I am not going to venture into a definition of Web 2.0. It is not my term to tamper with. Besides, it would be difficult to reduce the definition to a few words and phrases, not to mention the possibility of misinterpretation if it is read by someone who doesn’t truly appreciate the phenomenon that it is.

This is how O’Rilley defines Web 2.0:
“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them.(This is what I’ve elsewhere called “harnessing collective intelligence.”)

In one of Tim O’Reilly’s latest blogs Why Dell.com (was) More Enterprise 2.0 Than Dell IdeaStorm, his vision of Web 2.0 is clearly laid out.

It is important that people get this because it really puts the term social media into perspective. The word ‘social’ often throws us off. We immediately think of outward facing dialogue, collaboration and social connections as being at the forefront of social media. However, it is often the product of the dialogue, collaboration and connections that provide the real added value of social media. Just like Tim O’Reilly’s Google example in his blog where google’s intelligence is only made possible through the way in which it organizes and uses content that is produced by the collective.

A bit of poetic license here as I attempt my own example. Imagine a computer reseller who allows customers to build their own specs online. To facilitate this they have some social media elements on the site that allow users to discuss the merits of various components. They can debate, discuss, and ask advice from each other. The data (conversations) are then monitored with key words and phrases, actively searched so as to provide the individual users with immediate information about the components they are talking about. This can include descriptions, user reviews, costs and options to select, add to your basket, add to your build, etc. Conversations about which graphics card works best with which processor for example can result in bundled deals, further reviews, alternative suggestions, etc.

Beyond this, users movements can be tracked and their search behavior monitored so to allow the computer reseller to understand real customer preferences versus their assumptions about customer preferences. Tracking could help with their supply chain management, trend watching and configurations for the standardized commodity boxes they sell to computer stores, allowing for real time adjustments to product offerings and market understanding in an industry where constant changes do not have the luxury of quarterly marketing reviews.

It is with this understanding and vision that we have built SocMe^TM Through integrating social media elements with CMS, LMS, analytics and measurement tools, websites are turned into intelligent business tools that are applied in relation to a company’s unique business rules, goals and needs.

Conversations, collaboration and gathering data are all vital, but so too are how we handle and use that data. The trend is to be fixated on the well-known external facing social media properties out there, rather than thinking how social media tools and applications can bring us a competitive advantage.

For example, people talk about using twitter as a business tool rather than thinking about creating a searchable organizational database of collaborative conversations. Yet it goes beyond this. How we organize, manage, analyze and use that database of collective conversations is key.

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As I stated in How does one give a powerful presentation , a good speech or presentation is so much more than ‘good’ content. Presentations are live and dynamic, and there has to be a level of interaction. How you engage an audience—work off them, gauge their mood, or alter course if needed—is an essential skill for all those who regularly present in front of people. It is also about positioning yourself well, as the potential contacts you make could be invaluable.

All of the above elements can be taken forth into a virtual space. With the advent of social media tools, most notably video uploads, presentations can live online beyond a conference, bringing you all the benefits of feedback, questions, comments, new contacts and connections.

Social media tools and applications are making all of this easier to execute. New social media platforms such as SocMe^TM allow for the easy integration of content from a website into other sites, incorporating tools, applications and widgets that can instantly provide feedback, analytics and content tagging, as well as create a space for further collaboration and dialogue. 

Here are a few things to consider before posting online. And forgive me if some of these seem rudimentary, however I come across so many presentations online that have not given thought to the following:

1. Ensure that the footage is of high quality and captures some of the ambiance of the room. Audio is another crucial element, so make sure it is set up well.
2. Title the presentation and, if relevant, include any copyright/trademark components.
3. Consider carefully where you are going to post your presentation. You would never think of presenting at a conference that had little or nothing to do with your subject. Similarly, you need to identify appropriate and relevant online target audiences.
4. The presentation needs to be delivered in context. Provide a link and some background information about the conference, its objectives and important observations about what it did and/or didn’t achieve.
5. Pay close attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) when uploading the presentation, especially since most people find online presentations through search engines. Make sure you have correctly and thoughtfully tagged the presentation.
6. Where possible, allow people to download the presentation to watch at their leisure. If this is not an option on certain websites, then provide a link to where people can download it. 
7. Just as a live presentation offers an opportunity for dialogue and interaction, so too must your online presentation. This is not a hard sell opportunity, rather an opportunity for engagement. Ask for viewers’ participation and comments through providing them with the online tools to do so. Also provide contact details and a link to your company’s site.
8. The communication tools you choose will help set the tone for dialogue. A web form or email may be considered more formal while setting the expectation of a delayed response. A chat style or IM format might be considered less formal, but will set the expectation of an immediate response. The ability to leave comments or send emails are good standards.
9. Make it easy for the viewers to use social bookmarking features such as Stumbledupon, del.icio.us and Digg. Once this is done, use online analytics tools to monitor traffic to your presentation.
10.  Promote your presentation through using social media optimization (SMO).
11. Keep everything as concise as possible.  We truly believe EVERYONE is busy.
12. Write as you speak if possible.  Unless you are pedantic as a person, writing as you speak typically keeps the tone congenial and therefore more easily heard.
13. Finally, once the presentation is outdated, clearly communicate it as such and archive. You do not want to appear out of touch.

Have you used social media in your presentations? If so, how? What worked? What didn’t work? What would you like to try next?

Leave a comment or write to us at clarity@tcgagency.com

We are always interested in hearing and learning from other people’s experiences.

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I would first like to thank Max Gladwell for his blog entitled, Ten Ways that Social Media and Sustainability Align, which sparked the idea for this blog post.

At face value, social media and sustainability are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Social media is inherently intangible and lives online, while sustainability is concerned with the very real and tangible environment and earth. Yet when we drill down and examine these as human concepts, we get a sense that they are both involved in the same paradigm shift.

Most definitions for social media focus on its technologies; however this is a very static and limited view. At tcg we acknowledge that social media is a growing phenomenon enabled through adaptable technology; however, it is also about connecting people and facilitating collaboration, engagement, learning and the progression of ideas.

When it comes to defining sustainability, there are a number of definitions out there, which widely vary depending on who is talking and what their objectives are.

The World Commission on Environment and Development suggests that sustainability is defined as forms of progress that meet “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

I rather like the definition of environmental sustainability by Griffith University:

“Environmental sustainability refers to the environmental actions or impacts of what we do. In moving towards sustainability, we are attempting to reduce our ecological footprint or to tread more lightly on the Earth. This equates to reducing the amount of resources we use (and buy), the waste we produce and the emissions we produce. With every action impacting on the planets ecosystems, from the local to the global, the world is changing and it is not just the climate.”

Here are 10 ways in which we believe that social media and sustainability within organizations are aligned:

1. Shifting in the way we do things

• We are in the process of a global paradigm shift. The way in which we think about and approach business is changing. As with any paradigm shift, the process is gradual involving conflict between the new paradigm thinkers and the holdouts of the old paradigm.
• The rapid growth and change of social media has opened it up to scepticism, with protagonists suspicious of the technologies and the idea of open collaboration and the sharing of thoughts. This is a far cry from the closed, exclusionary and suspicious practices from the last century.
• The sustainability movement  is gaining in momentum, yet it does not make sense to individuals or institutions that are heavily invested and ensconced in their industrial mindset.

2. Grew from grassroots movements into having mainstream application

• Social media tools and sustainability practices both started as grassroots movements. For example, social media tools and applications, developed for social networking sites, have grown to have wider commercial uses. Think about how Facebook radically changed how organizations aggregate news stories and information through the introduction of news feed. The sustainability movement started out as a co-op for sourcing bio diesel fuel or sustainable produce and has escalated to achieving mainstream attention and buy in.

3. Real gains/viable alternatives

• In order to achieve buy in, both social media and sustainable practices have to prove they will provide real gains and provide viable alternatives. Organizations exist to achieve a return on investment (ROI), be it profit, achievement of social causes, etc. Both have the potential to achieve these objectives; however, this potential is largely misunderstood and miscommunicated.

4. Whole system thinking

• Social media strategies and corporate sustainability programs only work if there is whole system thinking. Merely adding a blog to your website does not constitute a social media strategy. Changing products’ packaging and labelling without addressing the whole value chain equally does not equate to a sustainable program. Also, for a sustainability program to work it needs to touch every aspect of a corporation. The authors of a program will be remiss if they did not take a whole system philosophy. The same applies to social media.

5. Specific problems, specific strategies, specific executions, specific resolutions

• There is no one size fits all strategy for corporations when it comes to developing a sustainability program or a social media strategy. Each organization has its own business rules, methods and objectives. Trying to reshape an organization to fit a predetermined strategy or set of tools and processes cannot lead to efficiencies or congruence.

6. Integration

• Once a strategy is put in place, all elements need to be integrated to allow for a flow of information, efficiencies of resources and a clear action path.
• Social media is a phenomenon enabled through adaptable technology. It is about connections, facilitating collaboration, engagement, learning and the progression of ideas. It also uses tools such as CMS, LMS, tagging, intelligent search, wikis, communication tools, etc. to connect and integrate all elements of an organization.

7. Internal buy in followed by external roll out

• For any social media strategy or sustainability program to work it has to be embraced internally by the entire organization before it can be rolled out externally. This includes education, discussion, participation and belief that both projects will bring real value. Once there is internal buy in, the program can be rolled out publicly with the benefit of sincerity and purpose.

8. Integrity

• Openness, transparency and a true belief and commitment are essential to both sustainability programs and social media strategies. An increasingly sceptical public are increasingly capable of spotting opportunists.

9. The future

• Both sustainability programs and social media strategies are about changing the way we do things now so that our organizations survive and flourish in the future. Adapting the way we use our resources so as to ensure we allow for the regeneration of resources for future production makes sense, as well as the way we communicate, learn, share and disseminate information so we keep up with people’s learning styles, expectations and technology usage ensures we are heard, now and in the future.

10. Mutually enabling

• Rolling out a sustainability program within a corporation takes hard work, determination, communication and commitment. Social media tools and applications help with the integration, communication, learning, participation and momentum. Once these elements are sorted out internally, the same social media tools and applications can be used to externalize the message and objectives. Adopting a social media strategy within and organization so that it truly integrates all elements only works if it follows a sustainable model. Tagging on bits of technology, or trying to participate in social media externally to the organization cannot lead to lasting or holistic results.

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You Decide describes itself as an “online devil’s advocate designed to challenge your point of view on current issues.”

The debates are centred on the issues that are facing the candidates and the American voters in the presidential race. The user is asked to answer “yes” or “no” to a question relating to current issues and debates. Whichever way the user answers they are asked to consider the other side through the presentation of facts, figures and alternative arguments. After reading and deliberating, and given the chance of going back and forth in those deliberations, the user is asked for their final vote. This is followed by an opportunity to post comments and thoughts and to participate with others in the discussion area. Sound bites from the presidential candidates are also included.

What I love about this is that it provides both sides of the argument with credible content. It is well researched and it presents actual facts and figures. It is not designed to change your mind, rather it gets you thinking about the topic, exposes the users to alternative points of view and brings together people who have different opinions to talk intelligently about them.

This is a wonderful example of how social media can be used to engage people and encourage dialogue. Too often social media is thought of as being synonymous with social networks or online communities. Collecting congruent people who share similar thoughts and experiences is not going to lead to meaningful dialogue or significant change. It is great to see a shift in the way people are thinking about and using social media.

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As companies expand their digital platforms, the need for both intelligent and beautiful design grows. Their sites need to do more. Multidimensional is paramount. As sales tools, they need to provide reliable, consistent information. And in order to draw people in they need to be well designed, well thought-out…in a word, beautiful.

Everyone knows your website must be a global window to your brand. A good website leads your customer to the point of sale quickly and easily, yet a great website does not stop there. Visually inspiring and contextually interactive, a great website gives the customer more than they expected. It engages them with relevant information so they remain on the site longer, make more transactions, and keep coming back more often.

Take tcg’s campaign for the luxury laptop the Tulip Ego. The Tulip Ego is a beautiful product that actually performs. tcg created a website which introduced the product to the US market and celebrated the dichotomy of its form and function. We won the 2007 Hermes Creative Awards for Design/Website Overall (Platinum), the 2007 Davey Awards for best Consumer Products & Services Website (Silver), and the 2008 Fashion PC CES award for these efforts.

The borders of the Internet’s virtual wild west are constantly expanding. Now, social media is the new frontier. Successfully utilizing social media tools to gain exposure and increase sales is the new goal of many savvy websites. Yet it’s unappealing to visit a website where social media tools are crowded on thoughtlessly, generating more clutter than content. tcg believes that social media tools should be seamlessly woven into your site. SocMe™, our next generation platform, integrates content management, learning management, and social media elements, which enable a complete and streamlined brand experience.

The SocMe™ social media platform can help you create an online brand identity from the ground up or take your existing website to the next level. Whether you’re using a content management system, a social media platform or want to get your site onto a mobile web device, the SocMe™ social media package allows all elements of the website to be linked seamlessly and exist simultaneously.

Understanding users’ different learning style is first and foremost. Intelligent information plus beautiful design equals relevant power. And social media can add value to your website, and provide an interactive user experience for your visitors. Imagine a site with the beauty of Tulip Ego’s combined with the drive and purpose of relevant social media applications. A site like that gives the consumer what they’re looking for—and it takes them there farther, faster, and more stylishly than they ever expected.

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