MindFlow

Social Network Taxonomy

I continue to explore Social Media using the structure provided by Charles Heflin (see my post "Top Industries with Social Media Potential" on July 29th, 2008). Charles separates social networks into four categories:

1. A NETWORKS - Have the functionality for you to create a group, blog or channel within the network and any combination of elements from B, C, or D NETWORKS. A NETWORKS must also have the ability to mass communicate with members of your group, channel or blog.
2. B NETWORKS - These networks may have all the elements of an A NETWORK but they lack the ability to mass communicate to your friends, group/channel members at the same time using a messaging interface. The most common use for B NETWORKS is social bookmarking and content syndication.
3. C NETWORKS - Are RSS feed distribution networks.
4. D NETWORKS - Are tools to enhance your marketing efforts. They are not a place to market in themselves but could enhance your marketing in other channels.

In this post, I have listed over 100 websites that are positioned as social media, and attempted to classify them based on the above. I have found that a descriptive name helps me keep the four categories straight. So, I replaced "A" with "Mass Communication", "B" with "Community", "C" with "Promotion" and "D" with "Utility". This study is not comprehensive, and it is not perfect. The list has the following attributes to aid in the classification process:

Network
Sub-Category
Name
URL
People Count (Compete.com)
PageRank (Google)
Description
Purpose
Messaging

I've already described the Network attribute above. The Sub-Category is mostly relevant for the "A Network" or "Mass Communication". They are "Blog", "Personal Content Aggregator", "GeoNetwork", "Group", "Microblog" and "Topical". I think these are self-explanatory, but if not - just comment and I'll provide additional clarifying information. The other two attributes that need some explanation are "Purpose" and "Messaging". The "Purpose" attribute is my attempt to assess the purpose of the website. In most cases, the purpose seems to be either "People Discovery" or "Content Discovery". The "Messaging" attribute is an attempt to classify the type of messaging facilitated by the website, and is relevant only for the "Mass Communication" networks. As an example, with Twitter you can message the entire community, with Plaxo you are limited to your network.

So, here is the published Google spreadsheet with my list. It has three views: alphabetical, people count order and PageRank order. I will continue to update this list on my own, but would really appreciate your thoughts - what have I mis-classified, what sites should added, etc.

Click Here to view the Social Media Taxonomy

[BELOW: Screen Capture of the Social Media Taxonomy spreadsheet]

"Groundswell" Case Study

I've been reading and enjoying a new book called Groundswell. It's about adapting your company/organization to the new world of social media (Web 2.0). In the book, there are countless examples of companies fighting to maintain control of their brand and corporate messaging. All ultimately reaching the conclusion that it is no longer possible today. Your brand is what people say it is, not what you say it is. Well, I've related to a number of these stories, and as a social influence marketer - I've been nodding my head up and down with an "I told you so" kind of attitude. It's great that companies are being held accountable - the days of the PR smooth-over are gone! Anyway, nothing quite brings a concept home like being involved in the middle.

You may not know it, but a long time ago, I was an active member of a fraternity at the University of Kansas. A few months ago, I decided to create an online group dedicated to my fraternity's alumni - national in scope!  It's been awesome connecting with a few guys I knew back in the day and 80 or 90 that I'd never met. Today, this group has over 100 members. All have been appreciative of my effort in helping us connect. Then, I got a nasty-gram from our National Headquarters asking me to remove the group.

I responded with the positive impact the group is having, and my willingness to turn it over to someone at headquarters. I also mentioned that as an alum, I've made contributions - clearly aligning me with what's best for our fraternity. That was greeted with a second impersonal request to remove the group, couched as a threat: "I am asking once more that you comply with my courteous request to take down the group..."

Recognize that my fraternity, while something dear in my heart, is a business. As such, it has a number of market segments that are of interest for it to succeed and grow. I am an alum with a proven track record for supporting the future of our fraternity through cash donations. This is an important segment. I am also delivering an opportunity to bring more alums together. Making it easier to foster opportunities for increased donations. This is really good stuff! As a business owner, I would love having a few people like that evangelizing for me!

At the very least, a "Tuned In"* organization would reach out to ask why I created the group - what was my goal? I would have told them I created the group because I noticed other outstanding National Fraternities with similar Groups and did not want us left behind. The lesson I'm trying to communicate with this case study is listen to your target market. What are they after? What would resonate with them? I've been throwing energy at it on behalf of the fraternity. I am energized. The big play is determining how to embrace me - how to bring my effort and the energy of others in full alignment with the goals of the organization. That is powerful!

Instead - I feel beat up and rejected. Today, I changed the name of the group and removed the logo. And, I'm probably not going to put much more energy into it going forward. That is tragic!

So, as your company begins to deal with customers who are Twittering about you, creating groups, blogging - reach out to them. Don't be afraid. This is no longer about control - you don't have any. What you have left is influence. So, get to know them. Help them. This stuff is not an annoyance that is going to fade out and disappear. It's time to embrace it before your competition does - leverage it to your advantage. Sermon over!

*Tuned In is another great book I am reading.

Top Industries with Social Media Potential

In Charles Heflin's "The Social Marketing Blueprint Formula", he talks about Type 1 and Type 2 markets. He defines them as follows:

1. TYPE 1: Markets where people socialize (internet marketing, movies, music, sports, medical, weddings, reunions, politics, religion, spirituality, etc, etc, etc.)

2. TYPE 2: Markets where socializing is limited or non existent (cardboard boxes, socks, desks, office chairs, satellite tv, shoes, poker chips, etc, etc, etc.)

This is a critical step that Charles leaves to your discretion. As I am frequently asked about the application of Social Influence Marketing by my clients, I thought it would be a good use of my time to identify industries that are appearing naturally in social media conversations. First, I will explain my methodology. Then, I will share my findings (which were surprising).

I used the SIC Division Structure as a basis for the industries. You will see that I applied common names where I felt it would be more representative (this could have introduced bias). As an example, rather than use "Food and Kindred Products", I substituted "Food". Then, I identified the industries that appeared on the surface to have merit in Social Influence Marketing (again - possibility of bias).  Of the 99 SIC divisions, I culled the list to 33 (dropping groups like "Pipelines (except Natural Gas)"). Here is my list:

Agriculture, Apparel, Art, Auto Repair, Business Services, Chemicals, Construction, Crime Prevention, Education, Employment, Entertainment, Environment, Exercise, Family, Food, Forestry, Furniture, Health, Hotels, Housing, Insurance, Legal, Lumber, Movies, Oil & Gas, Paper, Real Estate, Sex, Sleep, Tobacco, Transportation, Travel and Trucking

Next, I searched for each term (as listed above) across four social search engines: LinkedIn Groups (LG), Google Groups (GG), Google Blogs (GB) and Steve Rubel's Custom Google Search for Twitter (GT). I simply recorded the total number of results for each term (bias alert: I did not scrutinize each result to ensure it was on point). Then, I prepared an index with the following weighting:

Index = (LG + (GG / 100) + (GB / 1,000,000) + GT) / 4

Here are the results - divided into five industries per graph:

 

 

I've explained that this may not be the most scientific approach. However, it does provide some guidance as to which industries are likely to experience Social Marketing success with more ease. Please use with caution, and let me know if you see any flaws or things I've missed.

Marketing On The Run (Episode 7)

Behavioral Tracking vs. Semantic Marketing

Behavioral Tracking is the all rage, but it is also being met with rage from privacy advocates and the FTC! Semantic Marketing also effectively isolates different audiences, but without tracking cookies. BTW, I forgot to change the Introduction to Episode 7 - so, it says Episode 6 - sorry!

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TechCrunch Elevator Pitches: Semanticator

Man it's hard to break this stuff down into 60 seconds, but I was able to do it in 54!!! This cuts right to the heart of what we do at Semanticator!

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Marketing On The Run (Episode 6)

Internet Lead Capture

Most websites do a poor job of doing what they're supposed to - capture leads or convert prospects into buyers. In this episode, I give an example of a site that is a good example of Lead Capture.

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Marketing On The Run (Episode 5)

Image by Mollivan Jon via Flickr

A Semantic Marketing Example

In Episode 4 (Part II), I described Semantic Marketing. In this Episode, I thought it might help if I gave you an example, albeit from a Semanticator perspective. The example is for the Hospitality industry, where I focus on a 'Meeting Planner' persona. These people are licensed professionals that plan corporate meetings and events, and they're responsible for the majority of revenue for any Hotel or Resort that can accommodate large meetings.

I'll also introduce you to the Jumping Cholla (Cylindropunita Fulgida) - a nasty little cactus that looks like a Teddy Bear!

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Marketing On The Run (Episode 4, Part II)

Semantic Marketing Introduction (Part II)

In Part II, I build upon the high-level Semantic Web foundation created in Part I. Semantic Marketing is a subset of the applications that are part of Web 3.0, and website owners can begin taking advantage of it today. This is where we recognize the semantic marketing raw materials currently available on the Web, that can enable the promise to make websites more interesting, relevant, meaningful from the very moment a visitor begins a session.

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Marketing On The Run (Episode 4, Part I)

Semantic Marketing Introduction (Part I)

This is the first of a two-part series introducing Semantic Marketing.

At the end of the day, the promise of the Semantic Web or Web 3.0 is to make it easier for people to find what they're looking for or see more of what they're interested in when they arrive at a website. A lot of work from high-powered Web architects is being placed on delivering that promise across the Web. While we are waiting for that work to be done (could be 3 years, 7 years or never - depends on who you talk to), we can bring some of it to life on a site-by-site basis. One area already showing promise is Semantic Marketing. The term has been coined, a thriving LinkedIn community is developing around it, there's a Google Group dedicated to it and articles are appearing in legitimate publications.

In Part I of this episode, I introduce, at a high-level, the Semantic Web while running in 106° heat. In Part II, I'll build on that foundation to explain Semantic Marketing. This is complex, so this will be the first of many episodes dedicated to the subject. I will also be introducing examples and case studies from our semantic marketing technology - Semanticator.

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Marketing On The Run (Episode 3)

Comment Marketing to Drive Traffic

Over the last several months, I've been using "Comment Marketing" to effectively increase traffic to the Semanticator website. It's been amazing! Essentially, you find a blog post or several where you can be relevant, and you comment (the process requires you to identify yourself and your website - this is the whole reason for doing it). The real challenge is doing it efficiently: determining where to comment; keeping track of where and what you've commented; and monitoring who's responded to your comments. That is what I cover in this episode of Marketing On The Run.

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