Here is a recent PPT slide deck from a presentation on how to use social media basics for an organization.

LinkedIn is one of the most used social networks in the U.S. Many professionals treat it as their number one source of business networking.

Here’s an infographic on how it works and how people are using it.

How LinkedIn Works by Infographiclabs

What features of LinkedIn do you use the most? How do you use LinkedIn for your nonprofit, association or events?

Are you using social media as a push or pull strategy for your event?

Are you trying to force traditional marketing strategies into the social media funnel?

Author Jonathan Fields discusses ways to use social media for your next conference or event beyond the traditional social media marketing strategies.

Video edited from PCMA’s Convening Leaders 2012 Learning Lounge Live Chat Room video clip.

What are some ways that you’ve used online listening to help craft your conference experience? What tips do you have about using pre-conference speaker chats?

Is social media just a fad that will eventually implode?

Or is it a revolution in the way we communicate?

Take a look at some of the interesting data and decide for yourself.

Here is the slide deck for my recent presentation for the 2012 CSRM Summit in Dallas, TX. IT contains some updated data from other presentation plus information on how small groups of friends are the key to influence on the social web.

Source: Mindflash

Monetate Marketing Infographics

How are you or your organization using Pinterest? How have you seen it used for associations, conferences or events?

Finding and using influential people is a myth says social behavior researcher Paul Adams, author of Grouped: How small groups of friends are the key to influence on the social web.

According to Adams, the focus on influentials is based on the view of how we want the world to work versus how it actually works.

The Law Of The Few

Malcolm Gladwell first described The Law of the Few in his 2002 book The Tipping Point. It states that if you reach and persuade the minority of influential people in society, they will in turn influence hundreds, thousands and even millions of others.

Much of the marketing for the past several years has focused on finding and winning over influencers who then spread the message to their followers.

The Influential Facts

The 2011 research Everyone’s an Influencer: Quantifying Influence on Twitter concluded that it’s rare for one person to influence many other people. Instead, word-of-mouth information spreads via small waves triggered by ordinary individuals.

The Keller Fay Group has conducted several studies on how people communicate. They concluded that about 15 percent of the population are considered influencers and generate 30 percent of the conversations about brands. People not recognized as influencers still generate 70 percent of the conversations. That 70 percent happens when you and I share information and content with our friends over lunch, having coffee, on our Facebook page or around the water cooler at work.

Research by BuzzFeed and StumbleUpon found that there is little data to support so-called influencer behavior. Instead, stories go viral when large numbers of people share content with small groups. The best way to go viral is to engage thousands who share in small networks.

The Shift To Marketing To Small Networks

Adams says that we are at the beginning of a cycle where organizations will shift from focusing on influencers and instead focus on marketing to small connected groups of close friends. He identifies three primary factors causing this shift.

1. Our online world is catching up with our offline world.

The web is undergoing a major shift in its architecture. It’s shifting from being built around content to being built around people. People are increasingly seeking information from others, instead of sourcing it directly from organizations. This is not new. People have always asked others for opinions, feedback and information. Up until now, online information came to us from an organization, not people.

2. People already live in networks.

For years we have considered people as isolated, independent creatures. Most of our consumer models are grounded in the belief that people act independently, moving through a decision funnel while making objective choices. Recent research in psychology and neuroscience shows that’s not how people make decisions. A person’s network influences almost every aspect of their life. We turn to others to help us make our decisions.

3. The shift toward small connected networks.

Today, for the first time in history, we can accurately map and measure person-to-person interaction. Our online social networks connect millions of people and support communication between these people. We can measure who is connected to whom, who talks to whom and who share ideas with whom.

This shift will eventually move organizations away from interruption marketing towards permission marketing. Successful organizations of the future will move toward an understanding of how groups of friends talk about their brand, products and services.

What will organizations need in order to shift from interruption marketing towards permission marketing and connecting with small groups of friends? What steps should organizations undertake to understand basic social human behavior and social patterns?

Did you know?

That every 60 seconds

• Foursquare has 2,000 checkins
• LinkedIn has 7,610 searches
• Twitter has 175,000 tweets
• Facebook has 700,000 messages sent
• And more.

Check out this Infographic from Social Jumpstart, which takes a closer look at what happens in social media every 60 seconds.

Like the telephone and email, social media is not going away.

It’s not going to implode, explode or just die. It’s a communication tool that will be around for a long time.

People use social media for personal and business reasons. They use it for entertainment, to learn, to network and to source products and services. Savvy organizations use it for customer engagement, marketing and to share resources.

One in three small businesses now use social media. They understand that having a Website is not enough. They need a social presence as well.

Wondering where to start? This cheat sheet by Flowtown and Column Five will help you navigate some of the top social media options. While the title says it’s for small business, it applies to all organizations including nonprofits and conference planners as well.

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

Which of these social platforms is your organization using and why? What other social media platforms has your organization used successfully?

Facebook users just want to belong.

With more than 800 million registered users, that’s a lot of us that want belong to something.

Maybe, just maybe, your organization can help them belong to something of value, something cool and hip, something that promotes life-meaning and purpose, or something that helps them professionally.

People Use Facebook For Two Primary Reasons

Boston University Professors Ashwini Nadkarni and Stefan G. Hofmann published a study, Why Do People Use Facebook in November, 2011 in the Personality and Individual Differences Journal. Their findings show that Facebook use is motivated by two primary social needs:

1. The Need To Belong
2. The Need For Self-Presentation

The Need To Belong

Humans are highly social creatures. We have an intrinsic drive to associate with others and gain social acceptance. Our very human nature craves being with others.

We like to believe that we can be Lone Rangers able to do anything and be anything on our own. Introverts especially like to claim that they don’t need anyone else. The truth is that we are highly dependent on the social support of others (Baumeister & Leary, 1995.)

Actually, our self-esteem, sense of belonging, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, self-worth, sense of life-meaning, purpose and most importantly, health are negatively impacted if we are ostracized from social support and the social group. Yes, that’s right; research has shown that the connections we build in Facebook actually have a positive impact on our health and mental wellness. (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Baumeister & Tice, 1990; Stillman, Baumeister & Lambert et al., 2009; Zadro, Boland & Richardson, 2006).

How Organizations Can Influence The Need To Belong

Most nonprofit organizations started with a need to create a community where like-minded individuals could gather and share.

Facebook provides a great opportunity for organizations to help gather their tribe online and strengthen their connections. It’s a place to allow individuals to ask for help, voice their opinions and “like” or discuss each other’s insights. Acting as a conduit of connections and catalysts of conversations can help people feel accepted and a sense of belonging. This is also why posting pictures of members in action is so compelling and attractive to Facebook users.

Nadkarni and Hofmann’s study showed that online Facebook use fostered and strengthened offline connections (Lou, 2010). Even further, Facebook use benefited socialization in face-to-face community experiences and improved social learning outcomes (Yu and colleagues 2010). Facebook actually helped with skill-based learning.

The Need For Self Presentation

Facebook users communicate their real personality rather than promoting an idealized version of themselves (Back et al., 2010). Studies show that their online self-representation accurately reflects their offline behavior and personality traits. So users’ self-disclosures have a positive influence on their credibility. (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds 2009)

When teachers use Facebook to self-disclose personal pictures, messages from friends and family, and opinions, their students perceive similarities between themselves and the teacher. This has a positive influence on the students’ participation and positively affects their learning. (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2009).

How Organizations Can Influence The Need For Self Presentation

It’s critical that organizations highlight and allow customers and potential customers to see Facebook profiles of their leaders and staff. The impressions formed from personal Facebook profiles provide viewers with positive information about their likeability in the offline world.

The more the organization can showcase its humanity and people, the more it’s likely to attract and influence others. The more friends a leader has, the more viewers assume they have positive offline social connections as well.

Organizations should encourage leaders and staff to share their profiles with others. The research shows that most viewers perceive that use of Facebook positively (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2009).

How can organizations use Facebook features–friends list, wall, status updates, events, photos, videos messages, chat and like to influence others? What does an organization’s ban of Facebook use say about the culture of that organization?