Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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Oct 7, 2011

Design Engineer Survey Results: Linkedin Most Popular Social Network

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Social Media

Pinnacle Marketing’s Design Engineering Social Media Survey 2011 has now closed and we are in the process of reviewing the results.

We would like to say a big thank you to all those engineers who took part in the survey. All participants have been entered into a prize draw for the chance to win an Apple iPad 2 and we will be announcing the winner shortly.

From the survey data we have looked at so far, we can tell you there have been some very interesting responses. In contrast to the common perception that engineers are not social media savvy, a massive 86% of all engineers surveyed use Linkedin in their day-to-day work – and a further 51% are on Facebook!

survey-social-network-platforms

We shall be publishing more results from the survey very soon, so watch this space!

Is this the kind of result you expected? Are engineers big social media users in your experience?

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Oct 4, 2011

3 Tips for Planning a Global Social Media Strategy

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Social Media

With the recent news that all businesses in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein are banned from using Facebook fan pages and ‘Like’ social plugins, we should be mindful of how we adopt social media strategies in different countries and consider the varying cultures that exist.

If your business is looking to engage socially with a global market, here are a few tips to help you plan your global social media strategy:

  1. Establish a presence on the right social networks. Whilst the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are popular in the western world, not all countries are such prolific users of these channels.  Japan, China and Brazil are just a few countries where the majority of social media users are more likely to be found on platforms such as Mixi, Qzone, Renren and Orkut. Find out which networks your target regions are using and make sure you’re on them.
  2. Think about the type of content you’re going to deliver. British social media users always love a freebie whereas in Japan, sharing your knowledge and expertise is what attracts people to your brand. Find out what makes your market tick and tailor your content accordingly.
  3. Time your updates appropriately. If micro-blogging using a channel like Twitter is part of your social media strategy, be sure to post your updates at a time when your global markets are online. There’s no point tweeting to followers who are still in bed!

Does your social media marketing target countries other than your own? What experiences have you had engaging with different cultures?

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Sep 23, 2011

The Yin and Yang of Social Media for Technology Businesses

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Business, Social Media

There is no doubt that more and more technology purchase decisions by businesses are taking place on or being facilitated by social networks.  But on the flip side, is the volume (or the lack of it) of information in the digital world slowing the pace of technology development?

This dichotomy of social media for technology businesses became evident from two new research reports published earlier this month. 

UBM TechWeb’s ‘Social Media @ Work’ analysed social media consumption habits and preferences of almost 650 business technology decision makers.  Social media has become pervasive, and technology decision makers are increasingly using a variety of social platforms to share information and help them make purchase decisions.  They are relying on social media for information about new products and brands, and to get advice on technology.

element14 sponsored Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI) to survey 328 design engineers globally to understand their top three challenges during the design process.  The majority of engineers reported spending half their time on forums, blogs, and engineering communities looking for information and tools to enable their design process.  Interestingly, the Design-with-Efficiency study also revealed that it is difficult to find comprehensive technical information online and even tougher to compare options and alternatives from competing vendors.

Clearly, businesses are putting a lot of emphasis on search engine optimisation (SEO) to maximise engagement through their digital footprint.  However, is anyone paying attention to the unrestrained pleas by technology developers for better ways to access the information they need?

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Sep 13, 2011

Are Niche Social Networks The Future?

Author: kevinfitzsimons | Filed under: Social Media

One future direction often predicted for social media is an eventual move away from catch-all social networks to niche networks that cater for our personal groups or interests. But what will this mean for businesses using social media to market their products and services?

With Facebook, Twitter and Google+ – the ‘Big 3′ – the focus is on connecting with as many people as possible, and receiving a fast-paced stream of broad information that reflects the diverse interests of a large community.

The difficulty with these networks is the inability to move at a slower pace, to hone in on specific interests and to take time to learn from and share with others.

Niche social networks on the other hand inspire ‘custom sharing’.

Across the web, networks based around specific interests are springing up. LinkedIn is probably the best-known of these, with its business and jobs focus. For music lovers, last.fm and MOG fulfil this need; if you’re African-American you can join Black Planet; if you’re into social activism, you may be on Take Part; if you only want to connect with a small circle of close friends and family, Path will let you do this.

For businesses with a niche customer base or audience, it may mean moving away from the larger social networks and onto these niche communities – assuming you’re allowed. Or you may want to create a bespoke community just for your audience, as electronics firm Premier Farnell  has done very successfully with Element 14.

As this trend develops, it will be increasingly important to listen and monitor where your audience lives online, and avoid the common mistake of assuming that the ‘Big 3′ is where everyone resides.

Do you use a niche social network? If so, why? Leave a comment and let us know!

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Sep 8, 2011

3 Ways To Re-use Old Blog Posts

Author: kevinfitzsimons | Filed under: Social Media, technical blogs

Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website, engage your customers and establish you as an authority within your market. But it’s not always easy coming up with fresh content. So here are three simple ways to squeeze a little bit more value out of those old posts:

Revisit popular posts
Regularly check your blog’s Google Analytics to keep track of which posts have been viewed the most. Pick the best ones and add an update or a new call to action to encourage readers.

Link to old posts in your newsletter
Referring to a post in your email newsletter is a great way to introduce a different type of reader to your blog. You might have people in your email database who are unaware you even have a blog. Drop a link in with a subtle teaser – you might just gain some new readers.

Answer questions with an old post
Do you receive emails or read forums where people are asking questions about your market? Consider answering by point to a blog post you’ve previously written on the topic. And if you’ve not written on that topic before, you’ve just been given a new idea!

Do you reuse your old blog posts? How do you attract new readers to your blog?

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Sep 5, 2011

Do Engineers Use Social Media? Our Survey Says YES!

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Social Media, technical blogs

We’ve been monitoring the answers given by engineers in our Design Engineering Social Media Survey 2011 and the results so far show some interesting trends.

The survey asks the question, “Which social networking platforms do you use in your day-to-day work?”. So far a massive 70% of all engineers surveyed responded that they actively use LinkedIn, 48% also engage in discussions using Facebook and 35% are a fully paid up member of the Twittersphere.

The survey has also discovered that the majority of engineers taking part regularly use online electronic design forums with 55% actively engaging in discussions.

All this would suggest that our theory about engineers being one of the most active professional social media communities is fairly accurate. We’re looking forward to announcing the full results when the survey closes at the end of September.

What do you think the final results will show? Why not take the survey yourself and be in with a chance to win an iPad2?

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Aug 31, 2011

To Follow Or Not To Follow?

Author: kevinfitzsimons | Filed under: Social Media

Last week, discussions with two industrial B2B clients veered on to the use of social media, specifically Twitter.

Twitter – along with LinkedIn, discussion forums and issue-specific blogs – is one of the social media channels most popular with B2B organisations. And the question our clients asked – how do we get more followers on Twitter?

A very common question, with a very straightforward answer… be interesting!  Make your Twitter feed interesting to your audience and they are far more likely to tell others via retweets, quotes and recommendations.  This comes by delivering authentic, relevant and shareable content with personality… and NO sales speak! Be curious about your followers, find out what they want to know, what they like, what interests them – and then deliver it.

If you find you’re losing followers, it may be because you’re not obeying this simple rule. Check out the “Why did you unfollow me?” infographic by Polly Becker that nicely sums up the psychology of retweeting on Twitter.

Although having your content retweeted isn’t the only way to attract new followers, it does help enormously in getting your content to a wider audience, and hopefully bumping up your follower numbers in the process.

How do you attract new followers? What is your approach to creating content? Leave a comment and let us know!

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Aug 25, 2011

Listen. Look. Engage. Stop. The Road Safety Rules of Social Media.

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Social Media

A common problem for many businesses when adopting social media is moving too fast – jumping in feet first without a clear strategy.

As when crossing a busy road, there’s an awful lot of traffic and noise in social media that you must learn how to negotiate in order to avoid a pile-up. You were probably taught as a child to Stop, Look and Listen when crossing the street; now it’s time to learn the social media version: Listen, Look, Engage and Stop.

Listen. Listen for social media conversations about your brand, industry and competitors to discover what is being said. It will help you identify conversations and questions you can respond to, issues you may need to address and key advocates or detractors.

Look. Research where online your audience lives. Are they on LinkedIn? Do they use forums? You should only have a presence on a social community because it’s where you can reach your audience, not because everyone else is using it. If this means you don’t use Facebook, it’s ok!

Engage. What are you going to say? Social media communities respond to conversational content that engages them, rather than self-promotional items simply broadcast at them.  Is your content something of use or interest to your market? Will it encourage questions and discussions? Remember, it’s all about your audience.

Stop. It’s important to regularly stop and evaluate the results of your social media activities. Are you hitting key KPIs? Are your target channels producing the right kind of engagement? This is your chance to tweak and refine your strategy before heading back out there to do it all over again!

Abide by these basic safety rules and you stand a far better chance of not becoming a statistic on the social media highway!

Have you followed a similar approach to adopting social media? Do you find that having a strategy produces better results for you?

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Aug 15, 2011

How Big the Internet Really Is

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Social Media

Everyone knows that the growth of the Internet has been pretty huge over the last few years. But do you know just how big the Internet really is?

Online Schools have put together the below interactive infographic that shows some incredible statistics about Internet usage.

Here are just a few interesting facts to whet your appetite:

  • The number of new broadband mobile users has increased by over 1000% since 2005.
  • 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute.
  • In 2010 Internet users spent 22.7% of their online time using social networks.

Take a look at the infographic here.

infographic

So what does all this mean?

It seems that regardless of how big the Internet appears to be now – it is still growing. As websites and social networks become more accessible through mobile devices, it seems certain that more people will join the online communities that already exist. And if these communities are engaging in conversations about your business and your market, don’t you think you should be there too?

Have a think about it. Do you feel that this information has any bearing on you and your business?

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Aug 8, 2011

Who Says Engineers Don’t Do Social Media?

Author: kevinfitzsimons | Filed under: Social Media

“Engineers don’t do social media.”

That’s a phrase we hear a lot and frankly, we just don’t buy it.

Far from being the unsociable, lacking in basic communication skills-type geeks that the design engineering community is often labelled as, we think that this group of people were actually one of the early pioneers of social networking.

In a time when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was barely out of short trousers and a tweet was something of interest only to an ornithologist, the engineering community were already engaging in online conversations; using wikis and forums to post questions and answers, providing support and advice to their respective peers. More recently, a number of engineers have begun to find Internet fame through blogging about their work and passions, with some even embracing rich media by broadcasting their talents through online shows and weekly podcasts.

So, in an attempt to prove that an active online engineering community does exist, we have launched the Design Engineering Social Media Survey 2011. Aimed specifically at engineers, the survey seeks to answer the big question once and for all – do engineers do social media?

What do you think? Have we asked the right questions? Take the survey or give us your comments below.

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