Social media for business 

Prepared by: Supervised by:

d FARAH Khadija d Mrs. BENKIRAN

d ZNAIDI Mausseab
 Introduction :

Social Media in Business is, for key stake holders, policy makers who
understand a fundamental shift is taking place in how corporates communicate.

In this report, we will examine how social media culture and social
networking platforms are having a major impact nowadays on business
communication, practices and processes. How can these tools be utilised, how
can someone employ strategies within his company to increase profitability,
sustain reputation and empower his employees to be brand ambassadors.

Here’s the plan we will follow:

 Social Media History.

 How to Implement a Social Media Business Strategy.

 How much social media share is worth?

 Who is doing it right?

 Social Media Business in Morocco.

 Conclusion.

I. Social Media History

Historically, men needed to meet in order to talk, to chat, share ideas and discuss them
or just to hang out and have fun.

However, the evolution in technology had made a huge revolution in the means of
communication.

Social media started with the creation of phones, since the 50’s. Phone users were
technophiles and information addicts trapped in a telecom monopoly long before Skype or
“free nights and weekends” existed.
 Then, internet came and with it, a new era has begun.

The first recognizable social network site, Six Degrees, launched in 97 and closed in
2000. Back then few people agree to meet 'strangers' online and too few applications allow it
to be more than an online address book enabling users to send emails. Too early a precursor,
the site dies from lack of massive adoption.  

From the beginnings in 97 and the social familial and friendship use, the timeline - and
combined article- highlights the major SNS (social network site) stressing the two following
important waves, the first one in 2001 when SNS were used to leverage business networks,
and 2003 when SNS hit the mainstream and start proliferating worldwide (with site like
LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.). 
 II. How much is a social media share is worth?

In order to have a concrete idea about this, here’s an example of Eventbrite, a corporate
in USA that manages, promotes, and sells out events.

Every time people share an event from Eventbrite with their friends and contacts in
social media, they generate $1.78 in ticket sales. This figure comes from a recent study by the
event ticketing site which analysed their user data and how shares in social media tracked
back to ticket sales. This is a surprisingly powerful number and shows the growing
importance of social shopping – using recommendations in social networks and online
communities to influence purchase decisions.

Eventbrite is, undoubtedly, a prime candidate to be benefiting from social shopping

before others. Events are, by their nature, things which connect people with similar interests.
If you love jazz and connect with people like you in social media, then were you to share a
jazz event with you then the chances of this appealing to them is quite high. Events are a
prime candidate for social shopping and this study by Eventbrite highlights just how powerful
it is.

The study by Eventbrite found that, on average, every time an event was shared that
resulted in $1.78 in ticket sales. Drilling down into this number shows how valuable different
types of share are:

1. Facebook: $2.52. Facebook resulted in the highest average ticket sales per share with
every ‘Like’ on the social network resulting in $2.52 in ticket sales. That this is the most
valuable type of share is not surprising – Facebook has grown with events and users are
accustomed to inviting people to or accepting events on the platform. Overall this is a very
important driver of traffic and sales for Eventbrite – it is the sites biggest referrer of traffic
and every ‘Like’ drives 11 visits back to the site.
2. LinkedIn: $0.90. LinkedIn shares are the second most valuable with an average of
$0.90 in ticket sales generated every time an event is shared on the social network. This is
much less than for shares on Facebook but is still significant driver of sales.
3. Twitter: $0.43. Shares on Twitter are the least valuable of all three means, with each
share worth $0.43 – almost a sixth the value of a Like on Facebook. This is, perhaps, a sign
that connections on Twitter are less focused than on Facebook, or perhaps that on Twitter
shares and messages are less engaged with – indeed recent research from Sysomos showed
that over 70% of all Tweets get no response. So Twitter messages may be less engaging than
those on Facebook, leading to fewer clicks and so fewer ticket sales.

These numbers are impressive and the data from Eventbrite is a great insight into social
shopping and how, at least in the event ticketing market, recommendations and shares in
social media can lead to significant ticket sales. People are using social media to connect with
people who have similar interests and passions to them – this makes for a potentially valuable
territory for social shopping.
 III. How to implement a social media business strategy

Not long ago, social media seemed so new and different that it was treated as a kind of
marketing that should be tried only by “experts.”

While that view still exists to some degree today, it’s become clear to many that social
media is no longer marketing’s new thing. It’s now simply part of the way we do marketing
today.

In this section, we will see the main steps that should be followed to successes in a
social media business strategy:

1. Establish goals:

Creating a social media strategy is a complex exercise because “it includes not only
looking inside the organization to establish appropriate practices, usage policies and content
parameters, but it also includes looking outside the organization to determine the proper
degree of engagement.” Luis Ramos, CEO of The Network.

Figure out why you’re getting on the social media bandwagon and what you want to
accomplish with it. This step is absolutely necessary if you plan to develop your own internal
metrics tracking.

When General Motors put together their social media strategy, they had some specific
objectives they wanted to accomplish. Christopher Barger, director of global social media at
General Motors, outlined the following:

A. Become more responsive to people/consumer audiences

B. Incorporate audience/consumer feedback into your organization more quickly
and effectively than has happened traditionally
C. Make your brand a little more “human” to the outside world, and show people
the smarts, personality and passion of the people behind your logo
D. Increase awareness of the strength of your current product lineup, and
provide perspective/accurate information about your company

The other benefit of defining objectives is that they can guide the timetable for
implementation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an organization’s list of objectives
and knew there was no way they could implement everything at once or in the timeframe they
intended. Having well-defined objectives can assist in prioritization and creating the best way
to phase-in a social media strategy.

Developing objectives and a timetable could also prompt a conversation about content
management. Ramos suggests including in the strategy the position responsible for updating
content as well as the update frequency. “Many organizations have grand plans of updating
content on a regular basis only to quickly run out of topics, leaving content to become stale.
As a best practice, a specific employee is typically assigned to create and manage the
company’s social media pages, so he/she can respond to messages and questions within 24
hours.”
 2. Consider your employees:

This is very important. Organizations need to understand their employees’ level of

knowledge and interest and perhaps, offer training.

And one noteworthy item for non-profits is to think about your volunteer base. Diane
Gomez, public relations manager for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA),
mentions that not only is PRSA staff involved, but volunteers are as well. “This includes
monitoring and interacting with members (and nonmembers) who reach out to us via these
channels, and is in addition to pushing out information of interest to our members.”

In addition to posting GM’s social media policy, Barger explains several things the
company did to convey the company’s approach. “We posted a 45-minute ‘Social Media 101’
interactive training course on the intranet that gives employees the basics on how/why/where
to engage in social media. Additionally, we developed a ‘201’ level ‘train-the-trainer’ course
that introduces more complete tools and tips. Those who’ve taken this course are authorized
to train others within their departments on the basics of social media. Finally, we have an
internal blog, ‘Making Conversation,’ that focuses on sharing lessons we’re learning through
social media outreach.”

Though she’s the president of a smaller firm, Crystal Kendrick used a similar approach
with The Voice of Your Customer. “Our employees are very social media savvy and
understand how to technically use the sites. We discussed the spirit of the policy and reviewed
examples of ineffective social media policies. Training for our employees focused on the
strategic and professional applications of the social media sites. We use ‘key word rich’
content, approved messages and in some cases, scheduled time for posting.”

Gomez added they are encouraging staff to participate in social media on behalf of the
organization. “We are looking to establish an overall strategy that departments will follow
when deciding when and how to use social media.” I’ve found many companies developing
job aids, such as flow charts or decision trees, to help employees determine when and how to
respond to blogs and inquiries on other social networking sites.

3. Listen:

A lot can be learned by watching others. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions on and
offline so you can learn more”.

Barger encourages companies to remember “that few ideas should be rejected out of
hand; not everything is going to work, but in 95% of the cases, even if something doesn’t
work there is value to be gained and lessons to be learned from the ‘failure.’ The only
exceptions to this rule are efforts that would contradict the basic etiquette and/or rules of
social media – transparency, openness, authenticity, and avoiding ‘pure traditional marketing’
plays, etc.”
 According to Kendrick, “The first few weeks were a bit hectic.” Like GM, they began to
share best practices among employees, identify expert users to follow and recommend
connections. She notes, “We matched our target customers to the demographics of our
connections and identified gaps in our networks. From there, we began to focus on making
connections with persons in target companies, industries and geographic regions and joined
groups and lists of industry groups to ensure that we maximized our exposure and business
opportunities.”

4. Check your tech:

While most social media doesn’t need a huge technology investment, companies should
still take a look at the technology capabilities of the company and make sure the system can
support the strategy.

As Ramos reminds us, this includes making sure social media applications aren’t hidden
behind firewalls. “Before any social media components are engaged, there needs to be an
understanding across the organization of the following:

- Who will have access to the sites?

- Are there any firewalls that would prevent access?
- What are the rules about time spent and content posted on the sites?

He adds, “Due to some of the technology access restrictions, some organizations have
opted to build their own internal technology to offer social media type forums without the
complexities of changing firewalls or altering access rules. This also allows further features
like locking down postings to help control inappropriate content.”

5. Measure success:

Measuring social media success is a very controversial topic as different folks have
different opinions on how to properly measure SMM progress.  For me there are two sides to
measuring the success of a social media campaign. That is:

 Analytics – How has the Social Media campaign increased traffic to your site as well
as how has it affected the quality of traffic?
 Relationships – what have you learnt about your customers? Have you established
better relationships with them?

Another good tool to use is Trendpedia which is a blog search engine that allows you to
both track and graph topics, as well as compare terms- to help benchmark your company
against your competitors by running the exact same search and parameters before and after
your engagement begins.
 d 5 tips for getting more from social media marketing

1) Integrate: Don’t treat your social media activity as something separate from your other
marketing initiatives. Feature links to your social media profiles in your email signature, on
your business cards, in your ads, and as a standard block of copy in your weekly HTML email
newsletter. In addition, make sure that links to your educational content are featured
prominently in your social media profiles and that Facebook fan page visitors and blog
subscribers are offered the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter and attend your online
and offline events. Make your social media profiles a part of your address copy block and you
will soon see adding them to all that you do as an automatic action.

2) Amplify: Use your social media activity to create awareness for and amplify your content
housed in other places. This can go for teasing some aspect of your latest blog post on
Twitter or in your Facebook status, creating full-blown events on Eventful or Meetup, or
pointing to mentions of your firm in the media. If you publish a biweekly newsletter, in
addition to sending it to your subscribers, archive it online and Tweet about it too. You can
also add social features to your newsletter to make it very easy for others to retweet
(tweetmeme button) and share on social bookmark sites such as Delicious and digg. Filtering
other people’s great content and pointing this out to your followers, fans, and subscribers fits
into this category, as it builds your overall reputation for good content sharing and helps to
buffer the notion that you are simply broadcasting your announcements. Quality over quantity
always wins in social media marketing.

3) Repurpose: Taking content that appears in one form and twisting it in ways that make it
more available in another, or to another audience, is one of the secrets to success in the hyper
info-driven marketing world in which we find ourselves. When you hold an event to present
information, you can promote the event in various social media networks and then capture
that event and post the audio to your podcast, slides to SlideShare, and transcript
as a free report for download. You can string five blog posts together and make them
available as a workshop handout or a bonus for your LinkedIn group. Never look at any
content as a single use, single medium, single act.

4) Generate leads: So many people want to generate leads in the wide world of social media,
but can’t seem to understand how or have met with downright hostile reactions when trying.
Effectively generating leads from social media marketing is really no different than
effectively generating leads anywhere—it’s just that the care you must take to do it right is
amplified by the “no selling allowed” culture. No one likes to be sold to in any environment—
the trick is to let them buy—and this is even more important in social media marketing. So
what this means is that your activity, much of what I’ve mentioned above, needs to focus on
creating awareness of your valuable, education-based content, housed on your main hub site.
You can gain permission to market to your social media network and contacts when you can
build a level of trust through content sharing and engagement. It’s really the ultimate two-step
advertising, only perhaps now it’s threestep— meet and engage in social media, lead to
content elsewhere, content elsewhere presents the opportunity to buy. To generate leads
through social media marketing, you need to view your activity on social sites like an
effective headline for an ad—the purpose of the headline is not to sell, but to engage and
build, know, like, and trust. It’s the ultimate permission-based play when done correctly.
One glaring exception to this softer approach for some folks is Twitter search. Twitter search
can be used to locate people in your area who are asking for solutions and complaining about
problems you can solve and reach out to them directly with a bit of a solution pitch. People
who are talking publicly about needing something are offering a form of permission and can
be approached as more of a warmed lead.

5) Learn: The pressure to fill the silence can be so overwhelming that they eventually
succumb and tweet what they had for lunch. If you find yourself in this camp, you don’t have
to say anything to get tremendous benefit from social media participation. If I did nothing
more than listen and occasionally respond when directly engaged, I would derive tremendous
benefit from that level of participation. In fact, if you are just getting started, this is what you
should do before you ever open your 140-character mouth. Set up an RSS reader and
subscribe to blogs, visit social bookmarking sites such as BizSugar, and Delicious and read
what’s popular. Create custom Twitter searches for your brand, your competitors, and your
industry, and closely follow people on Twitter who have a reputation for putting out great
content. And then just listen and learn. If you do only this, you will be much smarter about
your business and industry than most and you may eventually gain the knowledge and
confidence to tap the full range of what’s possible in the wild and wacky world of social
media marketing.

IV. Who is doing it right

Let’s take a look at 10 companies that have done a phenomenal job of taking advantage
of social media platforms.

1. Blendtec Blends it on YouTube

Who doesn’t know about the “Will It Blend” series on YouTube? Created by George
Write, the marketing director of Blendtec, the campaign was low cost and instantly became a
hit. In the video, Tom Dickson the CEO of Blendtec, attempts to blend objects in their
blender. This simple idea led to a “five-fold increase in sales”.

Blendtec leveraged YouTube’s subscriber base and tried something fun and original.
The campaign was a success and continues to entertain and sell.

Lesson: Social media marketing doesn’t always need to cost a lot of money. Creating funny,
original video and leveraging an already large user base can be used to increase sales.

2. Burger King and the Sacrifice Facebook Application

Recently, Burger King has really been pushing the envelope with their marketing. They
first started with whoppervirgins.com, and then entered the social space with the “sacrifice ten
friends” facebook application. The campaign quickly went viral and was adopted by over
20,000 users, sacrificing 200,000 friends for free whoppers.

Sadly, the application was shut down as quickly as it started by Facebook, citing privacy
concerns. Regardless, the application was beautifully built and the idea was perfect. Burger
King built in the ability to share it, the incentive to use it, and added just enough humor to
make the campaign a hit.
Lesson: Successful and viral campaigns don’t just test out social media, they jump in it.
Pushing the envelope can create the buzz that makes your campaign memorable.

3. Starbucks Asks for Your Advice

Social media isn’t only about using existing websites, but sometimes creating your own.
To get a better handle on consumer feedback, Starbucks did just that with “My Starbucks
Idea.”

The site allows users to submit suggestions to be voted on by Starbucks consumers, and
the most popular suggestions are highlighted and reviewed. Starbucks then took it a step
further and added an “Ideas in Action” blog that gives updates to users on the status of
changes suggested.

By empowering their exceptionally web savvy consumer, Starbucks strengthens their

campaign to add a personal touch to coffee.

Lesson: Thinking of ways to build your company are great, but directly asking your
consumers what they want, is better. Acting on that information and doing it publicly is key to
the success of this campaign.

4. Sun Microsystems and the CEO Blog

Want your blog to really make a splash? You could learn a lot from Sun Microsystem’s
CEO blog. Jonathan Schwartz’s blog received about 400,000 hits a month (in 2006).

It’s not the number of hits that make his blog a social media success, but the openness
on it. Positive and negative comments are allowed, and even the most inane are approved.
Transparency from the highest position in a company trickles down and increases trust from
consumers.

Lesson: Social media is a culture of transparency and honesty that must be embraced, leading
by example is one of the best ways to introduce it to a company. Few things are better than a
CEO that blogs or uses twitter.

5. IBM With Lots of Blogs

When IBM decided they wanted to start using blogs, they didn’t just create one blog,
they created an entire network. IBM created a way and allowed their employees to write about
their experiences, what they’re working on, or any other topic of choice.

IBM capitalizes on the intelligence of their employees to give consumers insight into
what happens behind the scenes. By giving the industry experts they’ve hired a voice, IBM is
able to highlight the people behind their products. Users get to see how IBM operates, and are
given a direct connection with IBM employees.

Lesson: Having a CEO that blogs is great, but increase the number of blogs and you increase
the number of connections. Leveraging your employees to write about what they love conveys
the corporate dedication to the industry.
 6. Zappos on Twitter

Obviously we had to talk about Twitter, this is a social media post after all. The most
obvious of companies to make Twitter work is Zappos, an online retailer that has really led
the way in corporate Twitter use.

The idea of micro-blogging and the sense of exceptional customer service is ingrained
in the corporate culture. Most Zappos employees have an active account, and the Zappos site
has a page that aggregates all the streams.

The reason why Zappos stands out on Twitter is because of their ability to bring the
company to life. The Zappos CEO has lent his personality to the company brand, a personality
that is friendly, helpful, funny, and trustworthy. They use Twitter to highlight interesting
facts, and to talk to their consumers. Talking to Zappos is like talking to a friend that happens
to sell shoes.

Lesson: Take a CEO that twitters, add in a great personality and you have a recipe for social
success. Ingraining social media into the culture of a corporation means that every consumer
interaction is personal.

7. Comcast on Twitter too

Frank is the man behind @comcastcares, a Twitter account setup to help Comcast users
in need.

Comcast has found a way to offer exceptional customer service to their consumers, but
the thing that really makes them stand out is how well they monitor discontent. Complain
about Comcast and you can bet you’ll hear from @comcastcares to see if they can help.

Lesson: Being active on Twitter is great but tracking and seeing who’s mentioning you, is the
next step. Social media allows for the possibility of great customer service, and with it, better
brand loyalty.

8. Ford and Social Media PR

The basic story is that there was an internal gaffe where Ford’s legal department sent
out cease and desist letters to forum owners using Ford trademarks. Obviously the story was
twisted and changed, and in the end people were outraged.

What makes this a success story for social media is that Scott Monty (Ford’s community
manager) was quick to find out what happened and let us know the true story. Not only that,
but as things were being fixed and a compromise was ironed out, the public was informed
every step of the way.

Although we don’t know if social media has shown a direct return on investment for
Ford, the public relations fiasco it helped avert (think Motrin) should help make the case for
more funding for social media.
Lesson: Social media can be used to inform consumers in real-time of how a corporation is
reacting to events that affect the customer. Transparency in the process and access to constant
information can help stop a negative story from going viral.

9. Graco Uses Pictures on Flickr

Social media is about sharing all types of content, including photos. Facilitating the
sharing is easy, but gaining something from it requires a sound strategy. Graco did just that,
by building a community around their product using Flickr.

Flickr isn’t the center of their campaign, but they promote it heavily with the Graco blog
which also creates an incentive for others to submit pictures. The photographs help highlight
the people behind Graco and the consumers using their products.

Graco takes their strategy one step further by introducing offline marketing in the form
of community gatherings. The pictures from these meet-ups are posted to the Flickr page,
further humanizing the community around the product.

Lesson: Social media doesn’t have to exist wholly online. Blending offline marketing with
online efforts can build a community around a brand.

10. Dell Doing it Everywhere

Embracing social media is a huge undertaking, and involves a large investment. Dell
didn’t shy away from these obstacles, instead they’ve gone above and beyond, truly
cultivating a cross-platform community. They’ve created multiple Twitter handles, a network
of blogs, and are very active on Facebook.

Dell is also one of the few companies to publicly state that they created a return on
investment from Twitter. Apparently, Dell’s social media efforts help create “$1 million in
revenue“.

Lesson: Social media isn’t all about ROI, but it is possible. Creating cross-platform strategies
can lead to the most success, especially when your demographic is already Internet and
technologically savvy.
 V. Social Media Business in Morocco

Internet statistics in Morocco:

Morocco is the second country in number of Internet users in the MENA region just
behind Egypt, but is only fifth in terms of Internet penetration (Internet users / total
population) with 32.9% of the population connected.

The 3 most popular activities on the Internet in the MENA and Morocco are: 1-E-Mail,
2-Search, 3-Social Networks.

2.3 million Moroccans are on Facebook, which amounts to a penetration rate of around
7% of Facebook in Morocco.

Nobody can deny the formidable effectiveness of social media in spreading awareness
of a brand. Even in Morocco, the social euphoria reached its peak. Moroccan consumers have
become fond of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace... But the question that arises is the
extent to which companies can use social media effectively to promote their products and
services ...

The first thing that comes to mind is to analyze the audience and the characteristics of
profiles that use this channel more. A tour on facebook and this is what comes out February
23, 2010:

 Number of users resident in Morocco: 1, 344, 680 people (or Facebook

account)

There are other good information that can be use like age, interests, family situation or
level of education of users...

All this confirms one thing is that Social Media has a bright future ahead of them in
Morocco.

In the other hand, when we talk about Social Media, it's not just Facebook or MySpace,
but also Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Linked in .... And the new Buzz (who might get a place with
major fast) ...
 VI. Conclusion

As we battle a global recession, corporations are looking for new ways

to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to the
Internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods.

When technology is leveraged to facilitate and enhance social

interaction, a great deal of value can be created.

During 2011, more companies are expected to explore and engage in

social media activities. While some might categorize using a social
networking application as easy, that doesn’t mean developing a strategy is
simple. Proper planning and execution is the key to integrating social
media into every organization.

But tread carefully. This savvy audience can be turned off if

approached in the wrong way. Companies need to use these new tools
properly and they’ll prove to be invaluable in their effort to strengthen
existing customer relationships and capture the hearts and minds of new
consumers.
 Bibliography:

Websites:
d Social media history:

http://socialmediarockstar.com/history-of-social-media

http://mbresseel.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!33234018BF280C82!345.entry?sa=325802536

d How to implement a social media business strategy:

http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/204388

http://socialmediatoday.com/mattrhodes/253769/why-we-ll-all-be-talking-about-value-social-
media-2011

http://mashable.com/2009/12/28/social-media-business-strategy/

d Who is doing it right:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_for_business_who_is_doing_it.php

http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

d Social Media Business in Morocco :

http://marketing-internet.ma/