Archive for » August, 2009 «
Do you use Twitter? Facebook? Blogs? LinkedIn? The Internet?
If you do, why? Seriously, what’s your intention of going online?
Now, why do you use social media? For fun, to sell, to learn, to socialize, to find your community…
Ruder Finn, one of the world’s largest public relations agencies, released the RF Intent Index, July 2009, an online tool that provides a new view on why people go online. (Go play with their cool RF Intent Index widget.) According to Rudder Finn, it redefines how we look at demographics.
RF Intent Index
The RF Intent Index is an ongoing online research study, updated quarterly, that provides an analysis of the underlying motivations or reasons people go online—their intent. It is divided into seven major intent categories with 295 specific activities people perform online.
It shows that a person’s intent may be a better indicator for how to develop a communications campaign than demographic formulas. It also underscores how critical those using web communications need to gain deep insight into user intent, and how the right message, at the right place, at the right time is more important than ever.
RF Intent Index Chart
Here are some of the highlights that may interest you:
100% of people go online to have fun and pass the time.
96% of people go online to learn.
92% of people go online to connect; 86% to share; 76% to discuss; 72% to be part of a community.
More than 4 in 5 people (80%) go online to socialize, which is twice as many as those who go online to shop or do business.
More men (42%) than women (36%) go online to do business.
Women comment, men read: 55% of women go online to find venues for personal expression compared to only 43% of men.
The age of blogs: 44% of people go online to create or update blogs and 42% of people go online to read other people’s blogs.
What does this have to say for advocacy groups, businesses, charities, event organizers, government, nonprofit associations, and other organizations? Seems there’s some good research here on why your organization may want be online in the social arena.
Have you read Rajesh Setty’s 12 Elements of the Social Media Mindset?
Rajesh says that it’s important to understand the “social” aspects of social media. He states, ”…that ’social’ is what sets it apart from other media.”
Rajesh Setty, author of Upbeat Now.
He then lists 12 elements “that you can focus on to build the right mindset for participating and succeeding with social media.” He proceeds to list and describe these 12 elements that all begin with the letter “C.”
Here are his 12 elements:
- Caring
- Curiosity
- Contribution
- Content
- Clarity
- Conversation
- Creativity
- Character
- Community
- Courage
- Change
- Commitment
If you didn’t read his descriptions of each element, you might want to read his post so you’ll have a better understanding of the context of this conversation. He’s an excellent writer, clever, creative and has a way of bringing clarity and meaning to his point of view.
After reading his post and pondering it for a moment, I came up with 6 more elements of the social media mindset that I would add to the list. All starting with “C” of course.
Here are 6 More Elements of The Social Media Mindset:
1. Chi – We all could use a little balance and life force in our social media endeavors.
2. Collaborative - Social media is not an island to itself, for lone wolves or a black-masked lone ranger environment. Allow room for collaboration by others to extend your social media endeavors. It’s not about being the end all definitive answer to everything.
3. Connections – It’s about the emotional, relational and the social connections you have with others in both quality and quantity. I’m personally a fan of quality over quantity yet I know that the right quantity can help with your social media efforts.
4. Context – Help others understand the bigger picture of the conversation and community. It’s about the facts or circumstances surrounding the social media endeavor as well as the beliefs, opinions and values of each person involved.
5. Creator and Co-Creator – Everyone is seen a creator of content which can be as simple as sharing their own experiences or as complex as working with others for knowledge co-creation. It’s no longer about top-down controlled experts only but the collective wisdom of the creators.
6. Cumulative Value – It’s about the entire cumulative effect of all these mindsets working together.
So what other elements of the social media mindset would you add to the list?
Put this #eventprofs Twitter chat on your calendar, Thursday, August 20, 12 pm ET, 9 am PT. And set a reminder too. 
We’re going to discuss virtual events or virtual experiences as Paul Salinger likes to call them.
Here are some of the experts ungurus that are planning to attend so we can pick their brains on virtual events/experiences.
Midori Connolly, Owner of Pulse Staging & Productions
Michael Doyle, GM & Director of Virtual Edge Community
Brian Jeremy Kupetz, (Brian Jeremy), Director of Technology at JUXT Interactive, a George P Johnson Company
Cece Salomon-Lee, Director of Marketing, InXpo, Principal, PR Meets Marketing
I’ll be there as moderator. Will you be there?
Hope to see or tweet you there too!
Update: #Eventprofs Expert Paul Salinger will be there too! Yahoo.
Have you attended a virtual event lately?
In the meetings industry, there is a lot of discussion of virtual meetings and events. So what are virtual meetings and events?
Welcome to a virtual event.
Here are how some of the meetings industry pros define virtual events.
A virtual event uses social media technologies to give you everything at a physical event without physically attending.
~ Malcolm L. Lotzof, Co-Founder and CEO of InXpo
A Virtual Event is a gathering of individuals who meet through a computer-generated environment at a prearranged time in order to acquire knowledge, share information, interact with each other and engage in activities of common interest.
~ Ian McGonnigal, Executive Director, Program Strategy at George P Johnson
A virtual event is an occurrence of people gathering together where some or all of the attendees are not physically in the same location but are connected in a common environment. The common environment might be one of many types but is usually enabled through the use of computers and the Internet.
~ Michael Doyle, Publisher/General Manager, VirtualEdge.org
Today’s virtual events are multi-faceted, user friendly and highly interactive. Technologies have advanced to the point where virtual events look and feel remarkably like their physical counterparts. Virtual events can be used to deliver everything from company-wide gatherings, executive presentations, trainings, departmental meetings and product development sessions led by everyone from the CEO and divisional presidents to product engineers and human resources. In doing so, a company can not only cut down on the need for corporate travel, but also build a stronger sense of shared vision and community within the organization.
~ Brent Arslaner, VP of Marketing, Unisfair
A virtual event or show is like an in-person trade show or conference, except everything is done online. With that said, there are four distinct differences between the physical and virtual versions of trade show or conference:
Physical World vs Virtual World
Cocktail Parties vs. Online Chats and Networking
Heavy Conference Bags vs. Digital Documents
Business Cards vs. Online Reporting
~ Cece Salomon-Lee, Director of Marketing at InXpo, Principal at PR Meets Marketing Blog, Former Senior Marketer ON24, Former Public Relatons & Events Manager at Ninth House Inc
Virtual events definition – the use of multiple tactics to create an interactive peers-to-peers experience online. This can include webcasts, chats, blogs, etc.
Panelists, Event Marketing Institute Webinar – Virtual Events are Mainstream
The term “virtual event” can be used to describe many different types of virtual marketing activities. Most people think of virtual events and they think of a trade show with a virtual exposition hall or virtual expo, a virtual conference center and a networking lounge for attendees at the virtual event to talk with one another. In reality, that is just one type of virtual event. Virtual events include virtual meetings, webcasts, webinars, virtual demo areas, and other kinds of virtual marketing activities.
http://www.virtualedge.org/page/free-virtual-edge-resource
So how do you define a virtual event? Add your thoughts and definitions in the comments section.
Recent Comments