social media: the new buddies' concept

The Social Network:A new buddies’ system

PRO Aquatics ConferenceNovember 3, 2010

JW Rosseau Marriott (Minett, ON)

Judi SamuelsManager, Corporate CommunicationsMaritz Canada

Tag – you’re it Put a blank name tag somewhere on you – where you won’t

mind others putting stickers on it (i.e. arm, shoulder, back)

Take the small stickers & pencils with you: GO!

Meet new people, talk with them; you have about 5-10sec per person

Form an opinion. Write it as a single word – as a tag – on one of the smaller stickers

Put the sticker on the person’s blank name tag, and let them do the same to you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

What we’ll talk about today

Simplifying social media

The scary part: Tag

Peas & carrots: Understand, enable & motivate

Platforms

Your people Generation X Generation Y

How will you mobilize them? The Dragonfly Effect

Challenge: The virtual pool deck

Strategies: Things to think about

So, let’s dissect the term: social media

Social media: a definition

Social – of or relating to human society, the interaction of the

individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society

Media – a channel or system of communication, information,

or entertainment

Courtesy: Merriam Webster onlinewww.merriam-webster.com

Basically, the social part can be likened to a party…

And, the media: a boat

So – what can go wrong with a party on a boat?

If the host does something

that one person doesn’t like

– and then they tell

someone else… the tables

can turn quickly!

Tag – you’re it

Name tags

How do you feel?

The results of the name tag game: there were plants in the room meant to provide negative tags – not all tags were “good news”. That’s social media.

But – if we learn a few things, we can all get along like peas & carrots.

Peas & Carrots

Understand

Enable

Motivate

We need to understand the platforms

AND

We need to understand, enable & motivate the people we are trying to reach

Platforms

+Mobile

Most popular platforms

Most popular in Canada

Most popular platformsFacebook• 400M+ profiles

• 35M status updates

• avg user = 130 friends

• 55min usage a day

• move to mobile: 100M mobile users

Twitter• 75M+ profiles

• 50M tweets

• mobile growth = 347% year over year

• 55% women

• 45% men

YouTube

• 2nd largest search engine

• 32.4B videos watched

• 99% on YouTube

People

Social media demands authenticity, transparency and honesty – independent of your market.

Why do people use social media?Stay updated

Connect around common interests

Socialize

Get information

Debate

Source: www.pewinternet.org

Generation X

Gen X – a few factsBorn late 60s to mid 70s

Today: 34 to 45yrs

Beta to VCR to DVD

Desktop to laptop

Star Wars rocks

JFK & Martin Luther King Jr. are in history books

Gen X & Social MediaLifestyle needs

Facebook = friends & family

LinkedIn = work

Twitter = “brand me”

Privacy

Generation Y

Gen Y – a few facts Born early 80s to late 2000s

Today: 10 to 30yrs

What USSR?

There is only 1 Germany

Why won’t you give me a ribbon for 12th place?

And, I need a laptop, iPhone, iPod, iPad and…

September 11

Gen Y & Social MediaDigital is everywhere

Email is old school

Social media = MY friends

WIIFM online

So, how will you mobilize them?

http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/

The Dragonfly Effect

Source: www.dragonflyeffect.com

Challenge

Set upTeams of 4

Seek out 1 Gen Y per team (ideally 2)

3 Groups

• Group 1: Targeting parents

• Group 2: Targeting employees

• Group 3: Targeting community

The virtual pool deckProvide water safety instruction to everyone in Ontario

Role of the lifeguard/water safety provider: off the pool deck

How does a lifeguard/water safety provider reflect their role?

What does a lifeguard/water safety provider do online?

What does a virtual pool deck look/act/sound like?

How will your virtual pool deck contribute to the BIG goal?

The Dragonfly Effect

Source: www.dragonflyeffect.com

So, how will you mobilize them?

Strategies

Things to think about Engage your community

Why should they visit your pool/community centre? Why should they trust you? How can they support, endorse and promote you?

Engage your employees How do they portray their link to your pool/community centre? What can they do to portray their role and your pool/community

centre in a relevant/appropriate light? How can you use social media to make their job easier, more

efficient & reflect your culture?

More things to think about

Let your employees engage your community What if the lifeguard/water safety instructor role

has gone beyond the pool deck? How can a community engagement program take

shape, with social media, executed by employees?

Interested: what are your objectives, how do you want to come across, who do you want to reach?

One more thing

There is still debate over location-based social networks and games, but there exists true opportunity that is yet to be tapped. Foursquare is only 1 example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM-kGGURWCE

Q&ATHANK YOU

Judi Samuels

Manager, Corporate Communications

judi.samuels@maritz.com

@chieflemonhead

905.696.5113