The research project on how effective are social networks as a marketing medium was successfully completed and Oxford University awarded the work a distinction.
Furthermore, the University has asked to publish the work in the form a journal article. This is great news. They were particularly impressed with my social media marketing maturity model that serves to sum up what practices are the least or most effective practices based upon the actual experiences of the companies who were interveiwed and some secondary research.
If anyone would like a full copy has the research please contact me at
pfennemore@businesszone.uk.com. I will give you access to the study via Dropbox.
Thank you again to all those marketing directors and marketing agencies who participated in the research and I hope its fundings help you formulate more effective social network marketing initiatives.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Latest News
As of the 1st August, I have interviewed 12 charities and 4 digital marketing agencies. The analysis and findings taken from these interviews are proving to be very illuminating.
Thank you to all that have participated so far.
I look forward to sharing this work with you.
Thank you to all that have participated so far.
I look forward to sharing this work with you.
Friday, 30 July 2010
Update 30th July 2010
I have now completed 10 full length interviews with marketing agencies, marketing managers and directors. All very illuminating primary research.
I have also researched more books and journals than I can count spanning a broad range of topics covering: social sciences, anthropology, homophily, psychology, socio-economics, globalisation, viral marketing, word of mouth marketing, consumer behaviour, Web 2.0, Semantic Web, tribalism, technographics, netnographics, network weaving, dissintermediation, codes of conducts, social media maturity models, enterprise 2.0 and a whole host of marketing theories etc etc etc. I have also written a taxonomy of online social networks. There is more to this social media stuff than we might think!
There is a lot of hype about the potential of social networks. Wikinomics, Groundswell, Here Comes Everybody, The Viral Buzz and so on. However, I am finding the reality is very mixed. There are some clear patterns emerging as to what social media marketing stratgies work, why some organisations use social networks to good effect and others don't.
I still need to interview more organisations, so please step up and gain the value from the research.
(All input is treated with strict confidentiality and under the Oxford University Code of Ethics).
I have also researched more books and journals than I can count spanning a broad range of topics covering: social sciences, anthropology, homophily, psychology, socio-economics, globalisation, viral marketing, word of mouth marketing, consumer behaviour, Web 2.0, Semantic Web, tribalism, technographics, netnographics, network weaving, dissintermediation, codes of conducts, social media maturity models, enterprise 2.0 and a whole host of marketing theories etc etc etc. I have also written a taxonomy of online social networks. There is more to this social media stuff than we might think!
There is a lot of hype about the potential of social networks. Wikinomics, Groundswell, Here Comes Everybody, The Viral Buzz and so on. However, I am finding the reality is very mixed. There are some clear patterns emerging as to what social media marketing stratgies work, why some organisations use social networks to good effect and others don't.
I still need to interview more organisations, so please step up and gain the value from the research.
(All input is treated with strict confidentiality and under the Oxford University Code of Ethics).
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Project Now Started
In the last week six charities have agreed to participate and have said the project is very interesting. That's about a 90% success rate in terms of charities I have made contact with.
I attended a very good charity workshop hosted by John Baguley, CEO of International Fundraising Consultancy. Aabout 10 charities attended. The main topic was how to formulate effective fundraising strategies.
I still need more charities to participate.
I attended a very good charity workshop hosted by John Baguley, CEO of International Fundraising Consultancy. Aabout 10 charities attended. The main topic was how to formulate effective fundraising strategies.
I still need more charities to participate.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Making Social Media Work for Charities
Research Topic
How effective are online social networks in helping charities with their fundraising activities?
Introduction
90% of UK charities have taken full advantage of the on-line donation capabilities (Aldridge, 2007) afforded by the rise of the World Wide Web and are now desperately trying to tap into the power of online social network sites (Richards, 2007) as a source of fundraising.
Most charities need to operate a volume based business model. This means that they have to continuously communicate with and relate to thousands of geographically dispersed fundraisers and donators. With hundreds of millions of social network (SN) users easily accessible, at very little cost and having the ability to interactively engage with them, or talk with them as opposed to talking at them, as with traditional marketing techniques, SN’s should in theory represent an ideal marketing medium for charities.
However, the SN network market is embryonic, complex and highly dynamic. Consequently, organisations are struggling to work out how to navigate and exploit SN’s. There are examples of great successes but conversely, examples of where social media initiatives have backfired and a spectrum of examples in-between.
Therefore, the key questions this study seeks to answer include:
1. How are SN’s and the SN market evolving?
2. What are the SN demographics and what is motivating people to use them?
3. How effective are SN’s proving to be as part of a charity’s communications and fundraising strategy?
4. What problems and challenges do SN’s present as a digital marketing medium?
5. What are the most effective SN strategies to adopt and why?
Having researched these questions, the findings from this study will help charities and digital marketing agencies to formulate more effective social media programs.
Why get involved?
By being involved in this research project you stand to gain on many fronts.
There is an incredible amount of noise going on around New Media, Digital Media, Social Media, call it what you will. And the noise is coming from hundreds of sources, all serving to confuse those busy executives who are grappling with the latest and fast changing developments.
The prime aims of this program are to help those who are not just marketing directors to:
1.Understand what New Media actually is.
2.Formulate and operate highly effective New Media programs that are aligned to your overall marketing strategies.
3.Ensure that the potential pitfalls are understood and you know how not to fall into them.
By being involved you will a get a copy of a report which is the output from this study which will help you with the above three points.
Also, if you so wish, we will offer you two days of New Media free training or consultancy if you or your organisation is willing to agree to an hour interview.
How do you get involved?
Please post your experiences good and not so good if you have used Social Networks as a donor, a fundraiser, a charity or a digital marketing agency.
Also, if you are a charity or a digital marketing agency please agree to a brief interview either face to face, via webex (or similar) or phone.
Just respond via this blog site or contact Paul Fennemore on numbers to the right.
How effective are online social networks in helping charities with their fundraising activities?
Introduction
90% of UK charities have taken full advantage of the on-line donation capabilities (Aldridge, 2007) afforded by the rise of the World Wide Web and are now desperately trying to tap into the power of online social network sites (Richards, 2007) as a source of fundraising.
Most charities need to operate a volume based business model. This means that they have to continuously communicate with and relate to thousands of geographically dispersed fundraisers and donators. With hundreds of millions of social network (SN) users easily accessible, at very little cost and having the ability to interactively engage with them, or talk with them as opposed to talking at them, as with traditional marketing techniques, SN’s should in theory represent an ideal marketing medium for charities.
However, the SN network market is embryonic, complex and highly dynamic. Consequently, organisations are struggling to work out how to navigate and exploit SN’s. There are examples of great successes but conversely, examples of where social media initiatives have backfired and a spectrum of examples in-between.
Therefore, the key questions this study seeks to answer include:
1. How are SN’s and the SN market evolving?
2. What are the SN demographics and what is motivating people to use them?
3. How effective are SN’s proving to be as part of a charity’s communications and fundraising strategy?
4. What problems and challenges do SN’s present as a digital marketing medium?
5. What are the most effective SN strategies to adopt and why?
Having researched these questions, the findings from this study will help charities and digital marketing agencies to formulate more effective social media programs.
Why get involved?
By being involved in this research project you stand to gain on many fronts.
There is an incredible amount of noise going on around New Media, Digital Media, Social Media, call it what you will. And the noise is coming from hundreds of sources, all serving to confuse those busy executives who are grappling with the latest and fast changing developments.
The prime aims of this program are to help those who are not just marketing directors to:
1.Understand what New Media actually is.
2.Formulate and operate highly effective New Media programs that are aligned to your overall marketing strategies.
3.Ensure that the potential pitfalls are understood and you know how not to fall into them.
By being involved you will a get a copy of a report which is the output from this study which will help you with the above three points.
Also, if you so wish, we will offer you two days of New Media free training or consultancy if you or your organisation is willing to agree to an hour interview.
How do you get involved?
Please post your experiences good and not so good if you have used Social Networks as a donor, a fundraiser, a charity or a digital marketing agency.
Also, if you are a charity or a digital marketing agency please agree to a brief interview either face to face, via webex (or similar) or phone.
Just respond via this blog site or contact Paul Fennemore on numbers to the right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)