mashup* Blog

Thanks to all the speakers who made up our very well attended seminar at Technology World 09 on How Businesses can use Social Media to create value.

Speakers:

Helen Keegan      Director, Beep Marketing
Toby Constantine      Managing Director, Market Evolution
Alex Meisl        Chairman,  Sponge
Giles Palmer     CEO,  Brandwatch
Benjamin Ellis    Director, Redcatco Ltd

In a pre-debate chat whilst exploring what the audience might want to know about businesses and social media (big subject, limited time) we came up with the following solution: we asked the audience.

“Hands up if you want us to discuss a) business to customer  b) business to business”

b) won.

To sum up the panel were consistent in saying that we are in the early moments of social media use by businesses so don’t rush in. Think about your message and make sure sufficient explanations are carried out internally because errors can cause problems.

“Social Media for SMEs in the B2B space is very early stage, but the techniques developed by big consumer brands like Dell and Zappos in the US are still valid and not expensive to implement. Listen and engage in the right places”  Giles Palmer CEO of brandwatch.net

Here’s the sms stream for the event:

*******8862 says: what is social media ?
*******2325 says: Please sponsor @benjaminellis for movember!

*******8142 says: can this SMS system be used for voting, or does the network collapse if we all text at the same time?
*******8862 says: Surely it's not about tools or technologies but just people !?
*******8862 says: we can vote yes will work
*******3730 says: hello from the rs live crew!
*******2325 says: is social media time consuming and how do you measure roi? What are the risks?
*******2223 says: How do social media websites make money? Why should businesses get involved
*******3730 says: Giggerdy!
*******7934 says: What if social media gets the wrong message? And therefore spreads a mis-message.
*******7115 says: So I've been told I need to put resource into social media and monitor what's happening. Will I see any ROI? If so, how?
*******2479 says: should we call B2B 'business media' rather than 'social' media
marketing?
*******7492 says: Whats the difference between social media and viral
*******2441 says: Can the panel give examples of value created by businesses using Social Media?
*******7784 says: When and how will 'social media' move beyond the confines of marketing/PR bdgets?
*******6783 says: 'MASH' which companies are the leaders in social media? Can you give us examples of how it's transformed their business?
*******7811 says: Social media can give you customer insight, enabling sophisticated segmentation & better targeting of resources
*******8862 says: Dell have 73 Twitter accounts and sold $10m in sales directly from those accounts according to their direct click thriughs
*******7115 says: How do you manage customer feedback across Twitter, Facebook, blogs in a structured way so that it scales?
*******7074 says: how do you manage the inherent thugery that is inherent in *******7115 says: How do you manage customer feedback across Twitter,
*******9423 says: somebody explain about reputation management for example Dell Hell eventually triggering Dell IdeaExchange
*******7784 says: All your businessez are belong to us
*******8862 says: United airlines some 6 million views of the 'united breaks guitars' video from disgruntled customer

*******6181 says: If you are an SME then to time is your biggest cost! Is it worth it?
*******8862 says: sme can't afford consultants what can they do ?
*******2441 says: also re Dell the kickback against the "Della"
*******5958 says: About the John Lewis and BT stories, that is why companies need to record their phone calls so that the company or the complainer can Retell the phone call later, and can even publish the phone call to show how it was handled.
*******4798 says: SM is cheap and easy, don't pay consultants, just get in there and start understanding your consumers
*******2441 says: First Direct has embraced social media - they have a neat gadget on their website which publically monitors real time whether the comments received about them are negative or positive.
*******7784 says: Are there ANY b2b examples, or are these inherently closed ntwks?
*******7784 says: was thinking not of 'brand mentions' but more about use of the tools, tech. and culture...
*******7811 says: Linkedin.com is B2B. You can now join UK Technology Global Markets group to get tips & share ideas
*******2441 says: Tools? Free or Pay for them?
*******7934 says: how do you get potential customers to start following you?
*******2325 says: tool for creating channels of Twitter based content, analytics & retweetable viral ads tweetmeme.com other tools useful tools - cotweet, tweetdeck a nd tweettabs are useful for monitoring. Mix of free & paid for
*******9423 says: 7784 do you mean B2B soc med used internally or externally?
*******3885 says: Great session, will go and tweet about it #tw09  
*******2441 says: Do I need a social media consultant?
*******7784 says: Internally - most best case studis start from innovative use within the boundaries of an org. and proceed to blur these boundaries
*******8862 says: come to social media mixer on 2nd dec London see mashupevent.com
*******3885 says: webcomms.biz for all your social media needs, including iPhone apps, but that's another discussion!
*******2325 says: want to talk to me re tweetmeme you'll find me in the 2nd row. I'm the female in the grey jacket.
*******3594 says:  Cool, let's do this!

Good questions were asked. If you’d like to respond – go for it.