This week Media Access Australia (MAA) has released the report, Sociability : social media for people with a disability which aims to”provide an insight into how people with disabilities can best use popular social media tools.”

The objectives of the report include:

“• To help consumers with disabilities participate online
• To learn which social media applications are accessible
• To support consumers with disabilities in performing particular tasks
• To support the use of social media with assistive technologies and mobile devices

Here are some of the key takeaways as quoted in the report:

-Despite the benefits, all of the popular social media tools remain inaccessible to some degree. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogging websites and the emerging Google+ all feature limited accessibly, denying many consumers with disabilities the opportunity to participate in social media.

-Twitter was rated as the worst website among the popular social media tools when assessed against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Issues include inconsistent layout, lack of keyboard navigation options and font size issues. As a result, an alternative Web portal to Twitter was created independently to address the issues called Easy Chirp.

-The Windows and Mac OS X operating systems commonly found on PCs and Macs contain a number of accessibility features which can help consumers with disabilities access social media. In addition, mobile devices that run iOS such as the Apple iPhone and iPad also contain a number of accessibility features and accessible social media specific apps.

Please download the entire report there are sections on all the main social platforms that detail the key accessibility issues but also how to get around them -

There are so many gems of information it is well worth a read for those with a disability and for those working in the online space.

There is no doubt that organisations need to have  a Social Media Policy in place and here are some recent updates on that topic:

Fair Work Australia Weighs In

A decision handed down just before Christmas 2011, Commissioner Roberts of Fair Work Australia reinstated an employee of Linfox who had been dismissed for material which the employee had posted on Facebook. Commissioner Roberts noted that Linfox did not have a social media policy either at the time of the employee’s dismissal, or at the time of hearing. Instead, Linfox sought to rely on its induction training and handbook. The absence of a social media policy, Commissioner Roberts observed, was “not sufficient”.

Find out more: mondaq

The National Archives

The National Archives wants Govt organisations to understand when you use social media, you may be generating Commonwealth records.

They recommend that Social Media Policies also include advice on how to manage social media records.

They also recommend updating your agency’s records management policy to include the management of social media records. The content of the two policies must complement one another and be linked to ensure they are updated and maintained together.

Find out more: National Archives of Australia

This week the State of Social Media Marketing by Awareness was released. This is an annual survey (US based) looking at a range of social media questions to gain insights into what is changing in the social media arena.

Some of the insights included:

• The underesourcing of social media within organisations still presents a challenge. I am very aware of this issue after talking with clients but also my Masters students at UTS who are marketing managers and deal with this issue daily.
• Most social marketing departments are severely underfunded
• ROI is still seen as a key challenge though most companies are measuring it
• So how are companies keeping up to date with the latest social media news? Blogs, Peers and Conferences were the top ways to gain news and insights
• The big three platforms are Facebook Twitter and LinkedIn
• Most companies are using a variety of free and paid monitoring tools
• In 2012 Blogs, Forums and YouTube are the platforms organisations are planning for. This seems interesting as they are almost the old-school or original platforms many of us who first entered the space around 2005/06 were originally using. It seems the old platforms are having a resurgence.
• Presence and frequency of content remains a top priority for novices and dabblers
• Social Media leaders will venture into new platforms and focus on processes and tools to help manage their social marketing investment
• In 2011 only half of the respondents reported measuring the success of their programs and those that did measure their primary measure was reach. It looks like there is still some way to go in the measurement stakes in terms of usage and elements measured.
• The most experienced social marketers  plan to invest in robust social media management platforms compared to social marketing novices

View the full State of Social Media Marketing report for more details including a range of charts and graphs

As the year draws to a close it is a great time to review your Social Media Strategy. As with all strategies refinement should happen continuously all year but I also like to do a year-end review:

These are just a few things up for review:

1. Audience – Are you engaging with the right crowd? Are you hitting your qualitative and quantitative targets?

2. Metrics – are you happy with the metrics you are collecting? Have you added new objectives along the way and now need to find a metric that relates to them? Are you getting the most out of your metrics tools- for example Facebook updates their Insights tool regularly but are you across the new components?

3.Listening/Monitoring – we all know we need to do it but are you happy with the data you are collecting? is it meaningful and is it time to review your social media monitoring supplier?

4.Staffing – if you are resourcing social media internally what are your staffing skillset gaps? is it technical? content creation? start a skills matrix so you can start the year fresh knowing what skills you need to buy-in or trainup internally

5.Content – as we know content creation is a vital part of engaging in social media – which pieces of content this year hit the mark? which ones missed and why?

6.Competitors – what did your competitors in the space achieve this year? how will this influence how you refine your strategy for next year.

These are just a few things you can review to ensure you start the new year fresh and on track.

Have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

Yesterday along with NET:101 I presented an advanced Social Media course with organisations as diverse as local councils, specialist social media agencies, health ngos and others.

One of the areas that can be difficult to find is local statistics on our own use of Social Media as much of the data produced is US and UK centric.  Via the very lovely @em_skins I came across this data provided by EConsultancy.

It is a great summary of a range of reports by companies such as AIMIA/Sensis, ComScore, ACMA and others

What’s the internet penetration like?

• 94% of the Australian population access the internet, 79% do so every day. [AIMIA / Sensis]
• 60% of Australian internet users go online multiple times a day. [OMP]

Video

• 65% of Australian users have watched an online video clip in the past month [ADMA]
• Online video streaming has grown 550% in less than four years. It’s expected that there will be more than 11bn views of video content by the end of 2011 [Frost & Sullivan]
• More than three quarters of Australian users (77%) watch video content on their computer and just over a quarter (26%) do so via their mobile phone. [Nielsen]

Social media

• 38% of Australian users regularly interact with companies via social networking sites. [Nielsen]
• Impact of social media on purchase behaviour: Actions done as a consequence of viewing online video/listening to online audio vs. reading online consumer comments. [Nielsen]

• The average small business is investing $2,050 into social media marketing on an annual basis. 27% expect this to increase over the next twelve months. [AIMIA / Sensis]
• The average large business is investing $78,750 into social media marketing on an annual basis. 66% expect this to increase over the next twelve months. [AIMIA / Sensis
• Types of incentives provided by businesses through social media [AIMIA / Sensis]

E-commerce

• The most likely Australian age group to shop online are those aged between 35-44 years old (73% of total online consumers) [ACMA]
• Travel goods, tickets and accommodation are the most popular items purchased online, followed by clothes, shoes and personal items. [ACMA]
• 36% of Australians made a purchase after researching products via social media. [AIMIA / Sensis]
• The reasons behind consumers shopping online have changed during the last 18 months: there has been a decline in convenience and an increase in looking to save money. [ACMA]

Search engine marketing

• Search is the biggest online activity, with 89.9% of Australian users doing this on a regular basis. Social networking came a close second. (81.6%) [comScore]
• Australian users make more than four searches, per search visit [comScore]
• Australia leads the APAC region for mobile search, with more than 61% of mobile users doing this activity. The next closest country is Taiwan (29%). [iProspect]
• After making local searches via their devices, nearly half (49%) of Australian smartphone users called a business. [OMP]

Email marketing

• Email is by far and away the method most preferred for (personal) online communication [Nielsen]

• 62% of web users in Australia use email on a regular basis. [comScore]
• 68% of Australian smartphone users have read email on their devices. [OMP]
• 72% of Australian users unsubscribe from emails because the content is irrelevant. [Epsilon]

Mobile

• 26% of Australian smartphone users have made a purchase on their devices. [OMP]
• 75% of Australians using GPS devices are open to viewing targeted deals when visiting bricks and mortar outlets. [Galaxy Research]
• 83% of 18-34 year old Australians find geo-targeted content via mobile when shopping an appealing prospect. [Galaxy Research]

At 5.55pm today News online ran with a story Mouthwash Recalled Over Bacteria Scare. My first thought was to view the Colgate Palmolive website where I expected to find at least a news item or ticker regarding the issue.  But nothing.

I then went into the actual product page for Savacol once again nothing!

Next stop Twitter – it doesn’t appear Colgate have a company Twitter stream if they did it would be an ideal crisis communication vehicle, if they do it is not advertised on their home page and is well hidden.

Finally off to Facebook to see if a product or company page exist? No – once again a lost opportunity to communicate and answer consumers questions and fears regarding the recall.

Are people discussing the Savacol recall online? you bet.  These are just a few comments that appear on Twitter from consumers:

-Thousands of bottles of #Savacol antiseptic mouth and throat rinse taken off shelves in Oz after traces of harmful bacteria were detected

We have always known that Twitter is a powerful online platform think large scale political revolutions through to smaller charity wins. Well this week Twitter launched Twitter Stories to showcase interesting and innovative uses of the social media platform. Twitter said on their blog “Each story reminds us of the humanity behind Tweets that make the world smaller”.

Users can submit their own stories by tweeting at @TwitterStories or including the hashtag #TwitterStories in their tweets.

Among the tales, there are stories about a man who found a kidney donor after tweeting, “Sh*t, I need a kidney”.

You can imagine that charities/non-profits may find Twitter Stories useful for showcasing how your contributions have helped their organisation and corporate organisations could use it effectively to show a more personal/human side.

We all know how powerful story-telling can be so this initiative is a welcome addition.

View some TwitterStories

Social Media strategy templates and Social Media strategy tools are often in demand by the social media marketing industry but is there such a thing? is there a one size fits all?

Recently Vocus has produced a Social Media Strategy planning tool.  The tool developed by Vocus and MarketingSherpa entails a Drag-and-drop module where you answer answer questions and create a social media strategy tailored to your needs. 

Overall it is a nice snapshot of some elements you will need to think about but it does breeze over concepts  rather than examining them in detail. The ability to compile relevant readings however is a particularly useful component to the tool.

Verdict? It certainly can’t replace an experienced online marketer who can view your online strategy wholistically but its a fun and reasonably well executed tool.

I read with interest that The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) is joining forces with the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) and the Council of PR Firms to form a Coalition to develop global standards in social media measurement – one of the four key commitments of the Lisbon Summit Measurement Agenda 2020 initiative.

When working many years ago for the global media content analysis company CARMA,   AMEC set some standards for the media content analysis industries which was much needed after the many years of simplistic AVE measurements.

Tim Marklein, coalition chair and Practice Leader, Technology & Analytics, WCG  said “Clients and agencies are hungry for expert guidance to navigate the changing media landscape, and they deserve guidance that’s based on sound social science, proven practices and openly available methodologies.  Too many of the social media measurement options available today are based on proprietary tools and methods that can’t be easily replicated across brands, campaigns and organizations. As a coalition, we intend to break down those barriers and map out a path to standards that address key social media measurement challenges, including content sourcing, influence, sentiment, engagement and ROI among others.”

On 17th November, AMEC is running “The Big Ask” social media measurement conference in London, when it aims to ask PR and media intelligence professionals what they want to see as part of the new global standards. Let’s hope the conference has many social/online mechanisms  where international marketing professionals can follow the event and participate widely in it.

Internet marketing research company ComScore released a white paper this week that detailed which Facebook features receive the most usage and where users interact with branded content. The report showed that:

-27% of Facebook browsing is on the news feed and home page

-  21% of time was spent on profiles,

-17% on Photos,

-10% on applications, and 25% on the rest of the site

The report states that “Most engagement with branded content happens on the news feed, not Pages, yet the average brand in the top 100 Facebook Pages reaches only 16% of their fans per week if they post five days a week”

It is interesting how companies can spend a huge amount of money on Facebook apps yet the above report shows relatively little interaction within this area.

Methodology: The report is based on a two million person opt-in panel of web internet users that agreed to be monitored, so the sample size is ample though it might skew towards savvier, less skittish users.

It is certainly worthwhile viewing the report for additional insights.