US & European Corporate Social Media 2012

Useful Social Media, a business intelligence firm located in London and New York, recently released a report, The State of Corporate Social Media 2012, bringing together findings from a survey of over 650 digital marketers. 

The survey participants were nearly evenly split between agency-side and in-house corporate digital marketers, with a solid mix of B-to-C and B-to-B practitioners. 

The report chronicles the continuing struggle to integrate social into marketing, along with noting some differences in social media marketing adoption between U.S. marketers and their European counterparts.

Social Media Marketing a Key Part of Marketing

On both sides of the Atlantic, social media marketing is playing a prominent role:

• 92% of companies have at least one person for whom social media is a "key part" of their role
• Almost 50% of companies have someone working on social media full-time

Almost Half of Surveyed Companies Have a

Designated Social Media Team

What is one to conclude from the fact that 63% of U.S. companies included in the survey had a designated social media marketing team, compared to 53% for European companies?  The report correctly observes that there are two "opposite conclusions" one could reach from these statistics:  1) the lack of a discrete social media team points to a lack of social media adoption or 2) the lack of a social media team suggests that social media has become "fully embedded throughout key departments."  Answering the dispute, the report notes that "the reality falls somewhere between the two poles."

Some additional findings:

• B2B marketers continue to lag behind B2C marketers in social media adoption
• There is a narrowing of social media adoption between U.S. and European companies, with both become more "social", though the U.S. appears to retain a slight lead as evidenced by a larger dedication of resources to social
• On both sides of the Atlantic, the marketing department "owns" social
• The more "social" a company is, the higher the post level for the person heading social

According to Useful Social Media founder, Nick Johnson, who now splits his work primarily between London and New York, U.S. digital marketing teams tend to be "bigger" and "have more autonomy and power" than than their European counterparts, a sobering thought when so many U.S. digital marketers cite a lack of authority as continuing impediment to social media initiatives.

Johnson also notes that European social media marketing still tends to weigh too heavily on using social media as another broadcast channel, "pumping out marketing messages to large groups," rather than actually tapping into the social dimension of digital marketing.  This gap, however, according to Johnson, is steadily closing as European marketers become more savvy in their use of social media.

The Corporate Social Media Summit

To learn more about the State of Corporate Social Media, join Useful Social Media in New York City, on June 13 and 14 for their third annual New York City Corporate Social Media Summit.  As a media sponsor of the event and moderator for social governance and brand managment sessions at the conference, I hope I'll have a chance to see you there!

@GlenGilmore    

"A Gathering of Corporate Peers" NYC, June

On June 13 and 14, 2012, Useful Social Media will be hosting their third annual Corporate Social Media Conference at the New Yorker Hotel, in New York City. As a media sponsor of the conference and moderator for a couple of the sessions, I wanted to share a bit about the event and encourage you to attend.

What Makes The Corporate Social Media Conference

So Special?

Unlike most social media conferences, the Corporate Social Media Conference puts a premium on corporate, digital marketers.  Its speakers consist of some of the best digital marketers in the trenches of some of the best corporations.  The emphasis is on providing speakers who are the online social voices, marketers and strategist for leading companies. 

A Gathering of Corporate Peers



Useful Social Media founder, Nicholas Johnson, offered that it is not only the speakers that make the event unique, but the audience as well.  He explained:  "[W]e have an extremely high proportion, usually well over seventy percent, of our audience coming from the corporate world.  It's a real gathering of corporate peers to share best practices."  He added, "We are not a trade show, and our numbers are strictly limited to preserve this high-quality, focused community of corporate marketers and social practitioners."

"Been There, Done That"     

What can attendees expect from their participation?  "Proven best practices from corporates that have 'been there and done that,'" said Johnson.  "The aim is that our attendees get not only a set of practical tools they can use every day, but a broader insight into the long-term strategy for, and approach to, social from some of the largest companies in the world."

I hope you'll join me at the conference for some exciting sharing, networking, and incredible learning! 

For information on registration, please visit The Corporate Social Media Summit! 

By the way, social media influence does count:  If you are a social media/digital marketing influencer, you may be eligible for one of limited number of influencer special rate passes.  Please DM me on Twitter if you think you might fit the bill!  Thanks.  @GlenGilmore

Social Media Commandments for Financial Firms

Social Media For Financial Services: FINRA's 10 Commandments

View more presentations from Gilmore Business Network, Law Office Of Glen D. Gilmore, Rutgers University

Social Media Mega-Trends

NJ Social Media "Tweets" for Jobs - Newark

With over a million followers on the social network Twitter, and a reputation for a steady stream of social media engagement (he even tweeted Jersey Shore bad girl Snooki a warning when she was tweeting while driving), Newark Mayor Cory Booker is now putting his social media savvy to the task of helping Newark residents find work through collaboration with the social recruiting mega-site TweetMyJobs.  PC magazine has called TweetMyJobs one of the "10 Best Job Search Websites"  Mayor Booker joins the City of Atlanta in tapping into the social jobs recruitment platform.

In announcing the collaboration with TweetMyJobs, Mayor Booker said:

It's time that Newarkers embrace new technology and use

their social networks to become real job networks.

Discussing how the mechanics of the program work, Mayor Booker explained that in addition to providing job seekers with real-time information about job openings, the platform would also let job seekers see which of their Facebook friends might already be working at the place of business where a given opening might exist.  He noted that this would create an added advantage to job seekers as they could then reach out to their friends for added guidance on applying for the opening.

A visit to the Newark-dedicated TweetMyJobs platform shows that job seekers are asked to identify the sort of job and industry employment they are seeking, and where they would like information about job opportunities sent.  Job seekers can receive an email, text or tweet about any job opportunities meeting their specifications.  Employers, in turn, are given the opportunity to share their job openings with TweetMyJobs to keep the job opportunities coming.

According to the Newark site, companies posting job openings to the site include:  the financial institution Citi, retail giant Sears, car rental giant Enterprise, and the ever-social Starbucks.  Though some of the job openings are in the City of Newark, many are also in surrounding communities.  The jobs range range a broad gamut of opportunities and skill levels, from manual labor to managerial, tech, and sales - a good thing when so many are looking for work!

For more "Jersey tweets", please join me on Twitter at @JerseySocial and at my primary account, @GlenGIlmore.

Related Post:  TweetMyJobs and Social Recruiting

Special thanks to my friends @2morrowknight and @AnnTran_ for having invited me in join them in their Huffington Post article!

Use Twitter to Brush Up On a Second Language

Many moons ago, I spent a wonderful semester in Sevilla, Spain studying Spanish...among other things.  Since then, I have struggled to keep and expand my aptitude for the Spanish language.  Very recently, it dawned on me that I should use Twitter to help me in my quest (like the tie to the photo!).   

Here's how:

1.  Identify accounts tweeting in your language of choice (search the language to find them).

2.  Add a few of the accounts tweeting in your language of choice to your favorite Twitter list so that your Twitter stream is sprinkled with tweets in the language you hope to polish.  Study those tweets when they appear: look up the words you don't know and look at how the words are phrased.  Fácil. Eso es todo.  (Easy.  That's it.)

On the Subject of Twitter Lists

If you're not using Twitter lists, you should be.  They are a major tool for zeroing in on the best content.  I have a few public lists that should be revised or eliminated as I created them when Twitter lists first came out and I really didn't vet them as well as I should have.

I do, however, have a private Twitter list of my "content stars", tracking accounts that consistently share good content.  Why is it 'private'?  I am vigilant and ruthless in maintaining this list:  if the content doesn't meet the mark, you're off the list.  I'd rather not hurt feelings, if anyone were to care.  This list is a column in TweetDeck (I've begun testing the waters with Hootsuite) that is always up and where I look in throughout the day.  It brings me the best content and, now, it has started to help me brush up on my Spanish.  So I just thought I should share this tip.  Buena suerte!  (Good luck!)

How to Create a Twitter List (or Shameless Promotion of One of My Niche Accounts)

Go to the account tweeting in the language you'd like to brush up on.  See the profile, drop-down icon next to the blue "Following" box.  Click the drop-down arrow so that it reveals the choice, third one down, "Add or remove from lists".  If you haven't created lists, simply click on the bottom choice, "Create list".  Give the list whatever name you'd like, and start brushing up!

 

Your tips on using Twitter to brush up on or learn a second language?  Gracias!

Get Ready for State Regulation of Social Media

Although the author of this post is an attorney, nothing contained in this post should be considered legal advice.  For legal questions, please consult with an attorney from your jurisdiction.

In a bold move, the Securities Division for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced guidelines on the use of social media for state investment advisors who were previously permitted to market their services on social networks, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, without social media guidelines.  Coming just two weeks after the SEC issued its own set of social media guidelines, the Division's actions have raised the bar for other states to take similar action for the protection of investors.

Though many investors think that all investment advisors are regulated by the SEC, the reality is that the SEC only regulates investment advisors who manage $25 million or more in client assets.  For investment advisors managing less the $25 million in client assets, the responsibility of regulation is left to the securities regulator for the state where the adviser has its principal place of business.

In July of 2011, the Massachusetts Division conducted a survey of investment advisers registered and doing business within the Commonwealth to "to determine the scope of investment advisers' use of social media, and what, if any, record retention and supervisory procedures have been implemented or utilized by those advisers."  Seven-nine percent of the 576 investment advisers registered with the Division responded to the survey.

Most State Investment Advisors Lack a Social Media Policy and Fail to Monitor Advisor Social Media Activity

A report of the Division's survey results revealed that sixty-eight percent of investment firms using social media failed to have written policies on employee use of social media and that fifty-seven percent failed to retain records of content shared on social networks.

Based on the survey's findings on the failings of self-regulation, namely, the absence of in-house guidelines, archiving and supervision, the Massachusetts Division decided that it needed to provide social media guidelines for investment advisors it is charged with regulating.  Massachusetts' decision to issue social media guidelines raises the bar for other states that have yet to issue any guidelines. 

Because of Massachusetts' leadership, another stretch of the "Wild West" of social media may be soon coming to a close as other states, invariably, come to recognize that the absence of social media guidelines for a large swath of investment advisors in the social media space potentially puts at risk scores of family life savings and retirement funds.  Establishing social media guidelines should help the vast majority of ethical advisors who may have shied away from social media participation due to the lack of guidelines.  They should also help trigger earlier detection of unscrupulous advisor activity in the social media space.

Massachusetts Securities Division Confronts the Realities and Detail of Social Media

One of the most intractable, regulatory issues in social media for highly-regulated industries has been "What to do about the sharing of links?"  In the pharmacuetical space, the requirement of "fair balance" and other considerations have placed serious constraints on link sharing.  For the Massachuesetts Securities Division, however, this issue is not so intractable.  Simply, the Division has warned advisors that the sharing of a link, or "retweet" in Twitter, "without context", could well trigger impermissible "adoption" or "entanglement" -- but the key point to observe is that by providing "context", a violation might well be avoided.  Though the message is still one of "proceed with caution", it also demonstrates a real understanding of how social media works and how it can be used in a compliant fashion.

Some Key Takeaways and Social Media Best Practices for Massachuesetts Investment Advisors

• As a general rule, social media accounts created or maintained for business will be considered advertising, and subject to the same regulatory requirements as other forms of advertising.
• Advisors are now required to retain records of their social media "advertising" and "correspondence".
• An adviser may also be responsible for content it did not author, i.e., third-party content, if the adviser has some responsibility for its creation (entanglement) or has somehow endorsed it (adoption) after the content was created.
• "Retweets" on Twitter or link-sharing, without "context", may trigger impermissible adoption or entanglement.
• Selectively deleting third-party material unfavorable to the adviser but continuing to display favorable content, may be deemed to adopt the remaining content.
• Advisers should develop policies and procedures that maintain a schedule for review of third party posted content and, if the adviser chooses to remove content, criteria for removal.
• LinkedIn recommendations may constitute impermissible testimonials and advisers should consider a policy to restrict the public posting of client recommendations to their LinkedIn profile.
• Facebook “Likes” by themselves are not likely to give rise to a violation of the prohibition of testimonials, though advisors are warning against entangling themselves in such "Likes".  (The Division explained:  An adviser that suggests on their webpage that the number of “Likes” received is evidence of their ability as an investment adviser may run afoul of securities laws.)
• Certain social media websites, such as Twitter, may be an inappropriate medium for discussion of performance advertising because of challenges to full and fair disclosure of all material information.
• An adviser should conduct a daily review its social media presence and ensure that any content that could be considered non-compliant is removed or hidden from view promptly.
• To avoid impermissible "adoption" or "entanglement" with third party content, advisors not solicit third party content on their website nor link to third party content that they have not thoroughly reviewed.
• Advisors should provide a disclosure statement on their social media sites.
• On the subject of advisor supervision and compliance, the Division largely embraced and adopted the recently enunciated SEC guidelines, charging its advisors to adhere to those standards, calling upon investment firms to establish a social media compliance program that would specifically address several factors: 1) usage guidelines as to proper and improper use of social media by investment adviser representatives, 2) content standards, 3) the manner and frequency with which an adviser will monitor social media websites, 4) whether investment adviser representatives must have social media content approved prior to public posting, 5) criteria for determining which social media or networking websites may be used by the firm and its representatives, 6) whether to train investment adviser representatives on compliant use of social media, and 7) certification requirements.

Over regulation?  A model for other states to follow?  What are your thoughts?

For more information on social media best practices, please join me on Twitter:  @GlenGilmore   @SocialMediaLaw1  @FinancialSM
Related Reading:  10 Social Media Law and Governance Tips for 2012