Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Congrats to social media author, advisor, speaker and expert Shel Israel to join Fast Company with his co-author to launch the Global Neighborhoods online video show. Shel pioneered much of the thinking of business blogging with the Naked Conversations book (I purchased 65 copies for me and my colleagues) and will be leading the same passion for social media with his upcoming show.

When we look at what Fast Company is doing, they’re really empowering a new generation of medium as video becomes a part of the web, they’re enhancing their text based product to now add rich media. I’m sure they’ll consider how to incorporate other tools like social networks into their programming.

Congrats Shel to the next leg of your journey, please wish him luck at his announcement post. Ill be adding this announcement to my next people on the move in the social media industry.

A few minutes ago, I completed my Forrester teleconference on Facebook, apparently it was very popular and hand more sign ups than most other topics. During the session we ran a poll to those that were attending (most are web marketers and web strategists). Here are the responses:

1. Do you use Facebook for your personal or professional life?
a. Yes 124/196 ( 63%)
b. No 50/196 ( 26%)
c. Not Sure 3/196 ( 2%)
No Answer 22/196 ( 11%)

2. Does your company use Facebook for Marketing purposes?
a.Yes 45/196 ( 23%)
b.No 103/196 ( 53%)
c.Not Sure 25/196 ( 13%)
No Answer 25/196 ( 13%)

3. Does your business plan on using Faecbook for business in 2008?
a. Yes 68/196 ( 35%)
b. No 27/196 ( 14%)
c. Not Sure 76/196 ( 39%)
No Answer 26/196 ( 13%)

Although a very limited sample, and just of those that are focused in on social networking, It’s interesting to see that a majority of the members on this call were using this tool. Forrester should be using Facebook to reach this audience, such as the Forrester Facebook page that I initially created, that’s now being maintained by Alexis. I’ll be unbiased, you should also take a look at the Gartner page while you’re at it, I was one of the first to become a fan.

During the call there were a lot of questions about widgets, open social, and a few who requested success metrics for some of the campaigns, it felt like a pretty savvy crowd, I’m expecting to receive a few meeting requests from clients to further discuss Facebook and social networks.

It’s easy to get the tools mixed up, but it’s important to know the differences. Quite often (usually by executives) I’m asked the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks, here’s usually how I explain it (focusing first on usage and benefits rather than technical details):

Forums are like social mixers, where everyone is at equal level, milling about and discussing with others. These many to many communication tools allow anyone to start a topic and anyone to respond to one. Members are often at equal level, and content is usually segmented by topic. (rather than by people).

Blogs are like a keynote speech where the speaker (blogger) is in control of the discussion, but allows questions and comments from the audience.
Blogs are journals often authored by one individual, and sometimes teams. In the context of business communication, these are often used to talk with the marketplace and to join the conversation that existing external bloggers may be having.

Social Networks are like topic tables at a conference luncheon. Ever been to a conference where different lunch tables had big white signs inviting people to sit and join others of like interest? It’s like that. Social networks allow members to organize around a person’s relationships or interests, rather that just focused on topic. People that know each other (or want to meet each other) will connect by a variety of common interests. These are great tools to get people of like interest to connect to each other and share information.

It’s important to know the many different tools in your tool chest as every type of accessory fulfills a different need. Before you jump to tools, you should first understand who your community is, where they are, how they use social technologies, and most importantly, what they’re talking about. To learn more about the many forms of web marketing, see this updated list (now in Italian, Indonesian and French).