consuming a banner ad is going to have a positive effect!

6.  6 Ways Brands are Using Social Media For Real-World Action- Daniel Stein

Social media is still being used, by a number of brands and organizations, as a marketing and advertising delivery mechanism. However, there are more and more examples of it being deployed as a means to mobilize a community to take action…in the real world. This post has a look at some of those who are doing it well.

Written yesterday but posted today, here are six posts from the past week that stood (and there is only one post about the ipad!). Let us know what you think of any of them in the comments or, even better, post your favourite from the last seven days.

1. 5 Ways Non-Profits Can Increase Engagement With YouTube – Geoff Livingston

Facebook is the obvious choice for non-profit organsiations, and with good reason as it is the top channel for engagement and Causes provides a contextual match. However, don’t ignore YouTube. Any non profit should consider a video strategy and this post looks what can be done.

2. Social Media ROI and Obliquity - Charlie Osmond

What’s ‘Obliquity’? Pursuing your goals indirectly. Organisations and people who achieve the most success seem to focus on value ahead of revenue and this is exactly the approach you need to be successful in social media. Good post – check it out.

3. University to Provide iPads for All New Students – Lauren Indvik

This was posted a few days prior to the ipad launch so isn’t one of the millions of app reviews! The iPad could have a revolutionary role to play in education in terms of knowledge transfer (and in saving students from carrying heavy books!), so it was interesting to see this University giving them out to new students.

4. Goodbye, e-commerce, hello f-commerce? – Jake Hird

Jeremiah Owyang wrote about the 5 eras of the social web last year. And it looks like we might be getting to the era of social commerce quicker than expected. You can now embed ecommerce into Facebook using the paypal API. Big possibilities for any consumer products and for Facebooks company valuation.

5. Should You Outsource Social Media? – Valeria Maltoni

Should you outsource your digital strategy? Can a social media expert help you? In this post, Valeria Maltoni reaches out to some industry experts and gets their thoughts on the questions. Interesting reading.

6. Redefining Viral Marketing – Brain Solis

Everybody loves to talk about viral marketing or how they will create viral videos etc. In this lengthy but very insightful post, Brain Solis breaks down what is needed to create content , strategy and ideas that will spread a message through the social web.

What should have been included but wasn’t? Would love to hear any thoughts below.

Back to the usual format of six posts for this week. There have been some good and really bad social media stories this week so, without further ado…

1. Nestle mess shows sticky side of Facebook pages – Caroline McCarthy

We could have picked from thousands of posts about Nestle’s Facebook shocker. Read the post for the full story but in a nutshell – Greenpeace attacked Nestle over using palm oil which is causing deforestation and created a spoof kit-kat commercial which went viral. Nestle haters went to Facebook to vent, Nestle weren’t prepared (maybe the understatement of the year!), reverted to old school PR techniques and have taken a royal kicking. Have a read and then let me know what you would do now if you were Nestle?

2. Scaling Social Media – Chris Brogan

Social Media isn’t as expensive as broadcast media…but to be effective it is labour intensive. Here, Chris Brogan gives excellent actionable insights into how an organization can scale social media, from monitoring, customer service, social marketing (nice term, I like it!) and content creation and the approaches needed to be successful. Good stuff, read it!

3. Sports teams, leagues tap SAS Analytics to boost profits – Winnie Palaran

Can social media monitoring help sports teams and leagues sell more tickets, t-shirts and popcorn? Apparently it can! The San Francisco 49ers use data and analysis from social media to improve the overall fan experience and by looking at online content, fan behavior data and demographics, the 49ers can identify season ticket holders at risk of not renewing and send them meaningful offers. Liking that, liking it a lot! Sports teams need to spend as much time understanding their fans as they do their players…something I don’t feel is happening in the UK.

4. The Social / Broadcast Matrix – Scott Gould

An interesting model here from Scott Gould (the dude behind likeminds-link), diagramming the difference between broadcast and social communications…and the bits in between.

5. Times and Sunday Times websites to charge from June – bbc.co.uk

Hardly a surprise but News International have announced they will be charging to access the Times and Sunday Times websites in the summer, £1 for the day or £2 for the week. We will have to see how it plays out but charging for news that you can get for free elsewhere isn’t the safest bet.  People will pay for niche content but not general news…what do you think?

6. A Social Media Scoreboard That Works - Jay Baer

There is a shed load of data off the back of social media programs…or there should be if you are measuring it properly…which you should be if you want to show ROI. Anyway, this tool from swix brings in all your social media metrics into one handy dashboard (except Facebook fan pages…which sucks a bit but you can’t have everything!). Very handy.

Have a great weekend and I will be at Wembley Stadium on Sunday to watch the mighty Southampton take on the world class Carlisle in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final – Jealous?!

For non-football fans, Andrey Arshavin is Russia’s most talented and flamboyant player, currently plying his trade with Arsenal. His talents on the pitch are there for all to see but a recent article in the Evening Standard highlighted his willingness to engage with his fans in a far more personal and human way than many (if not all) of his Premier League counterparts.

His official website is not the most cutting edge in terms of design and interactivity. There is no ‘real time’ features in the way of chat rooms, forums, or integration with social media. The questions in the ‘Ask Andrey’ section have been vetted and then written and posted on the site, so the authenticity could be questioned, plus some stuff may have been lost in translation!

Humanising Celebrity

However, the personal nature of the questions and answers shows a willingness to engage and give his fans a window into his life outside of football. The text in the header is a good mantra that many other athletes could adpopt,  “On the pages of this website you can learn a lot about me. Not only as a footballer, but as an ordinary person. I’d be glad if my website helps you to communicate with each other”

Give Mr Arshavin some better tools (Facebook, Twitter, live streams) and I reckon you could have a new web celebrity on our hands…check out Chad Ochocinco , the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver , for the benchmark of what mega talented, ever so slightly insane, athletes can do with social media.

To non-fans, it may seem banal to want to know what colour Arshavin’s bath sponge is, his thoughts on extra terrestrial activity and body art….but to his fans, this is the type of stuff they want. You won’t get this type of content on a Sky Sports press conference or posted on the Aresenal official website and that is probably a good thing, but as a fan, this type of personnal connection is what creates a bond that is intrinsicly hard to break. The same goes for athletes who engage in an authentic manner on Twitter and Facebook – check out Shaq. Now compare that to what many of the Premier League footballers have allowed to happen to their pages on Facebook – Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney for example.

Personal Branding

These pages should not be used as ‘bear traps’ to move traffic to generic football news websites, they are a potentially golden piece of real estate for the players to build their personal brand – not just their professional one. Ignoring all the commercial possibilities which are flying out of the window for the players, their agents and their sponsors…. they can be used as a way to raise awareness for the good causes and charity work they do and be a trusted communication point for when things go pear shaped.

The real time web and democratization of content means that whether, these athletes like it or not, it is now impossible to ‘control’ the spread of information about them, good and bad. Ask John Terry, Ashley Cole or Tiger Woods. In the past, with a press gagging order in place, any runours would gradually vanish…not so anymore. Athletes are always going to find themselves in some kind of trouble during their careers (we wouldn’t want it any other way!) so creating a channel where you have a loyal group of engaged advocates who feel they know the person behind the celebrity can be a powerful tool when having to rebuild your personal brand.

Let me know in the comments any athletes you think are using social media for good, evil or nothing at all!

“Of all the amazing new technologies that are opening up possibilities to communicate and connect in the digital space, video is the one that holds the most promise” (Valeria Maltoni – Conversation Agent)

Human beings are visual creatures and the experiences we get from seeing someone or something is far deeper than reading text or hearing audio. The good news, is social media and the web in general is becoming more video friendly. It is easy to make videos, easy to upload them to sites with potentially millions of viewers and easy for those people to share them. With the search engines and advertisers now more interested in engagement levels and time and depth of a site visit, it is a bit of no brainer for media owners and brands to not harness this.

You hear online video and you think YouTube, and why not? There are over 400m people per month watching between 6-9 million channels! Impressive. Also, we have the social networks who have their own video upload platforms and streaming sites such as Ustream or JustinTV. A recent, and very interesting entrant is Vpype. I saw them in action at SMWF on Monday and think this has some real legs from a fan engagement perspective.

This is truly social video . Sure, you can watch a video on YouTube and comment on it or watch a live event or broadcast on Ustream (even with some nice social chat features running alongside) but the ability to run a live, unscripted, ‘meeting’ or ‘party’ with your friends or fans is a far more engaging and authentic proposition.

Features include:

-          Live chat alongside each video

-          Chat History and storage

-          Viral tools to promote broadcasts on Facebook and Twitter

Bring out the Celebrities

I think the real winners in this will be celebrities or brands who have a community of advocates such as bands, fashion designers and especially sports teams and athletes. The ability to provide an experience such as Vpype to fans, embedded into a platform where they are already investing a huge amount of their online time is one that they should be seriously looking at.

Too many media owners are still thinking they need to use this type of golden content as a way to drive traffic to their ‘official websites’ or require a two page registration form before you can access this good stuff. You don’t need to put your audience or fans in a headlock before giving them what they want! The tools are available to provide remarkable experiences outside of official sites and it will be interesting to see who starts putting some stakes in the ground and experimenting.

Would love to hear you thoughts…and Happy St Patrick’s Day!