We’ve now been running Social Media Courses here at Silicon Beach for nearly two years, and during that time we’ve seen some interesting shifts in the experience and objectives of the people attending, providing an insight in to how things have moved on in the fast-changing world of Social Media marketing.

Twelve months ago, a large proportion of people attending our courses had not yet set up business accounts on LinkedIn or Twitter,  weren’t blogging, and often didn’t have personal Facebook profiles, or a Facebook business page.

Facebook business page admins can check out our range of Facebook Tips and Tricks here by the way!

The delegates coming through the door today have usually had some (if not all) of these accounts set up for a while, and attend the course to learn how to increase their friends, fans and followers and achieve specific business objectives, rather than just to find out how to use the different platforms and what buttons to click.

Here are some of the other changes we’ve observed…

Early Social Media Rush Replaced by More Considered Approach

There was certainly a period when people were flocking to use Social Media for their businesses because it was the “next big thing”. There was a sense that “we have to be on Twitter because everyone else is doing it”, rather than thinking about “how can we add value to our customers using Social Media?” or “How can we use Social Media to increase Brand Awareness ?” or “How can we use Social Media to build links for SEO?”

Today – a lot of our delegates have a much better idea of what is possible with Social Media, and want to get some ideas about how to manage their activity more effectively and creatively..

Our 2-day course is designed for both absolute beginners and those who are more interested in strategic issues like as how to plan a marketing campaign for a specific product or service using social media.

So whilst we look at the specific platforms and networks and teach people about how to use them, we also fit that in to the wider strategy, and get people thinking about where their customers are communicating, what content will be of most use or interest to them, and get people to generate ideas about the strategies that will work for them. Everyone leaves with an action plan for improving how they use social media.

Less Fear of Failure – More Long Term Thinking

Another trend we’ve seen is that people have become less wary of Social Media. When we first started delivering the courses, some businesses were quite wary of letting their staff loose on Twitter and Facebook – there had been some fairly high-profile Social Media disasters (remember United Airlines?!).

Last year, one delegate asked: ‘How do I protect my tweets on Twitter so no-one can see them?’ ‘Why would you want to do that?’ I replied. It can be done, but one aim of being on Twitter is to share what’s going on with your sector, your business and yourself. If your tweets are sufficiently informative or entertaining, retweets will mean that people in your network will pass your messages on to people in their own networks, and so the word about you will spread.

Delegates are now much more aware that Twitter (and Social Media at large) is not about broadcasting, it’s about conversation. The main objective is to engage with your followers and build relationships with them. Over time, people come to know and understand what you offer. If they like you enough, they may use you, buy from you or refer you to others when the time is right – that’s how Twitter activity eventually drives sales, and people are more aware now that using social media is a long term strategy – not a short term gimmick which will just provide quick wins.

In Many Cases – Social Media has Improved Customer Service

Another delegate from last year was afraid of launching an interactive social media presence at all, because she expected that her customers would do nothing but complain. My first response was: ‘If you provide a good enough service in the first place, you are unlikely to attract so many complaints!’ When we searched for mentions of her industry in the blogosphere, we found that customers were clamoring to interact with that sector via social media channels. It gave her organisation an opportunity to become industry leaders in customer care.

Twitter, in particular, has become an effective way to deliver customer service in public. For example, if a customer phones BT, only the customer and the operator they speak to know the outcome of the conversation. However, when a customer tweets the @btcare account, everyone can follow the conversation. Ironically, this can mean customers receive better service by tweeting BT than by phoning them!

Things Won’t Stop Changing!

It’s not just the level of delegate experience that is evolving over time. Things change so fast in the social media world that we have to update the course content every time the course is delivered!

For instance, in the last 6 months, Facebook has changed what you can do with your business page. Your ‘page’ can now roam all over Facebook, interacting on profiles, groups and other pages, just as you can with your ‘profile’. That way, you can attract more Likes for your page, and get your company noticed.

And in the last few weeks we’ve seen Google+ explode in popularity in a way that suggests it could play a HUGE role in helping Businesses spread their message – particularly when Google+ business pages are launched. We’ve already added an introduction to Google+ to our course and will continue to update this as new features are added.

When you check the Top Million Sites on Quantcast.com, Facebook is now number 2 after Google. YouTube is number 3 (it’s become the world’s second biggest search engine). Twitter is number 5 (last year it was around 25th). Blogging tools Blogspot, Blogger and WordPress are 13th, 15th and 18th respectively. LinkedIn is around number 25 (last year it was around 40th).

Search Google Insights for the phrase ‘social media’ and you’ll find it was hardly on the radar until the beginning of 2009 and the trend is still growing. In 2008, marketeers didn’t have to worry about having a social media presence. Now, I think its fair to say that most businesses have dabbled in at least one social media network, and

What people say about social media training at Silicon Beach:

• “I’ve been on a few SEO and social media courses, and Jackie is the best trainer by far.”
• “The tutor adapted to the needs of us all, which was great.”
• “A good balance between theory and ‘hands-on’ type knowledge.”

If you would like to discuss social media training or any of our other courses, please call us on 01273 622272 or e-mail colin@siliconbeachtraining.co.uk

Connect with us on Google+

• Heather Buckley
• Colin Welch
• Follow Silicon Beach Training on Twitter
• Like our Silicon Beach Training Facebook Page

Thanks to our Social Media Trainer Jackie for providing the material for this post

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Tags

How Social Media has Changed, Social Media Customer Service, Social Media Stratgegy, Social Media Training, Social Media Trends

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