socialmedia

Some brands are actively scared about using their social channels to provide customer services, but they don’t realise the opportunity they’re missing.

In general the thinking goes something like this:

• If we let people leave negative remarks, then they will put off other potential customers.
• It’s impossible to solve every problem through social channels – so why try?
• If someone has to answer all the queries, that will mean having to hire more staff.

Let’s look at each of these in detail.

Congratulations to the 31 leading UK digital companies that have been selected for this year's UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Mission to SXSW Interactive 2011.

This trip will see the companies travel out to Austin, Texas for a five day trip in and around South by South West Interactive, one of the largest conferences focused on digital media and technology.

Each of the companies is listed below, don't hesitate to drop them a line directly to arrange a time to meet up in Austin, or follow their progress via their Twitter accounts below. You can follow the UKTI team's coverage of the mission on Twitter @uktiatsxswi.

UKTI SXSW 2011 Mission Companies

• Acunu Ltd
• Brandwatch
• Casual Films
• Completely Novel
• Cyber-Duck
• DAD Solutions
• Digital Outlook Communications
• East London Productions
• Engage Sciences
• Fortune Cookie
• Fly Post
• Get-ctrl Limited
• Glass Eye Productions
• Lingo24
• Minute Box
• MOFILMS
• MoodShare
• Namaste Entertainment
• Parcel Genie
• Planzai
• Psonar
• Rummble Labs
• Screenreach Interactive
• Shout’em
• Somethin’else
• Teamly
• The Play Mob
• w00t!media
• We are Social
• WhoSampled.com
• Zkatter

A key mistake made by brands when they first enter the social sphere is to forget that they’ll need a way to measure the tangible success of their efforts. Effectively brands leave themselves unable to measure the ROI of their social activity and as a result it can very easily become a wasted effort.

When you first engage through sites such as Facebook or Twitter it’s very easy to be fooled into thinking that a million online followers is an end to itself, but if you haven’t at the very least considered a future strategy for turning your new online friends (followers and fans) into *real* customers, it’s highly unlikely to happen on its own.

Just as with any other marketing campaign, clear objectives should be set right from the start that can be clearly measured and analysed in order to tell you exactly how successful your activities have been.

There's lots of rather fantastic things happening during Social Media Week in London, and the latest addition is from the lovely folks at Skype.

To celebrate Social Media Week, they're giving away free WiFi through Skype Access, the single-click Internet access feature, in New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, Istanbul and most importantly London for the duration of the festival.

From 0001 GMT on the 7th February 2011 to to 2359 GMT on the 12th February 2011, Skype Access will be free to use for up to 60 minutes, so you can surf the web, send email and make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls at Skype Access-enabled WiFi hotspots in cafés, hotels and airports in New York, San Francisco, London, Rome, Paris, Toronto, São Paulo, Hong Kong and Istanbul.

I'm not sure if there's an awards season per-se for the digital world, but they seem to be cropping up thick and fast at the moment.

And who doesn't like a shiny gong to add to their awards cabinet? Below are details of four sets of awards from the digital, marketing, content and start-up worlds. In their own words, here you go: