What will the future of social media look like? You just need to look around because “The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed.”

In rapid order I came across three articles that help paint that picture (all emphasis are mine):

Marc Meyer rightfully points out:

So I ask you, what is next? Social Media as you know it right now, will not be recognizable in the next 3-5 years. Think long term.

Chas Edwards discusses the success of Digg ads and hints at the future of advertising filtered by (and I’ll throw in co-created with) their customers:

Digg Ads: It’s Just the Beginning

As marketers perfect their skills as web publishers and invest more aggressively in content creation — content about their products and services, as well as general content that might be useful to their customers — it creates an opportunity for better advertising experiences: ads we don’t feel the need to block, skip or ignore. Digg Ads, we hope, will give those marketers a real-world proving ground — a place to measure their success in making content that’s relevant to their customers.

Now combine that with the LA Times story about how Google Wave (and many of the ...

While social media can do a lot to humanize a brand; increase the effectiveness of customer service, and create brand evangelists, it also can cause damage.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again - brand management is a matter of common sense. People want to be heard, they want a human being to say "I'm sorry that happened, let's see what we can do to make it right." They will let their friends know how they were treated - because they can.

Yet common sense is in short supply in corporations, or so it seems.

These three social media marketing mistakes are made over and over by companies that just don't want to believe that customers really are in control, and that what matters most about your brand is what comes up in Google.

1- Start a Twitter account then don't use it.
Let's use @TimeWarnerCares as an example, although many other brands are equally inept in social media.

@TimeWarnerCares opened a Twitter account, which has 563 followers - some of whom might actually be brand evangelists. @TimeWarnerCares didn't bother to follow anyone, so they have no way to know who wants to talk with them.

Who is Tweeting for the company? There's no way to know because there's no bio ...

Is social media transformational?  That was the topic of my panel discussion this past weekend at University of Georgia’s Connect 2009: Integrating Social Media and Traditional PR.

I was joined by Aaron De Lucia senior vice president of Porter Novelli, Austin and Melanie James – University of Newcastle (Australia) who  joined via Skype from her home.

And thanks to Professor Karen Russell for inviting me to participate. It was also great to connect with Jeremy Pepper, Toby Bloomberg and Bert Dumars.

Jeremy Pepper and Toby Bloomberg

Now I can make a strong case supporting the contention that social media is forcing PR to undergo transformational change. Consider:

- From a technical perspective, the social tools we are using gives us greater reach at a lower cost.

- From  a human resources management perspective, it shifts the balance of power giving younger professionals a leg up on their older counterparts who are less familiar and less comfortable with social media. It decentralizes authority and makes everyone in the the organization a spokesperson.

- From a business development perspective, it is enabling PR professionals to ... read more >>

1. You need to give up control. By far the most common myth, giving up control is a defeatist way of looking at social media. It means that anyone can say anything about your brand and there is nothing you can do and no input you can have. The truth is actually that control in the best of cases is shared. You have a point of view and your customers do as well. To effectively create a dialogue, you need to be willing to share some of the control with those people conversing online ... but keep some for yourself as well.
2. It is all about going viral. Starting out with ...

Dell’s Take Your Own Path campaign is a very smart combination of traditional PR and social media.

The campaign features pioneering entrepreneurs and showcases how their use of Dell technology helps make their businesses successful.

What led to this bright idea?

Listening to their market of SMBs.   Dell research shows that these companies make purchase decisions “based on peers and friends and from reading ‘normal’ business publications” like Fortune, Forbes and Fast Company,”  Faith Brewitt, Dell’s director of global SMB communications, told PRWeek.   “ Medium and small businesses don’t make purchase decisions based on analyst white papers.  We want to get away from IT reviews only.”

What are they doing?

They identified interesting, successful entrepreneurs.

The PR group layed a key role in helping determine which Dell customers to feature.  “It is not just about how much you buy,” Brewitt said. “We reminded the teams in these countries that it is about… how they use technology differently to make them successful in their industry versus someone else.”

These Dell customers are being featured in a variety of traditional advertising ... read more >>