The Launch Of SocialPRO (Social Media) Clubs In Kenya.

The growth of social media in business and communication in Kenya has necessitated Social Edge Africa to spearhead the formation of social media clubs in universities. The Ministry of Information and Communication endorsed the initiative and on Thursday 25th of October 2012 we launched SocialPRO clubs and a new campaign to promote responsible & ethical use of Social Media at the UoN; Lower Kabete Campus. The Guest of Honour was Dr. Bitange Ndemo, other guest speakers include;
Cynthia Nyamai- TV personality
Maryann Michuki- Social Media Manager-Safaricom
Sriram Bharatam-Founder of Kuza Biashara
Doreen Waithera – CEO MSK
Evans Muriu-Wanadamu Initiative
Muthuri Kinyamu- Social Edge Africa
Kennedy Gathu-Lari Smart Villages
Calvin Nyakundi- Discussion on online freedom moderated by Cherrie of KBC.
According to the 24 year old Muthuri Kinyamu, the founder and business director at Social Edge Africa, “The core objective of these clubs is to teach, educate, create awareness and impart knowledge & skills of various disciplines of social media and platforms to the university students”.

The initiative seeks to develop a talent pool of graduates with a solid understanding of new media to bridge the knowledge gap and demand there is today for people with skills and expertise in various disciplines of social media especially.

These clubs in a nutshell will unlock the potential on social media to the students, expose them to the limitless possibilities online and help faculty integrate various social media networking sites to teaching to ease content sharing and make learning more fun. The faculty will also learn how to create, optimize and share digital content in various formats with students across various platforms as well as help them embrace new media and thus use it to connect, engage and gain valuable feedback from the students. Through these clubs the faculty shall establish processes that control the publishing and monitoring of their content online & globally.

HOW TO HANDLE ANNOYING SOCIAL MEDIA USERS.

We all have different objectives for being on social media; we create and share a variety of content with our communities on social media. As we do all this we engage, respond to and interact with other social media users. Our activities can build or kill our personal brands, affects us and others as well as influence others depending on the authority, credibility and reliability of the content we post. All the above results into habits and behaviours online, with some of us using social media for the wrong reasons such as using these platforms as a dating site, to stalk people, spy on others, con people, abductors, thugs and push content or engage in activities that aren’t good for the society. These people end up being very annoying to others as their selfish tendencies that do not resonate with their communities and audiences.

Here’s five ways you can handle annoying social media users;

1.  Give feedback.

We all have this friend or follower who tags you on every post or tweet which is very annoying especially because most of the content therein is irrelevant to you, boring or doesn’t concern or require your feedback. We also have the stalkers, cyber bullies, friends or strangers who always for your help, the ticks who sap away your energy by posting negative content etc. The best thing to do to such an active social media user is to educate them on how to handle their social media presence in a professional way. Give them feedback in a nice way.  If someone uses social media as a billboard teach them the importance of not just talking about themselves and their companies because they end up looking so selfish and mean. If someone is posting inflammatory content that annoys and angers you, ask them to stop creating and sharing such content.

2.  Ignore them.

They say silence is golden!  You don’t have to be involved in every campaign on Twitter. Eg #LetNyakundiTweet,  #KOTagainstMpigs etc. You choose activities that you engage in on social media. This doesn’t help much because you have and will keep consuming such content that doesn’t add any value to you or your line of work. Ignoring such people may not help much as they might keep repeating the same mistakes however a smart social media user should understand his community well to know what kind of content that engages them and at what time. Your mother was right when she said that people will judge you by the company you keep! Don’t hang out with idiots on social media and expect to earn the respect of people.  For me to know about what’s happening where and when I keep a very resource network both online and offline. Could be as simple as following someone on twitter; they post events, vacancies or opportunities available, useful links, and discuss relevant issues. That’s how I manage to be in the loop. The friends you also hang out with determine what we get to know, so connect with the right people. Finally the relationship has to be mutual. So as we grow older, mature up and get jobs, get married, etc our tastes change, objectives too and most important we also change our set of friends and establish new tighter bonds with new people so once in a while you will have a set of friends from your past when say you were in campus, who you used to do crazy stuff with and they still do it and think you should join them ! So keep them on your list but ignore them, if they become too much then let’s get to no.3.

3.     Un friend, un-follow, unlike, block.

This is simple and yet very effective. If a social media user continually publishes content that doesn’t educate, entertain, inform or inspire or add value to your life the best thing to do is to leave. If a person loses 500 followers in a day due to content they’ve published trust me they will desist in creating and sharing such content! If such habits persist, then more will leave and thus such tweeps end up with smaller communities and hence smaller audiences reach. If you are spamming the Internet, you need to be aware that it won’t help you and you’ll end up losing people. Be warned that too much of push marketing or self promotion doesn’t help push or realize your agenda; people hate billboards! Finally, focus on creating buzz worthy posts that people will be more likely to send it to their friends.  After all, social media is all about creating a network. If you are connected to chronic complainers who whine about everything, then unfriend them because you don’t need a dose of negative energy everyday!  I don’t have to explain much here, if someone is harassing you online, block them, threatening you? Block them, stalking you? Name and shame them! Be bold, it’s your life and you deserve the best out of it!

4.      Report or raise awareness.

This is a bit dangerous as it creates more awareness on such users or communities which may lead to a bigger audience as a result of the publicity. That’s how pages with porn content get to grow as we tend to talk about them as we urge others not to join. The result is, more people know of their existence and a good percentage end up joining such communities. However reporting such communities (blogs, pages and handles) to authorities or to company helps as they will be deleted. If someone is publishing content that is defamatory, full of propaganda, hate and lies then they can be sued at a court of law. Robert Alai was released on bond, Itumbi has spent time behind bars for issues relating to hacking websites.   If you notice someone impersonating someone on Facebook or Twitter, raise alert and pass on the information to friends and other social media users. Same case applies to cyber bullies, conmen or women on social media, admins of pages that publish hate content and people that basically engage in unethical ways that don’t promote the values of a good society. If you choose to raise awareness do let such people know how they can put social media into a better use to make a return on the time and money they spend online through engaging in economically beneficial activities online. Give alternatives!

5.      Use #SocialPRO

We came up with a hashtag to help the world learn from each other on a few aspects & disciplines of social media to increase our effectiveness and realize the full benefits from these platforms.  Besides that we you can use the hashtag to sensitize and promote responsible and ethical interactions and engagement on social media. Start using #SocialPRO to share social media tips, information, links with content that deepens the understanding of social media. Give #SocialPRO for those doing a good job on social media. Guys who clearly understand and put social media for the good of the society, those who respond in real time and brands that give you amazing customer experience on Twitter! Do the same for those who share useful links with you and share useful information. Meanwhile if you liked this article you can tweet or share this link on your Facebook account & pages you administrate. Be a #SocialPRO; pass it on to your friends and followers.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY ENGAGE PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY ENGAGE PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA..

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY ENGAGE PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

5 lessons from Churchill(Mwalimu King’ang’i)

How often do you check your social Media accounts? What do you do when you log in to your accounts? Is your influence on social media based on the numbers on your friend list? Or is it based on your reputation and respect or in the fanatical following you have?

Social influence involves much more than a popularity contest. Actual influence is composed of the ability to influence opinions,outcomes and actions.

Do you once in a while check on your friends and acquaintances or get to know your new friends better when you accept a friend request? Do you use your photo or company logo as your profile photo? Do you post engaging content to encourages interactivity on your page or profile?

Why do some updates have so many Likes and comments while others have barely any or none at all?

Here are the 5 tips;

1. Engage regularly.

 

Social engagement refers to the relationships or involvements – both positive and negative with your friends, fans and followers.Mwalimu king’angi is active on social media thus keeps his fans and followers engaged and interacting. Most of his updates encourage interactivity and conversation; Updates that end with a question mark attract more comments. Funny content gives you more Likes and Shares. If you want people to spend more time on your profile simply ask questions. 

Or post content that prompts one to leave a comment,not just like the update.Such as this;

 

2. Don’t over promote yourself.

Social media can be extremely beneficial to you and your business. It is effectively cost-neutral and if executed correctly it’s a well-targeted form of marketing. Whist sharing your own content online (marketing) This makes sure it is not the only activity. Those who only share their own content are transparent and audiences online look at that as purely selfish and switch off quickly.

 • A good ratio of sharing to promoting your own content is 4:1 as a minimum (the more you share about other valuable content i.e. less marketing messages, the more you get in return).

 

 

• Be sure you only share content that adds value to your community – content which they’ll find useful. This means that you should understand the demographics of your friends or fans. If it’s a mixed up case scenario share content that benefits people across the board.

 

3. Keep private things private.

As Facebook and twitter is very much in the public domain (yet it’s often perceived as private at the same time), there are numerous examples of how private (often extremely personal) information has ended up in the public domain. If you say the wrong things, it could damage your professional reputation. Mwalimu King’ang’ doesn’t share information on his private life. It’s just an update; don’t share info on your recent breakups, social places you frequent regularly for security reasons, don’t post vital information on people’s wall. Simply inbox them. A few people tend to also tweet when drunk, you may end up releasing nasty stuff!Try avoid this~!!!!

Totally wrong!

 

4. Vary your content.

Providing different types of content has been proven to engage audiences more effectively. Once in a while discuss football, politics, trending topics , business, jokes or even relationships and marriage.

If someone shares your content, thank them. If it’s possible, engage them in a conversation about the topic – enhancing your reputation as a specialist.

Look at how this update got many likes, comments and shares.

This simply shows if you once in a while engage your fans with what you don’t update  normally you are likely going to attract attention from your ‘dead’ or quiet fans.

 

 

5. Push products wisely.

 

 

  

I had to come up with this because at one point you have to use social Media for marketing, corporate communications and PR or even customer service to promote your personal brand or business.

However this has been abused terribly. Excessive self promotional content is so annoying and literally turns your profile into a billboard. People hate that! Small business owners literally do all manner of things to promote their products or services. This includes Spamming other people’s pages or groups with wall posts, Tagging people on your fliers, regularly promoting your own self and sending mass messages to friends online. 

Look at how Mwalimu ties in a promotional message wisely in his update. Can you do better than this?

Do you have any other lessons you could share with us? What are the annoying things your friends, fans or followers do on your profile or page?

Did you like this post? If so please follow us on Twitter @SocialPROclubs & share this post with your friends. Thanks!

Social Media For Universities; What’s in it for them?

How Social Media Can Enhance Learning In Higher Education

Social media is transforming the way the world does business, the platforms provide a great way to connect online, share information, gain valuable feedback, and build relationships as well as network. Today the implications are huge and the prizes are enormous for those businesses & individuals who handle it right. Let’s face it; social media is here to stay, it’s not a fad neither a ‘thing’ for teenagers anymore!

However we haven’t seen local universities embrace social media and integrate it to teaching leave alone introduce units that tackle various disciplines of this new media. At Social Edge Africa we are very passionate about changing and making learning more fun in universities through SocialPRO clubs that we launched on the 25th of October 2012 at the University of Nairobi.

With the growth of social media usage, it is a fact that students check their Facebook and twitter accounts more often than before.

Universities need to recognize the opportunities in social media especially when it comes to the use of social networking sites. Our universities will gain more access to audiences (students, faculty, alumni, support staff etc) to share content or information through social media, something which would cost a lot more in the past.

This will change how students interact and engage with  members of the faculty, give feedback on what they are taught, ask questions and help lecturers share content (research findings, assignments, useful links, class notes and other relevant educational materials) across the various platforms. If members of faculty especially embrace and use social media to share content with the students, that will make learning more fun as content can be posted in creative formats that are consumable on mobile hence improve learning as they will not only understand but make sense of what they are being taught. It enhances universities to provide more information to the students, inspiring them to develop ideas, enhancing collaboration and therefore making them more innovative.

It will be possible for students to come together, discuss and interact and that takes learning out of the class room thus creates more opportunities to learning and teaching by simply harnessing the power of social media.

Students should no longer only use social media for managing their social life and expressing their identity but also use it as a platform where they can get more information on their areas of learning, share innovative ideas with other students from different universities, get to know what they think of the idea, ask for some advice on how that can be utilized and maybe apply the idea when the chance brings itself to light. That way, our students will be shaping the future of Kenya!

The growing use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter offer great educational opportunities. Lecturers and students should extend their communication outside the classroom. A dialogue between a lecturer and students can help students get immediate solutions to their education related queries instant rather than wait for the lecturer to be available another day for them to get their answers.

In the social networking sites, students can form education-oriented groups and put good use of social media to extend their informational and educational outreach rather than form ‘mchongowano’ groups to expose them to a full world of discovery on various topics outside the units or course one is pursuing.

There is so much potential in our social networks towards education as these platforms help students to work collaboratively across universities thus enhance sharing of course content, ideas, information and opportunities online.

Social media has the advantage of ease of access, portability of technology, simplicity, and freedom of speech and expression. By the use of social networking sites, students can reach their career goals faster and more easily than now. It will also educate students who have no idea or know very little concerning a particular field through the fact that they are interested in a certain subject in the field of learning. Some students are already using social media to improve their educational skills through activities like blogging.

We should thus urge or inspire students to be content creators online not just consuming and tapping into other people’s minds and findings.

Universities can also use social media to promote specific events and get students to participate as guests, volunteer time in planning and assist in some way as this helps them equip themselves with more skills and network. 

With social media the university community can engage, participate and follow an event as its happening. Live video streaming can be done inexpensively these days, if that’s technical, video footage can be edited and posted on the university site and shared across platforms, better still uploaded on YouTube or follow the event trough a common hashtag?

Through social media, universities can notify their students on latest developments, new hires, major events (partnerships, affiliations, conferences, and graduation), emergencies and tragedies easily and faster with a tweet and a Facebook post or message.

Universities should embrace a ‘less stuff, more content’ strategy. Days are coming when we will need textbooks less. Most of the content will be shared online for the students to easily access them.

Universities could make sure that they have a centralized Twitter and Facebook account that broadly covers the institutions, but particularly for larger schools, breaking up news feeds into smaller accounts for say, the business school and the law school, promotes allegiance and engages a more targeted audience.

Social media too provides universities with effective ways and opportunities for alumni networks to strengthen the bonds between the alumni and former institution, sporting club, college, university, and soforth.  Twitter and LinkedIn for example connects people across fields and businesses, making networking easier for everyone involved. So for alumni who might want to connect with others from their university for career or personal purposes, Twitter acts as a great connector.

It will be known how best this works or if it works by trying it out in our universities and letting the students say how best it works for them.

Did you like this post? If so please follow us on Twitter @SocialPROclubs & share this post with your friends. Thanks!

 

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service.

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service..

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service.

What social media managers need to know.

Social networking has become integral to the lives of many and to brands social media is just another way to talk to, and engage with their customers. To zoom in Kenya users of social media represent the most influential and economically able section of the population. This number continues to grow especially as access to the Internet’s tool of choice, the mobile phone, makes astronomical inroads even in areas considered remote. Ninety five percent of the Generation Y (which form the bulk of consumers)  are members of a social network being their preferred media interaction. This completely changes the when, where and how brands need to connect and interact with this generation. Customer service is just one area where brands are really starting to take advantage of the online channel, given the large array of social tools now available to help them deliver great service. So here are a few tips you could apply in your business if you use social media for customer service

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1. 1.      Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

This happens mostly when a brand has hired an agency/ person to external to the organization to manage their social media presence. Should you outsource the managing of your presence please ensure the people handling the brand understand your business well. Send them updates in real time to ensure they understand exactly what you’re up to. During campaigns, launches and events ensure your digital team is in sync with what the experiential, PR and media agencies handling your brand are doing. Ensure your business too has the technical capability to deliver what it promises.

1. 2.      Give Timelines

On Twitter I get replies that sound automated such as “we apologize for the inconvenience and someone is going to get in touch with you shortly” Duh! I want the problem fixed now! Shortly could mean hours, days or weeks to some companies!  When responding to complaints kindly give timelines, avoid words like “soonest” ASAP or shortly; give specific timelines. Say in an hour, by 4 pm, by close of business today etc. Should it be a problem that requires dispatching a team of technicians or engineers; do advice the customer accordingly.

1. 3.      Integrate social media across the whole business

Social media should be viewed more broadly across a business and form part of an organization’s structure. Based on the different kinds of inquiries and complaints that you get from the varied users/publics on social media, it’s important to ensure that every department has someone to respond to certain issues that may require specialized attention. The best people to respond to a sales question on twitter are members of the sales team; likewise a customer service question on a help forum should be handled by someone from the customer services team.

1. 4.      Read & Respond

There’s a certain tendency to ignore certain inquiries, could be overlooked erroneously or otherwise. This sends a signal out there that the brand is unfriendly, busy to handle my inquiry or unsocial and uncaring. Every page has that group/people who just hate the brand, if your feel they are becoming a nuisance you may block them however at the beginning seek to win over their loyalty by handling their issues promptly. Some could be paid, may be attention seekers or are just serial complainers.  

1. 5.      Make use of the responses

To avoid repeat questions in the future, frequent reviews of the types of questions received enables a brand to identify opportunities to develop its content; i.e. if lots of customers keep asking a specific question, it’s likely the brand isn’t sufficiently explaining, or promoting the answer to that question across its communications channels. Should such issues arise, you may consider using print and TV media for PR to clear out the issue, add more information on your site or air a commercial specifically to communicate/respond to certain issues that show most prevalence.

1. 6.      Provide useful links with information on your website

Once in a while it’s good to share links on your site that have information that could help solve the customer inquiry or complaints. This helps drive customers to the most up-to-date source of information (your website). Tracking these links will help marketers track just how many people are using the content to help answer their own questions.

1. 7.      Be prepared for a greater volume of questions

People asking on any platform (twitter especially) expect an almost instant response. Brands need to be sure they can deal with (and answer) any increase in the volume of questions. For a mobile operator you need a robust team on social to handle the volume of complaints that come in. Should you anticipate an outage/breakdown in your service, notify your customers/followers and give timelines when you expect the service to be up again. If you decide to use your social media presence to handle customer service kindly ensure it is well staffed by people who understand your product or service.

1. 8.      Have a strategy to deal with complaints and issues

Think about how the brand will deal with complaints in an open forum. There needs to be a balance between what a brand does publicly to be seen to be dealing with a customer’s complaint, and taking the complaint offline to deal with it in full. A tool like ChittyChat on Twitter gives you a chance to engage in a conversation in “private,” allowing you to communicate directly with them instead of using “mentions”. Rather than engaging the angry customer publicly you may DM or inbox them instead. You may also ask for their number so that you take the discussion completely offline. You may also engage the services of your brand loyal/happy customers to help you handle the ‘heat’ and hate by responding behind the scenes and managing your brand reputation.

1. 9.      Be consistent

The way a brand responds to customers will be noticed so offer consistent help to similar problems. It is important to train your customer care staff on handling customer complaints appropriately. Being consistent helps other users learn and help the brand build trust with its customers.

10. Be careful of setting a precedent

When dealing with a complaint, does your brand really want to offer a refund on a product in full view of thousands of people on facebook or on Twitter? Do you have a money back programme for customers that aren’t satisfied with the service they received or product they bought? The response you give to complaints in the public domain may set a precedent. Kindly ensure that you don’t create a loophole that people may take advantage. Providing official answers will help resolve more customer queries and reduce the number of ‘me too’ kind of questions.

I beseech you to make answers, not excuses. Make product. Make customers. Make revenue. Make value. Those are way more fun to make than excuses. Let’s get to work.

We talk about influence as if it is something new. Actually the definition has not changed in the past 1000 years or so, but tactics for influence engagement certainly have changed due to the digital revolution. And while many might consider my use of the term “digital revolution” trite, I think it deserves the entire superfluous connotation as I intended it to be. The fact is that the digital world, and even more importantly, the related behavior changes that have transpired are extremely important. Thus, we must look at “influence” as it relates to digital behaviors.

Let’s start with a couple basic definitions to ground us on the same plane …

SocialSteve's Blog

We talk about influence as if it is something new. Actually the definition has not changed in the past 1000 years or so, but tactics for influence engagement certainly have changed due to the digital revolution. And while many might consider my use of the term “digital revolution” trite, I think it deserves the entire superfluous connotation as I intended it to be. The fact is that the digital world, and even more importantly, the related behavior changes that have transpired are extremely important. Thus, we must look at “influence” as it relates to digital behaviors.

Let’s start with a couple basic definitions to ground us on the same plane …

Influence is “the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.” For marketers, influence is only valuable if it produces actions…

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I’ve found that having one night to myself to recharge and catch my breath has made an incredible difference to the rest of my week. Regardless of how stressful and crazy things get during the week, I always have that one night a week to look forward to. This is something you should try.

The Pinstriped Suit

Okay, so the title of this post sounds like its straight out of a self help book. But, before I dive into what I mean by a “date with yourself”, try not to judge the title too much.

So recently, my life and schedule has been humming along with the usual 7 nights a week of activity and trying to fit in coffee meetings, social time, personal projects and exercise into the mix. Like many busy urban Vancouverites, I try to squeeze in as many things as I can into the short 168 hours I have. (I know, such a small number eh?) That coupled with a bit of neurotic FOMO (Fear of missing out) means that I am usually out the door by 8 and back at home around 11. After awhile, the busy schedule and the lack of time to myself can drive me a little crazy.

So…

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