Social Media (network, technology, blog, community, virtual reality, etc...)

Success in social media isn’t something that happens overnight. As the old adage says, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and organizations looking for shortcuts and (especially) advice from self-pronounced gurus are often left scratching their heads in bewilderment.

This infographic takes a closer look at how five very-different brands are rocking social media.

Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. This visualization defines how these types of Social Media differ according to the extent to which they focus on some of all of seven functional building blocks: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups.

Read on and view the infographic to learn how these 5 companies (Dell, Morton's, Unisys, KLM & ABC) are successfully utilizing social media in various ways, and details on the benefits for both their customers and business model...

Last week I had the opportunity to present my views on social media analytics at Business Insider’s Social Media Analytics conference (you can view the slides from my presentation here). The lessons I presented were based on my own experience, both based on my work at SAP but also on discussions with my peers in the industry. They were centered around the following three key takeaways:

1. Differentiate, but be consistent

Although this sounds like an oxymoron, defining a consistent social media analytics framework can help create a common vocabulary and allow you to learn by being able to consistently compare across your various campaigns. There are three key dimensions as shown on the chart above...