Social Media – Quarterly Review, Q1 – 2011

We finished Q1, 2011. How was the quarter for you? From a social media perspective, I think it was a good quarter – we saw greater adoption. There is still much to be accomplished and significant maturing of the industry will take place for a number of years.

I thought it was fitting to do a brief review of Q1 … a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) Analysis and review of a few articles that received strong responses.

Here is the SWOT Analysis for Social Media for Q1, 2011 …

And now, a quick review and some highlights from articles and ideas I’ve posted this quarter:

IP 3.0 in the Digital Age – social and digital become interchangeable. The next wave of digital/social will come from brands that integrate and package social right into their product/service offering.

The Power of Compelling and Engaging Content – new media marketing means producing information and entertaining content that appeals to your target audience. Compelling content is a powerful way to keep your audience engaged.

Social Media in Your Company – Guidance for Where It Fits In – finding the right place for social responsibility in an organization continues to be problematic. Some thoughts on the subject here.

Integrating Owned Media, Earned Media, and Paid Media – a really nice outline and guide to molding and creating synergy amongst owned, earned, and paid media. Bottom line – must integrate.

Social Media ROI – Don’t Be So Short Sighted – Think Longer Term and Measuring the Stages of the Cyclic Social Media Marketing Funnel – measurement and ROI for social media … still illusive? I think not and here are two great articles that give you ideas how you might go about reporting KPIs (key performance indicators) for social media.

Social Media – Mentality is the Key to Winning! – you can’t just do it. It takes the right attitude. Got what it takes?

If you missed these articles, check them out. If you’ve seen them, thanks for being part of the great response.

I’ll leave you with a mention of three company events that I think punctuate where social media stands and is heading: 1) The launch of “Color”, 2) The acquisition of Radian6 by Salesforce.com, and 3) Google launch of Plus 1.

If you haven’t seen the iPhone app Color, check it out. Neat photo app that allows you to connect with your friends (and others). Still has a number of issues to work out (first and foremost the UI), but signals the importance and future of community. Social is about connecting with your crowd and I think Color is just an awesome implementation of this for photo taking.

Next Radian6 acquisition signifies just how important (and achievable) measuring ROI is for social media. Radian6 is considered the social media monitoring leader and was bought for north of $300 million by Salesforce.com. Shows how important social media measurement is. We will see great advancement of connecting social media measurement to sales and CRM.

And last, Google’s Plus 1 … the combination of search and social defines the best one-two punch for brands. Google seems to finally start delivering on the promise to be social. SEO has shrunk as a way people find brands at the hands of social and Google has just admitted so with their actions.

I am continue to be bullish on social media. (Was there any doubt in your mind?) What are your thoughts on the state of social – now and in the future?

Make It Happen!
Social Steve