Still relatively unheard of amongst the masses, RFID or radio frequency identification technology has recently made the headlines as it is potentially going to be adopted for use at summer festivals in the UK. Glastonbury organiser, Michael Eavis has confirmed that he is looking into using the technology – read more here.

RFID technology offers many exciting prospects for brands who are keen to integrate on and offline experiences. RFID possesses that WOW factor that really gets people talking. And combined with social media, RFID gets people sharing.

How RFID works in conjunction with social? And what can it do for brands?

RFID bracelets or tags can be synchronised to a user’s Facebook profile. With a single swipe, the user can then tag, like and check-in, all in real-time.

A number of pioneering brands have already experimented with RFID technology, cashing in on real-world events in order to grow their social profiles and extend their reach through social media.

Coca Cola was an early adopter of RFID, providing teenagers with wristbands holidaying at the Coca Cola Summer village. This video provides you with a snapshot overview. The teenagers loved this exciting new offering, which auto-tagged them in photos uploaded to Coca Cola Facebook page.

The use of RFID for experiential events boosts branded page activity as fans share content, whilst also creating amplification and awareness through their individual social profiles. This user-generated content acts as a magnet for new visitors and potentially new fans, drawing in interest from across the social space. For the existing fans, RFID activity serves to further reinforce their positive attitude towards the brand, nurturing advocacy and retaining interest. Those who aren’t at the event can still feel and be involved, engaging through comments on RFID social content.

Videos and photos are the most popular forms of online content, which is handy as real world activity can be easily translated into the social space in these formats.

To sum up…

We are still oohing and aahing at the boundless opportunities that RFID can bring in social terms, which certainly cannot be summed up in one small blog post. It certainly seems likely that this ingenious technology will develop into a mainstream experiential technology as the divide betweens what’s social and what’s real continues to narrow. It’s one to watch.

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For years, content strategists have been hiding in the wings, quietly coordinating the show, while the social media rock stars take centre stage.

Not anymore. A media frenzy surrounding the information overload debate, combined with the growing impact of social search, mean that the need for sophisticated content planning is no longer a nice-to-have.

With that in mind, we have pulled together a list of five useful content tools to help you plan, optimise and curate your way through 2012.

1. InBound Writer

A tool designed to help you discover the keywords and phrases your audience is searching for in real-time. By inputting a few terms that tie in to your content’s theme, the tool analyses conversations across the web as well as social media platforms to deliver the best phrases to optimise your content with.

Verdict: It won’t replace a solid SEO strategy, but it should certainly give your content a useful optimisation boost.

2. InfiniGraph

This tool promises to optimise social profiles by giving brands “Hypercuration™”, the power to identify content that is currently trending on your own as well as competitor brands’ social estates, based on the social behaviours and actions of influencers.

Verdict: It’s based on real-time social analytics, so could be a great aid for swiftly A/B testing content.

3. Scoop.it

Curation is the current buzzword and Scoop.it provides curators with a platform for creating topics and ‘scooping’ relevant content to add to the topic at the click of a button.

Verdict: Really straightforward to use and easy to adjust your keyword searches until you find the content you are looking for.

4. DivyHQ

Markets itself as a spreadsheet-free editorial calendar application. The tool can be assigned to multiple team members for multiple campaigns and the calendars can be created from scratch within DivyHQ itself, or simply imported directly from Excel.

Verdict: It’s currently only in beta format and largely looks to offer the same functionality as tools such as Outlook – though it may yet prove a valuable tool.

5. 37Signals’ BasecampHQ

A project collaboration tool, which enables all project files to be stored in one place, centralise discussions, keep track of events and view all upcoming activities and milestones.

Verdict: It has a smart user-interface and the upcoming activities and milestones functionality is handy for keeping deadlines.

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There is a perception in the industry that B2B “doesn’t do social”. I have often been asked if B2Bs “should use Social Media?” as part of their marketing mix and if “B2Bs can utilise Facebook?”

GlobalWebIndex – B2B Social Media Strategy – Research Report – 2011

However the results from our recent analysis of GlobalWebIndex data that was published as “Social Strategy for B2B Marketing” could not be more different from this perception. B2B decision makers are the most socially active consumers for all markets and demographics. If anything B2B marketing is a more obvious fit with social media than consumer marketing.

In addition GlobalWebIndex trend data shows that activities such as profile updating and microblogging are expanding quicker among business users than your average consumer. This underlines how B2B decision makers have used social media to develop personal brand and drive their influence.

Interestingly this difference is most marked in developed internet markets where B2B decision makers stand out most from consumer behaviour and usage of social media platforms. In growth markets such as China they are still more active than the norm, but the gap is significantly smaller. This means businesses that operate and sell in the US, UK, Germany or any other high penetration internet market need to focus marketing and sales through social media.

Crucially it’s not just B2B decision makers’ behaviour that leads the way in social media; marketing communications via social channels are also perceived as having an impact on purchasing decisions for products and services they buy for business.

At a global level, social media communications outranked even face-to-face meetings, conferences, client entertaining or traditional trade advertising in most markets, as an influential communication channel. Based on data fielded in June 2011, global decision makers said “Conversations with people from a company/organisation on a social network” was their leading influence scoring 15%; the second ranked motivation was “direct mail”, scoring 13%. Among senior decision makers – those at senior manager level and above – conversations were level with “sales presentations”, both scoring 16%.

The fact that a virtual conversation is seen as more influential than a real life one shows how social media has permeated their lives and importantly for our industry, underlines the importance of empowering all employees (not just sales people) to be active, visible and representing the business online. This fact alone would highlight the need for a radical shift of budget from traditional B2B marketing activities into proactive social media engagement.

In addition “branded communities created by a company or organisation” are seen as more influential than corporate events and entertainment. This prompts the question, is social media changing the way business operates?

One note of caution, company blogs and branded Twitter profiles rank last. This we believe is not necessarily bad news, but very telling in terms of how social media works in B2B. Buyers want to interact online with people and companies need to create structures that enable this. This shows that the true value of social media lies in people, not the platform.

To succeed in this new era of socially enabled B2B communication, firms will have to empower staff to act on a company’s behalf and give them the platform to build a profile, content and relationships in this space.

Tom Smith is MD of Trendstream, a consultancy dedicated to understanding trends in technology adoption and what they mean for consumer behaviour, marketing communications, media and content

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Creating a branded Facebook page can be daunting for any business; doing so without a robust moderation policy in place can be disastrous.

A branded Facebook page can be an open-invitation for foul-mouthed detractors to fill the page with expletives and abuse.

Perhaps less obvious are the implications of a well-meaning, but misguided employee jumping in and publicly defending the company against said detractor. Or worse, a recently redundant employee joining in and publicly attacking the company out of frustration.

Before creating a branded presence on Facebook, it is therefore important to consider the Three R’s – Resourcing, Redundancies and Restrictions.

Resourcing

Consider who will moderate the page and the hours the moderator(s) will be active for. Weekdays and work hours moderation is commonplace, but clearly state this on the page. For larger branded community pages, automated moderation packages, such as Crisp Certified, can be purchased, to automatically remove negative or abusive posts; while software such as the Digital Recognition Moderation Engine (DRME) can be used to moderate user generated images and video.

Do ensure all employees, from the boardroom to the shop floor, have been fully briefed on the page and its rules of engagement; a solid social media policy will provide employees with the confidence to know when and how to respond to customers as well as outlining the necessity for employees to transparently state their relationship with a brand when engaging online.

Redundancies

During sensitive times, such as mass redundancies, a branded Facebook page – or indeed the social web in general – can present itself as the perfect place to vent feelings of injustice. Employ a monitoring system, such as Radian 6 or Sysomos, to proactively search for any online conversations surrounding this. Ensure an escalation process is in place should the online conversation spread and fully brief the page moderator to watch for potential negativity on the page. Page guidelines should state that profanity and abuse can be removed and blocked, to enable the moderator to quickly deal with abusive or aggressive Wall posts and comments.

Restrictions

Consider sensitivities surrounding data protection. While automated moderation services can be employed to block specific words and profanities, moderation becomes more difficult when it isn’t a specific word that needs to be blocked, but a reference to something or someone. Ensure the page guidelines clearly state what can and cannot be referenced on the page, this ensures the moderator can remove or block users who ignore these guidelines. The General Medical Council is a good example of an organisation finding a balance between protecting data and driving discussion.

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So in the first blog in this series, we established that Reddit is significant online social movement, but what exactly can it offer a brand or business?

Monitoring:

Businesses can utilise the platform as a go-to for cutting edge news and content. Monitoring the platform for relevant industry or brand mentions can also yield interesting results. A search for ‘Coca Cola’ on Reddit reveals an interesting and perhaps surprising variety of conversations taking place around the global leader.

Engagement:

Businesses can actively participate in discussions or initiate new conversations. It may be worth considering potential CSR opportunities – is there a particular cause that is important to your business that you would like to talk about with the community?

A word of warning: tread carefully and be transparent about who you are. If you act in an underhand manner, you run the risk of the community turning on you.

The IAmA or “I am a” subreddit is another opportunity for business or brand ambassadors to engage with the Reddit community and answer their questions. Recently the intrepid explorer, Bear Grylls engaged in an IAmA, sponsored by Degree Men, the US version of the Sure antiperspirant brand. He answered redditors’ questions with text and video responses. His presence on the platform resulted in some gentle teasing from the community…

Sponsored links:

Reddit also offers sponsored link opportunities, allowing brands and business to target views according to their interests. As with a typical Reddit post, sponsored links can be commented on and are subject to the Up and Down vote system. They appear at the top of the Reddit feed and are clearly marked as a sponsored link. A savvy brand can get in the eyeline of a very targeted and motivated audience.

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Are you familiar with Reddit? Is the social news site incorporated into your social media monitoring and planning?

So, what is Reddit?

A dark horse of the online world, Reddit is a sharing platform that businesses and brands alike should be au fait with. It’s an online space where users or ‘redditors’ as they are known, share compelling content and breaking news, often front running the news agenda.

However, Reddit is much more than just a platform for sharing. Since its early days as an online space where liberal, left-wing citizens grouped together and shared opinions, it has spawned a widespread and dedicated community. The site has surpassed the boundaries of a traditional forum, evolving into a social movement and a force to be reckoned with.

Reddit and other comparable websites, such as 4chan, have endowed citizens with a whole new level of power, allowing individuals to come together and collaborate. ‘Anonymous’, the anarchic collective, which has its roots in 4chan is now an international operation. The “hactivist” group is well-known for a variety of illegal activities and most recently has played a significant role in the Occupy Wall Street movement, rallying members and creating buzz.

At present, there are 24,848 redditors subscribed to the ‘occupywallstreet’ sub-reddit, where active discussions and lively debates about the movement continuously take place. To cite another example of the Reddit community’s active engagement, members have only recently taken a stand against the Stop Online Piracy (SOPA), disputing the colossal risk that it poses to the way the internet is used today and government censorship.

Stay tuned for part II of this blog, where we will explain what Reddit has to offer brands and businesses.

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Estate agents used to say, that if Pizza Express opens in a new area, it’s a sure sign property prices in said area are about to rise; and smart property investors should pay attention.

So I put it to you, if a meme spreads across YouTube, it’s a sure sign that a new trend is forming; and smart brands should pay attention.

Admittedly, there are vast differences between social memes and the property market, but there is also one clear similarity: they are both traded on currency.

Online memes carry social currency, content that can be traded, shared and associated with, as a means of improving – as Pierre Bourdieu put it – “one’s sense of community…helping to form one’s identity, and providing status and recognition.”

And if online social media memes carry social currency, then think of YouTube as The Royal Mint. A quick look at YouTube’s currently most viewed video today reveals that ‘Simon’s Cat in ‘Catnap’ is the top trending video.

With 922,292 views and 26,005 Likes on YouTube alone, the adorable cat cartoon, by animator, Simon Tofiled, has already reached 11,680 people via Twitter. A scan of YouTube also reveals that there are currently more than 1.6 million cat videos currently circulating across YouTube and a glance at the social media staples such as Mashable, will reveal that advertising agency, John St. in Toronto has, in the last two weeks, heralded the age of ‘catvertising’ – advertising that harnesses the cat’s current trading power as social currency.

So, if cat-related content is the latest social currency, should brands be chomping at the bit to invest in cat-related advertising and marketing campaigns?

Probably not. As PR Web wisely pointed out in a recent post, for a brand to adopt a meme, that meme needs to reflect an “image, idea, or phrase that best sums up your brand or product”. It also needs to “focus on the problem that your brand actually solves”.

Millions of memes circulate across the social web every day, as millions of consumers trade on the social currencies that help them form identities and feel included within their communities. When a brand hits upon a meme that bears relevance to their product or service, the result can be marketing gold.

Shoe-horning a brand into a meme that has no relevance to the brand promise or values is about as wise as purchasing a property on the promise that a Pizza Express is on its way to the area.

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An experimental scientist? A mathematician, an historian, an IT geek, a money making  economist or socially savvy psychologist? Last week we conducted a Twtpoll to discover who you would rather employ as a social media consultant for your business. The results were eye opening.

To our great surprise the mathematician received no votes.  One thing that social media and the world of online has is data – mountains of it. The ability to analyse and interpret data is increasingly important in social media, whether evaluating campaigns, assessing website analytics or search data or teasing out insights from the universe of social conversation.

However, it was the psychologist who was the most sought after. Inevitably, being able to understand the human psyche is a great advantage when trying to influence people and help brands to communicate effectively with consumers.

The IT geek ranked fourth in desirability. Having an avid interest in digital is a must, as the technology that drives social media is constantly evolving. But, perhaps our voters thought their technical know-how would obscure their ability to engage?

After much debate in the office we concluded that a professional with a mix of both psychology and a mathematician’s skills would be best suited. Having a firm grasp of statistics really is a prerequisite for the role. Social media campaigns’ success is dependent on a number of factors, one of which is to feel at ease with analysing data and responding accordingly.

Who would you employ in a flash? And whose CV would be quickly chucked in the recycling bin? We would love to hear your thoughts…

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If you’re in the industry, you’d be lying if you didn’t shudder when a choice nugget of social media consultancy newspeak pops out of your mouth, or a colleague’s. It’s like an involuntary spasm, and you feel like you need a shower after it’s come out. Is social media jargon now endemic in the industry? Is it a way to explain a new form of media or a way to cloak the industry in mystery and maybe add a certain cache to a subject that might be otherwise obvious? We’ll be conducting a series of mini polls over the coming weeks to try and get to the bottom of it and gauge industry feeling.

But, in the meantime, you may be interested to see the results of a Twtpoll immediate future conducted the other day – apparently we think social media rock star or guru is more offensive than both Tweriod and Digerati put together! I must say I was a little shocked by that. Could this be because we don’t like to think of social media experts as occupying a special place in society?

Does there need to be an amnesty on these words – should we be allowed to use them without embarrassment? This brought to mind the most recent episode of Stephen Fry’s wonderful ‘Fry’s Planet Word’ which had a very powerful section on George Orwell’s 1984 and how the shortening of words and acronyms reduced their power and reduced the need to think.

Whatever your thoughts – please feel free to add your own most hated social media newspeak into the comments.

p.s As I write this someone has just sent me an email with the term ‘screenagers’ in it, in reference to Generation Y, millennials, digital natives or the Facebook generation. I take back what I said about an amnesty. Bring on the torches and pitchforks, we march!

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We’ve taken the three most engaged Facebook pages and for the past week we’ve been watching to see just how much emotion plays a part in their community management. In Part I of this series we laid out our measurement criteria; in Part II we put it to the test.

According to SocialBaker’s latest report, the three UK Facebook pages with the highest engagement levels are Kérastase UK, Lagavulin and Park Bench. Over the space of a week we’ve analysed the level of Emotional Intelligence displayed in their online community management, based on three of the key factors in Goleman’s theory. Here’s what we found:

#1 Kérastase UK
Hair care community
12,558 fans
This is the most engaged Facebook page in SocialBaker’s report, despite having the lowest number of fans in the top three; an indication, perhaps, that social media success is not always a numbers game. The community thrives on its own, providing the manager gives it a stimulus – and that stimulus is typically a prompting question to talk about themselves. Beyond starting conversations, however, the community management remains largely withdrawn emotionally, particularly when the community demonstrates any level of frustration.

1. Motivation
On average, the community manager posted on the wall every couple of days and did not respond to comments. When prompted by a simple question or poll the community became highly motivated to ‘Like’ and comment, left unprompted, the community fell into blanket silence.

2. Self-regulation
The community manager had the opportunity to step in and diplomatically engage with frustrated members, but instead chose to keep out of the conversation, which felt like a missed opportunity to a) forge a stronger relationship with the community and b) use the platform as a means of customer care.

3. Empathy
The community clearly enjoyed being asked questions about themselves and the community manager pandered to this and in this respect showed a clear empathy towards the group. When a practical solution could be offered, the community manager was quick to step in and offer this, but when all that was needed was a sympathetic response to frustrations that had no real solution, the community manager held back.

#2 Lagavulin
Whisky community
112,023 fans
This community displayed a high level of emotion and a great passion for the brand. The community manager used personalised and evocative questions to further fuel the community’s passion and the manager also showed a good level of empathy towards the community when responding to its frustrations.

1. Motivation
Lagavulin posted less frequently than Kérastase, leaving several days between posts, though the community manager did respond when prompted and the community kept the wall active without being prompted. Simple wall posts such as, “if you were asked to describe Lagavulin to a fellow whisky fan who had not yet sampled it, how would you describe it to them,” elicited a visibly emotional response from the community.

2. Self-regulation
When a member of the community complained that they couldn’t find the brand in their local supermarket, the community manager was quick to act in a diplomatic fashion, apologising and offering an explanation in a friendly and understanding way.

3. Empathy
This is a community that wants to talk whisky and the community manager gives them exactly what they want. A prompt to answer the question, “the best place to enjoy Lagavulin is, “________”, generated just under 700 comments and over 800 Likes.

#3 Park Bench
Dog-lover community
45,247 fans
The Park Bench community displayed the most emotion of the three, with the community manager tapping into the shared love and sentimentality surrounding animals, which the community clearly thrives on.

1. Motivation
The Park Bench community manager was the most motivated of all three, posting several times a day and always responding to comments. The community needed a stimulus to start talking, but the community manager never failed to provide it.

2. Self-regulation
Fantastic levels of diplomacy are shown here. The regular ‘Ask A Vet’ slot encourages members to visit the event Wall with questions for the vet, though many members leave their questions as comments on the page which they have been asked not to do; nonetheless the community manager cooly and calmly puts members on the right track.

3. Empathy
The community manager is highly empathetic to the community, responding to its love of sentimentality with Wall posts that play perfectly into this. Regular posts offering advice also offer the community reassurance and encourage trust.

Conclusion
These are pages that see high levels of engagement from their communities, but it’s interesting to see that the emotion and the engagement come more from the communities than their managers. If Emotional Intelligence is as much about expressing emotion as understanding the emotions of others then the role of a branded online community seems to be reading, igniting and empathising with the emotions of the community rather than injecting any emotion of its own.
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