Sazbean

Social Media Basics – 10 Things Every Business Should Do

Sarah Worsham — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:39:38 +0000

How a business uses social media depends on what they’re trying to accomplish (their business goal), along with where their intended audience is (among other things). But, there are definitely things that every business should do with social media, because a good deal of social media success involves listening and being available where your customers are. Here’s my list. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments – I intend to add & update this list occasionally (social media is evolving, after all)

Blog – Blogs are a great and relatively easy way to produce new content, which keeps the information you provide to your customers fresh. Blogs also are a more informal way to interact with your customers.
Have a Twitter account – Hopefully you’re interacting and providing great information for your customers on Twitter, but, if nothing else, at least use your Twitter account to listen to what your customers are saying (if you feel more comfortable interacting with them through other channels – just make sure to respond).
Be on Facebook – Even if you only have a personal account on Facebook, you’ll be able to join industry groups and get a feel for what your customers are saying. When you get braver, try a Facebook fan page for your business.
Have a LinkedIn profile – LinkedIn is a great online resume. Give recommendations to people and ask for them from your customers. Because the recommendations link directly to the profile of the person who gave them, they have more value than just posting quotes on your website.
Read. A lot – It may not seem very social, but keeping up with what other people are saying in your industry is important. Read what your customers are saying. Read what your competitors are saying. Read what industry associations and publications are saying.
Listen – Similar to reading, but listening also involves checking out forums, discussion groups, groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, and anywhere your customers are. Listening is important for not only knowing what your customers are saying about you, but what they’re saying to each other. (Listening should be the first step in any social media plan – find out what’s going on before you bud in with your own two cents.)
Comment – Spend some time commenting on what other people are saying, Be respectful.
Have an opinion – It’s hard to stay neutral all the time. Having an opinion let’s people know where you stand (and shows a bit of personality).
Be Transparent – A lot of businesses feel like they have to hide who they are online. It’s pretty difficult to lead two lives, so while keeping personal stuff offline is always a good idea, try to be true to who you are online (avoiding tmi – too much information). Customers will appreciate knowing the people behind a company.
Have a Personality – Related closely to #9. People do business with people. They want to know who you are. People with some personality are easier to do business with.

What else should every business do with social media?

(photo by amrufm @ Flickr CC)

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Technorati tags: social media, strategy, marketing, social networking, business

Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Nov 6, 2009

Sarah Worsham — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:30:27 +0000

We post links to stories about how to use the web for business throughout the day on Twitter, Google Reader Shared or Delicious. Also, if you have a post or link you think is worth sharing, please let us know!

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Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet marketing, technology, marketing, business, strategy

Ask Sazbean – How do I make it easier for readers to share my blog posts?

Sarah Worsham — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:21:27 +0000

Reader Sandi asked about how she can make it easier for readers to share posts on her blog (Thanks for the question, Sandi!) She noticed that I have a “Share this Article” link on all my posts and asked about how to add that to her own blog. The “Share this Article” link is added via a plugin for WordPress.

The plugin I happen to use is called ShareThis, which you can find and install either by going to their site and clicking on “Get the button on your site” or by searching for ShareThis under “Add New” under Plugins in your WordPress admin. I like the ShareThis plugin because the provide some nice reports and analytics on how many times the button is viewed and how my content is shared (and it’s free).

AddThis offers similar features and functionality (for free) and you can get their button without having to register (although you don’t get any stats). I’ve liked ShareThis better because I could control what social networks and sharing sites showed up (and in what order). AddThis may have added this feature as well since I last checked, but it’s not obvious from their site.

I also use TweetMeme Retweet button plugin which adds the ability to tweet about an article right from that page (search for Tweetmeme in “Add New” in plugins section of WordPress admin). And for my rss feeds, I use FeedBurner, which allows me to add links to various social networks right into my feed.

How do you make it easier for readers to share your content? If you have a question you’d like an answer to, please email me at saz [at] sazbean [dot] com.

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Technorati tags: social media, content strategy, content, marketing, sharing, social networking, business

Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Nov 5, 2009

Sarah Worsham — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:30:06 +0000

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Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet marketing, technology, marketing, business, strategy

Using Ning to Boost Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Sarah Worsham — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:58:26 +0000

Posting over at Practical eCommerce about using Ning for eCommerce sites (also applies to any biz site, but examples are specifically for eCommerce sites):

Social networks allow consumers to obtain information about a company or product straight from other consumers. These conversations are powerful drivers in marketing since consumers are more likely to listen to what another consumer (especially a friend or colleague) says than what a company says. Ecommerce merchants can encourage and utilize word-of-mouth marketing by providing a platform where these conversations can take place. – Using Ning to Boost Word-of-Mouth Marketing – Sarah Worsham @ Practical eCommerce

I hope you’ll join me on Practical eCommerce for the rest of the article. If you happen to use Ning for your business (or are on it for listening purposes), I’d love to hear about it. Do you use Ning? How?

Read the full article ->

Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Nov 4, 2009

Sarah Worsham — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:30:39 +0000

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Video Book Review of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk #crushitbook

Sarah Worsham — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:00:35 +0000

I just finished reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
(amazon link), and I wanted to share my thoughts with you via video:

I think this is a great book to read if you own a business and are wondering how to use social media.

Have you read this book? What do you think?

If you’re interested in reading the book, here’s the link:

Buy the book: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion (Amazon link)

About Gary, from his blog, http://garyvaynerchuk.com:

Gary Vaynerchuk has captured attention with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family’s local wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. As his viewership swelled to over 80,000 a day, doors opened to a book deal, several national TV appearances, and a flurry of speaking engagements around the world. Gary’s dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him the “Social Media Sommelier.”

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Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology – Nov 3, 2009

Sarah Worsham — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:05 +0000

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Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet marketing, technology, marketing, business, strategy

Sazcast Episode 5 – Google & Bing’s Social Search & Entrepreneurship

Sarah Worsham — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:00:57 +0000

Welcome to episode 5 of our Sazbean podcast – Sazcast. We discuss social search from Google and Bing (a special thank you to Eugene – heroweb on Twitter for the topic idea), as well as entrepreneurship.

Show notes. Here are the links we discussed in the podcast:

Subscribe to the Sazcast podcast:

Subscribe to the feed
Subscribe in iTunes
My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-5a5853ef1e849c70385dd61091eebe2c}

We hope you’ll also join us in a week for our next episode. If you have a topic idea you’d like us to discuss, please email us at sazcast [at] sazbean [dot] com. Intro Music by: Band: Tripudio, Song: Blue monday

Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology – Nov 2, 2009

Sarah Worsham — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:30:00 +0000

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Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet marketing, technology, marketing, business, strategy