Can the art of social media be turned into a science - taking money from your pocket and putting it into mine?

Does conversation about consumerism, the desire for the latest, the biggest, the best leave you cold?  You don't feel that anyone is targetting you.  And even if they are targetting you, you think that you are sufficiently intelligent to withstand their predations.

From The Green Market Oracle
Just in case this brief description is you, I thought you might like to read how it is done. How you are targetted.  Now, I love social media.  I approve of legitimate not-for-profits who do a heap of good by targetting people, including me, to enable their work. But let's not kid ourselves.  This particularly genie-in-the-bottle is out and is being used by all and sundry. Many, many people are trying to turn the art of social media into a science in the hope that this will reveal a treasure map with a guaranteed result - your money into their pocket!

If you haven't already noticed, what all of them try to do - even the Big Names - is that when you go on to a new social media they ask you to let them send an email to all your contact list. An absent-minded tick in that little box can drag you into something which many of your friends will find alienating!

So read carefully .... and, above all, THINK!

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Social Media Community Relations	02:56 (9 hours ago)		Clip
to me

LinkedIn Groups

Group: Social Media Community Relations Subject: The secret to turning Facebook fans into real PAYING customers… a great free brand new guide from HubSpot With over 1 billion users, Facebook serves as a great platform for reaching your business's ideal customer. But what are the best ways to turn that audience into actual paying customers? The key is engaging your fans and drawing them to your website before carefully guiding them through a carefully designed marketing funnel that gets them to pull out their wallet and BUY something! Learn how in HubSpot's latest ebook on Facebook marketing. No tricks, no gimmicks, just a scientifically proven, logical, step-by-step progression from interest to purchase. Get your copy here now: http://bit.ly/1hQjlOT Everything that HubSpot offers is really top-notch. You’ll find that everyone on this list LOVES their material. So they have stepped up to the plate and are also giving away another gem here: Bonus offer: Get “75 Free Stock Photos” as a bonus offer from HubSpot. Limited time offer, get yours now: http://bit.ly/1frU25C You can download BOTH absolutely free. And not only that, you can forward this email to your friends and colleagues and let them share in the information too. Here's to your success! Tyler Crosson Director, Social Media Social Media Marketing Group on LinkedIn www.SocialMediopolis.com Posted By Tyler Crosso

Get the message? Got the values?

I know some Networkers have a bias against Coca-Cola.  Some have a bias against stuff connected to Bill Gates.  However, Networkers, I do ask that you clear your mind to listen to Melissa French Gates as she looks at how Coca-Cola does business and how that methodology might benefit development work.

I suggest, Networkers, that you take those principles beyond merely development work but into any sphere of community activity where you might be trying  to get a message out and across to influence people, their attitudes and behaviours.

Picture from here

I do wish to insert some broader understanding into Ms Gates' exposition - and it comes from the inimitable George Monbiot. For both the video above and George's piece below, I am indebted to the Twitterverse.  George has written on the values of everything. He outlines what drives us, what motivates us. 

George gives a chilling example:

Rightwing politicians have also, instinctively, understood the importance of values in changing the political map. Margaret Thatcher famously remarked that “economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and soul.” Conservatives in the United States generally avoid debating facts and figures. Instead they frame issues in ways that both appeal to and reinforce extrinsic values. Every year, through mechanisms that are rarely visible and seldom discussed, the space in which progressive ideas can flourish shrinks a little more. The progressive response to this trend has been disastrous.

Melissa French Gates applies the Coca-Cola logic to health issues in developing countries.  There are so many areas which are ripe for expert and considered messaging.  

• How are older irrigation farmers to be asked to give due attention to the proposals outlined for environmental flows in The Guide to the Proposed Basin Plan so that they see their own welfare and productivity inextricably linked to the health of the environment?  
• How do we get momentum behind the need for greater spending to provide adequately for the community needs for public housing?  
• How do we get more - and more articulate - voices into the debate for the adequate provision of varying  health needs across the nation?

The failure to act intelligently, smartly, forcefully, with speed on these issues sends us backwards on so many social indicators.  

Are we truly to become (or have we already become?) a self-interested, child-ferrying, plasma television worshipping nation?  

If the answer to this last question is yes, then we must admit that all we are doing - or most of us are doing - is holing up in our McMansion or Bogun Villa caverns soaking up entertainment for proles like so many inanimate sponges. 

Postscript:

I realise that Coca-Cola would

not speak to its consumers and

would-be consumers in the manner

of the last three paragraphs.  Miss

Eagle does have a lot to learn about getting

messages across!

Data mining : Social Media: Sentiment Mining: Sentiment Analysis - what marketeers can know about you

Background Briefing is doing some interesting stuff this Sunday.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND SENTIMENT MINING

Reporter: Shevonne Hunt
Businesses and advertisers can already access enormous amounts of personal data on social media sites, from where you live to what you like. The next step is sentiment analysis, where online conversations are mined for words and thoughts, for a commercial advantage. Is this ethical, and could computers really sift sarcasm from enthusiasm?

Sunday 27th June 9.10am
Tuesday 29th June 7.05pm
Wednesday 30th June 4.05am

Related reading:

Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis

Information Retrieval based on Sentiment Analysis: Blogvox2: Modular Domain Independent Approach

Sentiment Market Analysis

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success

Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business

Social Media Marketing For Dummies

The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)

Further Reading:

Sentiment Analysis

Mining the web for feelings, not facts

5 ways Sentiment Analysis is ramping up in 2009

Data Mining: text mining, visualization and social media