The reason for the perceived conflict is that Facebook ads, seen as the primary source of new revenue, are not currently that popular with users, their ad engine offers limited community data for media buyers and compared to Google offers a much lower CTR because users are not actively searching. Place a short-term, stock market fuelled timeframe on Facebook value and ads are the obvious choice.

However, Facebook is already printing money and Jan Rezab, Chief Executive of Socialbakers takes a longer term view ‘To make money Facebook must ensure brands that use its platform are posting content that is engaging’

I agree and suggest that Facebook needs to prioritise brands that post a steady stream of beautiful and engaging content for users. As such, Facebook should reward brands that produce the most compelling content and actively help deliver it, not to the side bar but directly to fans’ news feeds. If brands choose to supercharge their reach with media spend, it should be from a basis of quality content.

Of course many users would be up in arms if Facebook were to suggest that ad revenue influenced what got delivered to a users’ wall. However, EdgeRank already makes this decision on behalf of users for content produced by their own friends so it is simply ill-informed to suggest this algorithm isn’t already at work. We believe it would empower users to vote with their feet and activate a much greater say in the success of content and the brands reaching out to them.

I welcome the challenge that the engagement of branded content may influence the ability to buy Facebook advertising. Unlike traditional media advertising, where engagement measures are blurred, this might cause some ruffled feathers in your average media agency – Good.

From an agency that consistently delivers brand engagement rather than numbers of fans, we are biased. In April, different Facebook pages managed by ISM appeared in each of the four of the Socialbakers top 10 ranking list Facebook engagement in the UK.

So we suggest that Facebook can reconcile social and commercial responsibilities by putting users at the heart of its advertising engine. This would allow Mark Zuckerberg to stick to his vision of quality content and challenge brands to take the Facebook audience seriously. Come on Mark, start a big shake up in the traditional advertising industry!

Written by Dan Naylor

But how are principles applied to help ISM to do a better job? Establishing authority is a crucial part but only half the social media story. To influence different social users we have to understand how people operate within a network. Exploring the principles of social networks is providing a framework for ISM to move beyond the discovery of authorities to the mapping of and prediction of behaviour.

This simple diagram shows four types of behavioural node in two fictitious networks:

Using Eigenvector Centrality the authorities are node type 3, as they have the largest number of connections that are closely related through mutual connections. Using Betweenness Centrality node type 1 holds the authority as it links with two separate networks, closely followed by node type 2.

To predict behaviour, ISM combine the principles of Eigenvector and Betweenness Centrality and then imagine content being placed into the network. At this point, each type of node exhibits different behaviour and gives the overall network a specific dynamic. We gave them the following names corresponding to the numbers on the diagram.

1) Bridge Node

2) Gateway Node

3) Centrality Node

4) Consumption Node

Bridge Nodes connect two different networks. These users can be spotted by the breadth of subjects they interact with compared to a relatively low number of connections. Bridge users are significant contributors to viral distribution and achieving exposure.

Gateway nodes connect bridges to communities. These nodes are crucial to onward distribution but typically hold strong opinions about what is relevant to their connections. Gateway users tend to be either very active and vocal or complete removed from the conversation but regular sharers.

Centrality nodes, as the name suggests, sit at the centre of communities and will have the highest number of connections within a single network. The authority of a community node can be misleading using Eigenvector centrality. Celebrities are the classic example of a centrality node, whereby they broadcast to many users but rarely interact with third-party conversations.

Consuming nodes are listeners, typically on the outer reaches of their community. They will tend to be passive and likely to include new users either to social media or the individual community.

Describing these relationships when there are only five nodes in each network is one thing. However, ISM is able to scale these principles to much larger networks including 10s or 100s of thousands of users, albeit with a lot more data analysis.

This example explores the subject of motorsport on twitter, combining the networks of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.

By combining a number of networks the different relationships start to appear whether Bridge, Gateway, Centrality or Consumption nodes.

Tools do exist to define behaviour, including Klout and Kred, but these tools look at individuals and not whole networks.

Our approach is different because rather than looking at a star footballer, we look at the whole team and in the context of the league. By looking at individuals in the context of the surroundings, ISM is consistently demonstrating that we are able to produce content that resonates with target audiences and increases organic reach. With the IPO of Facebook likely to spark a greater emphasis of advertising to social media users we are happy to be achieving results without bribery or advertising.

Written by Dan Naylor

The notion that the PR guys somehow are in possession of the sexier content seemed a compelling argument. Afterall, we spend much of our time engaged in a process of extracting from our clients, what the social media audiences are interested in: rich, new, original, innovative content. Content they already had, just often obscured from sight by our point of entry into the company. The plight of the social media function, agency or client side, is the relentless pursuit of brand assets (apps, words, pictures and video for the straight talking) using the metaphorical ‘what’s already in the cupboard’ approach to finding them.

Liaising between the various interested parties, the product managers, marketing, PR, customer service, I often wonder whether these peeps are playing a kind of human pong with me; deliberately hiding their rich content to see if we will find it like experimental mice? Or are these companies so disconnected, internally and with their content creating agencies, they truly require a fresh approach?

As a land grab continues to play out between these different functions, I worry that slow progress is made at very innovative, industry leading, flagship companies in the global economy. That’s why, at the earliest possible opportunity, I’ll mention control, authorisation and centralisation; lovely corporate themes which fly in the face of the social media ethos. Why? These prevent the kind of risks that the corporate warrior wants to be cautious about. Well, the good news is, that these warriors can carry on not talking to their colleagues, they don’t need to collaborate, all they need to do is load their content onto a central  content management system and approve access options.

In my heart, do I like making this recommendation? No. In my head, I have come to understand that the discomfort and internal collaboration problems most leading organisations feel with the idea of no longer broadcasting at a controlled pace and instead conversing at a more rapid pace, requires a much slower, softer, risk-reduced approach to move a brand to the social media conversation.

Written by Jonathan Brech. You can connect with him here

At ISM headquarters, we’ve been approached by a number of large brewers (not Diageo) in the last 12 months looking to improve their social positioning. Here’s the argument we present for social media success in this sector.

Consider consumption habits

Consumption habits are changing with macro economics causing traditional beer buyers to increasingly stay at home. This shift, expressed recently by Mintel, has contributed to a 23% decline in retail beer sales since 2006. At home, alcohol consumption is more likely to be shared with ones partner and food, perhaps why wine sales have increased by 15% in the same period.

Conclusion 1) Attracting at home drinkers means don’t focus campaigns only around the pub

Consider modernisation and product differentiation

Real ale, especially in the UK, has a fabulous heritage and individuality. At the heart of this passion is the brewer, typically an individual or a recipe. However to compound the problem of falling pub sales, most beers are anchored in the past. If more women are to be attracted, brands need to shake off the past and demonstrate how products are relevant today. Admans Broadside may go well with mature cheese (as their website suggests), but the image of a 17th century warship fills me with images of Weevils and Scurvy – bon appetite
Blokey heritage may work in a pub but since 1799 (Greene King IPA), since 1875 (Bombardier) or since 1672 (Broadside) is not likely to work at home or present me as a modern thinking man.
Conclusion 2) Tradition needs a twist to ensure longevity supports rather than is the message

Consider creating a Movement

Every craft brewer does it their way, no compromises. This is not beer by focus group to attract a segmented target market. Every craft brewer has one statement in common “these are beers we want to drink”. Nothing travels better than a movement on Social Media, an identity, a counter culture. Enter the new wave of craft brewers. They have more in common with xtreme sports than your average beer – try the beer, if you like it great.
Conclusion 3) Passion comes in the form of people

Overall Conclusion

Following these three rules we predict a bright future for craft brewing brands in the UK, not so those brands that think social media is a quick fix for approaching young people.
We predict an even brighter future for the product focused, passionate and modern generation of people promoting their individual version of a good pint. Finally, we predict a wave of direct-to-consumer solutions as these emerging brands become established on their own terms.

Written by Dan Naylor. Follow him on Twitter here

For more on this story http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/diageo-v-brewdog

A top Google search executive said that semantic search will allow the company to better match queries from a database containing hundreds of millions of “entities” — such as people, places and things — that the company has quietly built up over the past two years. For example, people who search for “Lake Tahoe” with semantic search will see “attributes” of the lake, such as its location, altitude and average temperature or salt content, while those who searched for it today would only get links.

However, Google isn’t replacing its current keyword-search system, which determines the importance of a website based on the words it contains, how often other sites link to it, and dozens of other measures.

Google says it is still tinkering with the new look and function of its search engine, so it’s unclear exactly what this might mean for Google users and website owners. But the move could spur millions of websites to retool their Web page—by changing what’s called a “markup language”—so the search engine could more easily locate them under the new system, said Larry Cornett, a former Web-search executive at Yahoo!

Nonetheless is that any reason to depart from a tried and trusted approach that has been with us since the 60’s?  Well, add into the equation that a drive to create fuel efficient cars has led to a harmonisation of design across the manufacturers.  Gone are the different shapes and sizes (do you remember there even used to be cars that only had 3 wheels) and in are the rigidly defined car classes where different manufacturers vary in size by mm.

And this harmonisation is leading to the erosion of brand loyalty.

Cap Gemini reports that in 2002 40% of consumers said they’d buy the same brand again. By 2010 75% of consumers said they were considering at least 4 brands for their next purchase.  The individuality of the brands, a hallmark of the romantic era of motoring, is being replaced by the efficiency of Kaizen manufacturing.

So is it time for manufacturers to re-evaluate how they sell the (realistic) dream and differentiate themselves at the same time?  Perhaps it’s time to make things personal.

Am I talking about the much vaunted online configuration tool.  Perhaps.  But what happens after you’ve configured your dream car?

Either, an online form tells me to ‘request’ a test drive – which means delay and even then I don’t get to drive the car I just painstakingly configured. Or I get sent a brochure that details all the choices I’ve already made. Unfortunately for the automotive manufacturers, given the array of choices available to the average consumer, getting a configured car to the right place just for a test drive is a logistical nightmare and an expensive gamble.  However, this is being attempted in Germany, with large regional centres replacing local dealers. These centres look more like museums than dealerships where the full brand experience is on sale, as well as the cars. The access points to these centres are almost exclusively online but you get to test drive the exact car you configured, or simply pick up the car you’ve already ordered.

A genuine personal service does exist in the UK automotive industry, but only at the top end of the market. Aston Martin and Bentley have been inviting selective audiences to their factory for almost 100 years as it gives people a sense of the creation of their personal space. For a spend of £180,000 you can understand the lavish attention on offer.

Social media techniques are perfect for recreating a sense of personal attention on a large scale and the eCommerce industry was founded on removing elements of the supply chain and passing the savings on to consumers. I’d be much more likely to buy a new car if I could buy the exact car I specified at the same price as the dealer. And, if all the automotive manufacturers are to recreate the great brand loyalty of the past it will be with a personal touch, rather than an idealised view of the product.

Well actually I think I can satisfy both types of reader.

No, there is no guarantee of your video going viral even when you have the heady combination of celebrity and behind the scenes footage.  However there are some simple steps that you can take to ensure that your video has the best possible chance of going viral.

So here are my personal top 8 tips in no particular order…

1.  Know what your audience likes.  This is different to the (false) mantra of ‘content is king’.  It is recognition that one man’s “Later with Jools Holland” is another man’s “X Factor”.  So if you’re after a petrolhead crowd then a Supercar skidding round corners is simple but effective http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L1-TN2XXOk

2.  Know where your audience live.  If you want something to go viral, people have to see it, so make sure it appears where your audience hang out.  So while our mountain biking community videos do well on our YouTube site, they do even better on the specialist site mpora http://video.mpora.com/watch/FxAB0IF8J/

If you want to be really effective then use a community map to identify your seeding sites, giving yourself plenty of time to get the distribution organised before your video appears.  Because then you have the chance of being…

3.  Be first to market.  Simple one this, if you have the content that people want to watch, before anyone else does then people watch your version.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RMT1-gcuqw This video of the SLS appearing at The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 was filmed on the first day and released that evening.  As it was the first video to appear anyone searching for festival content in the first couple of days inevitably ended up watching the SLS do the famous hill climb.

4.  Optimise.  Just as you want your videos to appear where people can see them, so you want them to be fully optimised so search engines can see them too.  Getting the right tags and choosing a title and description copy that includes relevant keywords is going to make a massive difference.  Both YouTube and Google have tools that can help you choose the most effective keywords and tags – Google and YouTube

5.  Short.  Short videos get watched in the office and then shared on email.  Long videos get watched… later.

6.  Build your own communities and then you have an instant audience.  Don’t ignore the fact you can message friends and subscribers directly via YouTube every time you put something new up (or when you need to remind them of that excellent video you made a while back).  If it’s a different social network such as facebook or twitter then remember an engaged community is going to be much more effective for getting those views than a larger unengaged one.

7.  Paid for promotion.  Sometimes a video needs a helping hand to get it moving.  If it’s good then it will maintain momentum even after the promotion has finished – as the word of mouth effect takes hold and the search engines take notice.

8.  Boris Johnson.  Always good for views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekjIUR3n1C0 We await the Boris Johnson playing with kittens mash up – viral video gold.

At ISM we have been thinking about community maps a lot.  In fact it is becoming a bit of an obsession.  The reason being, is that done right, a community map could ensure that your social media programmes are efficient, effective and targeted and your communities are well managed.

So what are the benefits of using a community map in your social media programmes?

• Using it to define your audience universe will allow you to set meaningful and well thought out targets for community size and engagement
• It will improve the accuracy and speed of your community growth
• It will ensure your engagement with a community is effective, including in crisis situations
• It will help you to make content go viral
• It will enable you to measure success and plan strategically for the future.

So here are some of our thoughts on community mapping and the importance of the Social Cartographer, any questions or comments please get in touch. 

The Social Cartographer, Figaro social media seminar, 1st December 2011

The answer is rather simple, conversation. But, the assumption is that social media monitoring works. Whether Search or Social, the market is awash with “monitoring” companies claiming to be able to identify the “authorities”, enabling brands to “listen” to the existing “conversation” and plan campaigns. Or, for the more advanced adjust campaign content in real-time.

But before we move off social media monitoring into how to build content that influences the chosen authorities and spreads to the widest possible audience, there are two problems with the core dataset that typically establishes the most important authorities. And, by the way, the scale of data necessitates the use of tools.

The first problem is that the majority of social media monitoring tools and techniques, at least for English speaking market, are North American based. As such, a genuine authority in the UK market may simply not have the audience to compete with their North American counterparts. At a keyword level this gives a false assessment of the location of authority. This problem is amplified if a client is operating in a niche market.

The second problem is that genuine authorities rarely operate on a single channel. So, unless the social media strategy was formed in 2008, the data Net needs to include the target brand, their competitors, the market, but also the relationship between different channels from the same source.

Here, at ISM, our solution is to define the market space for ourselves before blindly accepting one monitoring “authority map” over another. By establishing our own market space using both Search, Social and traditional media reference points we can add a qualitative brief to the available social media monitoring tools. While this means a variety of tools need to be bolted together, this approach has produced a number of tangible benefits.

By pre-defining the potential authorities we can monitor them as individual sources – identifying what they are talking about, rather than when they talk about a keyword we are interested in. Listening to them as individuals has enabled us to build our content around a genuine community map and offer content that resonates with the authority and their existing audience. Our focus on the audience doesn’t always match our client’s ambition for their messaging but overall we have improved reach and engagement across our client base.

So to the question of what comes after listening, the answer is definitely conversation. But we suggest that there is much more work to construct the context of the conversation. As with many things in Search and Social the tools are a very important part of the overall solution but there is no silver bullet.

On the one hand it was a brief exploration of the benefits of an engaged community to a brand, combined with a few primary rules and objectives of community management. On the other hand it was also a wake up call for brands that are choosing to ditch the hard graft of community management and engagement in favour of the quick hit of a competition or ad campaign on facebook.

That’s not real social media.

Now don’t get me wrong, acquisition is an important part of any social programme – and anyone that claims that great content alone will bring people flocking to your brand is, in my opinion, wrong or a celebrity – but acquisition must be equally balanced with engagement. They are Ying and Yang, Fred and Ginger, D&C (I could go on…) and at the moment that balance doesn’t seem to exist. Looking at more than 25 international brands running social programmes, 64% seemed to have no community management strategy, complaints are rife and anti-social behaviour is not uncommon (would you expect to find blatant racism on the Walls of 2 household brands, or demeaning sexual references on several others?).

But why comment on this now? Well for two reasons, firstly I think it’s getting worse and secondly because of predicted trends in social media. It seems that there has been a pendulum effect in the world of social media. Two years ago, brands were being very wary of getting involved in social because of the potential dangers of engaging with the customer, but that fear has been overtaken by envy – brands are now looking at their competitors rolling out social programmes and are determined to have a go themselves. Unfortunately we seem to be forgetting to think about community management – how we are going to effectively manage the crowds that are about to descend onto our facebook pages, blogs, twitter accounts and YouTube channels. So our new found friends and customers get sub-standard treatment or even ignored altogether. And the predicted social media trend I mentioned? It is time to start preparing for the phenomena of defriending and unfollowing. As people try to cut down on the noise and clutter on their social networks expect to see social crowds dispersing. Now more than ever community management is going to be vital if you want your community to have longevity.

So if you want to know more take a look at the presentation above, watch theSocial Media Engagement: Crowds and Communities video or find me on twitter or LinkedIn.