Harvard Business Review (November edition) has published an interesting piece on social media.  The magazine says that there is a ‘dire need’ of coherent outreach strategies, fresh skills and adaptive tactics.

The article argues that social media platforms promote deep relationships, and  improve the creation and synthesis of knowledge. The authors argue that companies need to assemble a social media team which is equipped to identify new opportunities for engagement and prevent brand damage. Successful teams combine marketing, public relations and information technology skills.

In subsequent posts on this blog,  I’ll look in more detail at the mandate of a social media team, as suggested by the Harvard Business Review, as I think it raises some important questions for businesses.

Majestic Wine unveiled a sharp rise in online sales today (Nov 17), with the company pointing to the positive influence of its social media strategy.

Online sales rose 24.6 per cent, as Majestic used a blog and Twitter to attract new customers. CEO Steve Lewis said: ‘We’ve unleashed the potential of the twenty-somethings in our business, improving the blog written by staff and selling parcels of wine which are too small to send to stores as online exclusives to create a sense of urgency. They sell out within hours.’

You can read the Majestic Wine blog here and learn from their approach.

The Beeb is to have its first social media editor. Alex Gubbay, who is currently Interactive Sports News Editor for BBC Sport, has been appointed to lead editorial development of user-generated content and social media initiatives across the newsroom from next year.

The job will involve co-ordinating the work of correspondents and reporters who use social media tools, and help develop new ways for audiences to have their say on stories being covered by BBC News.

My first thought about this announcement was, Why doesn’t the BBC already have a social media editor? It’s not just that it already has a big online presence, and advertises links on many of its programmes. Audience participation has been going on for years, and, in a way, television has been a precursor of the online social media revolution.

Members of the public are involved in quiz shows, reality programmes, and so on, and the barriers between programme makers and audience have long been blurred, just as is starting to happen between companies and consumers. A programme like Autumnwatch, for instance, largely depends on viewer input.

But this has also been an organic, informal process. It has been driven by the development of technology that enables audiences to contribute to news, by sending in photos, video clips, comments and eyewitness accounts. This appointment takes the process a step further by overseeing all this activity and ensuring that all the opportunities are being exploited.

In the past year marketing agencies have leaped aboard the rolling social media bandwagon, urging their clients to include blogs and networking sites in their marketing and advertising strategy. But are they exploiting the benefits for themselves?

Not so much, it seems.  According to a new survey most agencies are active on key sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook but rarely use them for marketing purposes or to attract new clients.

The poll of 212 agencies by RSW/US and Second Wind found that nearly three quarters are connected to LinkedIn, two thirds to Facebook and 56% to Twitter. But most use them no more than once a month, and half never tweet at all. More than half have blogs but two thirds of these add new posts as little as once a month.

If agencies aren’t using these resources, how can they possibly advise their clients about the best way to take advantage of them?

More details and quotes here.