Social Marketing Tips

College students give up Facebook for week, reduce stress

2010-12-14T16:12:00.000-05:00

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA | Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:36pm EST

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Harrisburg University students gave up Facebook and other social media for a week in September and said they were less stressed and more attentive to course work, according to a study published on Friday.

The university in central Pennsylvania blocked the use of media such as Facebook and Twitter for a week to study its effect on students and faculty.

The survey found that 25 percent of students reported better concentration in the classroom, and 23 percent said they found lectures and seminars more interesting.

Forty percent of students said they spent between 11 and 20 hours a day using social media, and several faculty and staff reported spending up to 20 hours a day with the tools.

"One has to believe that this level of usage would likely interfere with school work and jobs," the survey's authors said.

A third of students reported feeling less stressed because they were unable to use social media. The survey quoted one student saying she felt like she had taken a vacation for the week because she was not constantly checking her messages.

Some students and faculty rediscovered the value of face-to-face communications when they were unable to communicate electronically.

Several professors said their students more easily understood a difficult biological concept through a conversation with faculty than they had after trying to grasp it using social media.

One student said he actually had to talk to his professor during the blackout.

"The results suggest that a healthier, more productive life style was practiced by a significant portion of the students during the blackout," the survey said.

Six percent of students reported eating better and exercising more during blackout week. And 21 percent used the time they usually spent on Facebook to do homework, whereas 10 percent said they spent the time usually spent on Facebook to read online news.

(Reporting by Jon Hurdle, Editing by Greg McCune)

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Why More Health Experts Are Embracing the Social Web

2010-12-13T08:10:00.000-05:00

Unity Stoakes is the co-founder and president of OrganizedWisdom, an expert-driven digital media company focused on health and wellness. OrganizedWisdom is building the world’s first digital mapping of online health experts to help people easily discover and connect with credible health resources.

Is your doctor easily accessible online, or does he or she believe that the InternetInternet isn’t a resource for accessing health information?

If it’s the latter, it may be time to find another doctor. With nearly 90% of online Americans searching the Internet for health resources, it’s likely you and your friends and family already use the Internet to research health issues. It’s true that the web has a jumble of health information, and engaging online takes time, which most health experts don’t have. The good news, however, is that the increasing number of health professionals now embracing the Internet as an important and useful tool for health and wellness is beginning to change your options as a consumer.

Read on for some ways that social media can help doctors, health experts and everyday users.

An exciting new social media trend is emerging that disrupts the standard view of health care delivery and will have a profound impact on us all. Thousands of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and health advocates are publicly engaging with people online. In fact, nearly 40% of Americans turn to social media for health information.

Patients (and a few early adopter health pros) moved online years ago to share health guidance, give support and find answers. But until recently, many health professionals have avoided using the Internet and social media as a way to help patients. This reluctance is changing, as savvy physicians, nurses, dentists and other health pros are realizing that if their patients are online, then perhaps they should be too. Health practitioners who were once too busy, inexperienced or afraid to share their expertise online, now actively share links on TwitterTwitter and FacebookFacebook, blog, write for online medical journals, engage on Q&A sites, or contribute to online health sites and forums.

For too long, health and wellness has been a do-it-yourself proposition for patients online, and people have been left on their own to determine how to effectively utilize empty search boxes. People have great access to lots of information, but they must sort through the billions of articles to determine the credible from redundant health encyclopedias, marketing web sites or sites with potentially unknown sources. Then, the task of deciding the credibility of the sources and articles has fallen on the patient alone.

While the number of health experts interacting with patients online is relatively small, there is a clear trend taking shape. A recent Manhattan Research survey of U.S. physicians shows an increase of Internet usage for professional purposes up from 2.5 hours per week in 2002 to 8 hours per week in 2010. More strikingly, while more than 100,000 doctors are using closed social health networks like Sermo.com and publishing in peer-reviewed journals online, thousands of health professionals are now blogging, using Twitter, and connecting with patients on Facebook in very public ways. So much so that this November, for the first time, the American Medical Association released a set of guidelines to direct physicians communicating and engaging with patients via social media. And earlier this year, the CDC also published its own best practices toolkit for how health professionals should be using social media.

Given that so many people now go to the Internet before, during and after their visit to the doctor’s office, the lack of guidance from credible and trusted health experts online is a growing problem. In fact, Manhattan Research shows that 61% of people now use the Internet instead of visiting a doctor. Thankfully, the tide is turning as thousands of health practitioners move online to do much more than interact with friends, family and colleagues and are instead using the social web to dispense their particular health expertise.

We are standing at the precipice of a new online revolution in health care. As more and more health experts embrace the Internet and increase their social media activity, health information seekers will undoubtedly benefit in profound ways. Based on conversations and surveys conducted with experts and health information seekers, here are some of the benefits associated with a robust online community of active health experts:

Interaction With Experts: In the real world, people seeking answers to important health, financial or legal matters look for guidance from the best experts. With a growing community of health experts participating in online discussions, people have access to more expertise than ever before at their fingertips.

Credibility and Trust: With doctors and other health professionals contributing information online in increasing numbers, it is important for a trust filter to separate credible information and sources from information that is not credible. The community of health professionals that is forming online will act as a system of checks and balances to separate good information and sources from the bad.

Transparency: It’s been a watershed year for increased transparency as government, big business, the financial services industry and other sectors have been shining a light into their operations like never before. Healthcare is taking a major step forward in this regard at the grassroots level, with an expert community being formed online by doctors, nurses and other health professionals across the country. As more doctors view social media as an extension of their professional reputation, you can be sure that they will treat their online interactions with the same care as they do in the offline world.

While the increase in the online activity of health experts is a welcome development, searching for crucial health information online remains an overwhelming and intimidating process for many. In the offline world, people searching for health information seek out the best experts — and now with more health professionals moving online, people will finally be able to connect with credible experts they can trust.

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Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, dcdr

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What to Do Before You Interview a Social Media Marketing Firm ...

2010-12-09T10:33:00.000-05:00

I’ve heard it at least a bazillion times … You’re starting to feel like your marketing strategy is falling behind the times. You know you should at least create a Facebook page and use Twitter, but you don’t really know how to use them. (Is it worth the time?) And, even more frustrating, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Can you learn how to do all this social media stuff, or should you find a social media marketing firm to launch you online? (Yikes, how much will THAT cost??) And, if you DO engage a firm, how do you find a good one? A good one could be defined as a team that ‘gets’ your business, with the objective of attracting new customers.

Before you start the hunt for the right social media marketing firm, gather your management team together and focus on articulating your offline marketing and sales goals FIRST. The result of any social media marketing firm’s work is only as good as the goals they work toward, and those come from your company. No management strategy and/or targets – no bullseye.

Once you have the offline marketing and sales goals articulated and prioritized, you’re ready to define your social media business goals. The offline and online goals work together hand-in-hand. Each supports and supplements the other. Good social media goals should at least include:

Identifying your online target marketFinding the places that they congregate onlineEstablishing your brand in these online communities (social networks)Listening, listening, listeningAfter listening, easing into engagement with the target audienceGiving valueOffering solutions and converting the audience into customersMonitoring, measuring, and continual improvement

You might also spend some time searching online and reading blogs about how other businesses establish their social media campaigns. They may or may not apply to you, but you will learn an awful lot, and give you more confidence before approaching a social media marketing firm.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Powered Surrounds Social Media Atlanta 2010 with Two Author Events, A Panel ...

2010-11-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

Austin, TX (PRWEB) November 1, 2010

Powered, a focused social media agency, today detailed its involvement in Social Media Atlanta 2010, a week-long set of events to celebrate the technology and social media marketing achievements of the number two most wired city in the U.S. (according to Forbes). Powered executives and published book authors, Joseph Jaffe and Greg Verdino, will host Author Events, Verdino and Powered CMO Aaron Strout will moderate a panel on Social Media Innovations, and Powered will host a Meet Up, all during the Social Media Atlanta week, running November 8 - 12, 2010.

First up, on Tuesday, November 9, three time published book author and Powered Chief Interruptor, Joseph Jaffe, will host an Author Event, from 3-5 pm at the Newell Rubbbermaid headquarters. Jaffe will be discussing his latest book: Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones. Jaffe will follow the discussion with a Q&A and then book signings. http://socialmediaatlanta.org/jaffeverdino/

That same night, Tuesday, November 9, Powered will host a Meet Up, from 5-7 pm, at Wildfire in the Perimeter Mall area. Jaffe, along with other Powered executives in town for the week, will be in attendance. http://socialmediaatlanta.org/powered-meetup/

Thursday, November 11, another published author, Powered Vice President of Strategy and Solutions, Greg Verdino, will conduct his own Author Event, from 11 am – 12 pm, also at the Newell Rubbermaid headquarters. Verdino will discuss his book, microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small. Verdino will follow the discussion with a Q&A and then book signings. http://socialmediaatlanta.org/gregverdino/

Immediately following Verdino’s Author Event, he and Powered CMO, Aaron Strout, will moderate a Social Media Innovations panel, hosted by Social Media Atlanta, to feature homegrown innovations. To be held Thursday, November 11th from 1:30-4 pm at InterContinental Hotels Group, the panel discussion will be followed by break-out sessions allowing attendees to interact with the local technologies. http://socialmediaatlanta.org/innovations/

“We are thrilled to have such an active role in Atlanta during its Social Media week,” said Jaffe.

“We have had the privilege of working with several of the great brands, multi national companies based in Atlanta, and look forward to growing partnerships with companies in the city, as more Atlanta-based brands embrace the power of social media to better connect with their customers.”

For more information on Social Media Atlanta 2010, or to register for any of these, and other, free events, please see http://socialmediaatlanta.org/

About Powered:
Powered is a focused social media agency that helps brands fully capitalize on their social initiatives, make them more relevant in an increasingly digital, connected and social world. Austin-based Powered took it’s A game up another notch in early 2010 with acquisitions of three other rock star social media firms: NY-based crayon and Drillteam, and Portland-based StepChange. Now with 70+ employees in its offices, Powered brings its clients "best-in-class" expertise across the social spectrum by offering a combination of strategy, planning, activation and management for social presence and programs including those centered on Facebook, location based/LBS, mobile applications, influencer activation and community building, content marketing and earned media, and experiential marketing.

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Three Tactics to Approach Social Media Marketing

2010-11-22T13:27:00.000-05:00

In one sense, 'social media marketing' is an oxymoron, a self-contradictory term. Implicitly, it describes media that are personal and non-commercial. So how does marketing fit in? As the punch line in the joke about porcupines goes, "very carefully".

Nevertheless, there are tactics available that can maximize your social media marketing effectiveness.

If you have not yet created a Facebook page for your brand, you must do that first. You should also look at opportunities available on Twitter, MySpace and Linked In. With those in place, apply these three tactics.

Tactic #1: Create Your Own Social Media Marketing Profile

Who are you? What is your background? What are your objectives? What do you do or would like to do. Your profile can be as detailed or as fanciful as you like, remembering that credibility is critical in social media.

The social media profile can differ from social media site to site.

For example a LinkedIn personal profile might be more of an online resume, detailing all of the previous companies one has worked for in the past, where as the LinkedIn company profile can focus more on the company's products, services, vendors and customers. Facebook and Twitter profiles can be set up for a company to communicate effectively with the new generation of consumers who depend on social media marketing to make decisions.

Tactic #2: Reach As Many People As You Can

Sites such Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Linked In, are frequented everyday by millions of potential customers. Each has its own distinct approach to its subscribers. All, however, expect a degree of socially acceptable behavior.

Unfortunately, flat-out, unadorned advertising is not considered socially acceptable by most users. That said, almost every visitor to Facebook is there be entertained or informed. An approach to this audience that features a friendly tone and that promises a benefit has an excellent chance of making customers and brand evangelists out of visitors.

By learning the different ways to reach people on each site, you can reach a wide audience without ever purchasing an ad on the site. For example on Twitter, retweeting the top tweets (the insiders term for a Twitter message) of the day can attract people to your page through searches. Using URL link shortening services such as bit.ly allows you to track how many people actually clicked on your tweet or status update as opposed to clicking on the URL page directly.

Tactic #3: Build An Audience

Solicit friends, fans and followers through mutual contacts and other online and offline vehicles, in order to qualify prospects from among the millions who may be exposed to your Facebook messages, your tweets and your postings on LinkedIn.

Many companies promote their Facebook page on their web sites, in brochures or in ads. The point is to develop a core group of followers who will participate regularly in your social media communications. These are self-selecting prospects of high quality and high potential.

When you have this core group amassed, feed them as much helpful (and persuasive) information as you can as often as you can. Don't stint on pictures. One authority claims 550,000 images are presented on Facebook every second, with 220,000,000 photos added to Facebook every week. Use your postings as portals to your web site where visitors will get a more complete story about your brand, product or service, stories that generate leads and even, conceivably, close sales.

This may seem like a lot of work. Fact is, it is. Most companies already have full plates, so social media marketing including regularly posting Facebook status updates and tweeting on Twitter requires constant and consistent attention, can appear formidable before even starting.

One solution is to consult with experts in the field of social media and Facebook marketing. These companies have the software, the experience, the databases and the knack for making marketing in Facebook and other social media wo

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Society for New Communications Research Announces 2010 Fellows Choice Award ...

2010-11-19T10:56:00.000-05:00

The Society for New Communications Research (http://sncr.org), a global nonprofit research and education foundation and think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications, today announced the Society's 2010 Fellows Choice Award winners for the Visionary of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Brand of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year as part of the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards program.

These prestigious awards honor organizations and individuals for their notable impact on business, media, culture and society through the use of new communications and social media tools and technologies. The 2010 SNCR Fellows Choice Award honorees are:

"The SNCR Fellows have chosen an impressive variety of individuals and organizations for this year's award winners. These special award winners have the vision and success to provide a valuable example to others and we are honored to be able to recognize them through this awards program," commented Jen McClure, president, SNCR.

"So much is happening in social media these days, that choosing the 'best of the best' is an awesome challenge," said Paul Gillin, a SNCR Senior Fellow and author of three books about social marketing. "These are the people and organizations that are taking the whole industry to the next level."

The SNCR Fellows Choice Award recipients will be honored at the 5th Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala, which will be held in Stanford, CA.

This event will also feature the presentation of the 2010 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards. These prestigious awards honor the work of individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media and professional communications, including marketing, public relations, and advertising as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives. Awards are granted in 13 categories: Online Reputation Management; Behind the Firewall; Influencer Relations; External Communities; Collaboration & Co-creation; Online Audio / Video; Online Publishing and Blogging; Mobile Media; Microblogging; Social CRM; Social Commerce, Social Data and Measurement, and Use of Multiple Platforms / Integrated Initiatives. Entries are submitted as case studies, and the winning case studies will be published on SNCR.org.

For more information and to register to attend this event, visit http://sncr.org/awards/.

About the Society for New Communications Research
The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. SNCR is dedicated to creating a bridge between the academic and theoretical pursuit of these topics and the pragmatic implementation of new media and communications tools and methodologies. The Society's Fellows include a leading group of futurists, scholars, business leaders, professional communicators, members of the media and technologists from around the globe - all collaborating together on research initiatives, educational offerings, and the establishment of standards and best practices. For more information, email us at info(at)sncr(dot)org or call +1 408.266.9658.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2010/10/prweb4694184.htm

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Top 7 Social Media Marketing Tips for the Holiday Season 2010

2010-11-18T14:55:00.000-05:00

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Building on from the recent theme of preparing for the holiday season sales rush, this week I’m delving into the world of social media marketing.

The numbers around social media at the moment are mind blowing, so it should definitely be a consideration of any business before heading into the holiday period.

Before I delve into the tips, here’s a video I shared during a social media presentation I gave last week. It helps set the scene for the importance of social media for modern businesses.

So now that you’re pumped about social media, here’s my top 7 tips for boosting your holiday season sales using social media marketing.

1. Give your social media profiles a makeover:

When was the last time you checked how engaging your social profile is? Social media is an extension of your brand. Use the holiday season to give your profiles a make over:

1. New twitter background: did you even realise you can customise your twitter background. Check out these backgrounds to get inspired.

50 great examples of business branded twitter pages: http://www.creativeopera.com/2010/corporate-branding-on-twitter-50-excellent-examples/

2. Business Pages on Facebook: Is it time to create a Facebook business page that is more interesting than just a feed of your business’ activity and discussions?

Look at some of these company pages to see how you can take your business page to the next level.

Here’s a list of 40 more: http://speckyboy.com/2010/08/15/40-highly-effective-facebook-business-pages/

3. Blog Design: Let’s not forget our good old blogs. Perhaps its time to add some new banners, change the template or even update our widgets on our blogs to give them a bit more sizzle.

2. Build your followers and connections

The size of your social media captive audience is a key influencer on the success of your campaigns. So it’s important to build your audience so that when you distribute content, engage in conversations and share offers – there’s enough people listening/watching.

1. Migrate existing clients across to social media

Use this as a time to try and encourage existing customers to connect with you via their social networks. It will provide you with another way to communicate with your clients outside of emails, the phone etc.

2. Encourage prospects and browsers to join your network

Even if you don’t convert a prospect or browser on first visit, persuading them to connect via social media gives you further opportunities to engage with them which can help you convert them later.

3. Get more reviews

Peer reviews are becoming more and more important in people’s buying process. So have you checked how many reviews your business and products have? Are they positive or negative.

It’s important to encourage your new customers to post reviews (preferably positive) on the major reviews sites. Make it easy for them and suggest where to go after the sale (either in person or via follow up marketing)

Here’s a list of the some of the review sites to focus on:

4. Special Offers for your followers

Use the holiday season as a chance to create social media specific campaigns and offers. IT’ll serve two purposes

Reward the people who have taken the time to connect with you in the social media sphereIt’ll give potential new social media followers a reason to connect with your company.

5. Engage in the Conversation

While social media is a great marketing tool, it’s often most effective when it’s used in a non direct marketing manner.

Commit to engaging in your social media sphere through conversations and contributions; comment, answer questions and posing opinions rather than just trying to promote products and services. You’ll be amazed at how effective this can be at driving new business if done effectively.

6. Integrate Social Media with other marketing

Social media is another one of the channels in your marketing mix. So use it in conjunction with other online and offline campaigns. It can help extend the reach of your marketing message, or alternatively provide another form of conversion from other campaigns.

7. Commit to creating some quality holiday valuable content

One the major strengths of social media is the viral nature of the medium. By creating and sharing valuable content (e.g. articles, videos, industry news, etc) – your social media audience can become your marketing force. They’ll share your content and ultimately promote your brand. The sort of marketing that money can’t buy!

So that’s my Top 7 Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses this holiday season. As with most of your holiday season marketing strategies, the sooner you get started, the better the results will be when it counts.

There’s plenty of other social media marketing strategies to leverage during the holiday season, so what will you be using this year? Share your tactics with our readers below.

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Use of social media to advance business requires supervision

2010-11-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

Successful use of new media to build your business or organization requires engagement with others online using a constantly changing set of communication tools that deliver great content.

Some of these tools and networks are standalones, but most work together to enhance traditional marketing and advertising.

The success of any new media marketing plan for a business or organization trying to position itself in the marketplace depends heavily on a well-developed, well-optimized, serviceable website that can serve as a hub for all the company’s new media tools. Websites today must serve as the workhorses for marketing, advertising, public relations and all other organizational communications.

Today, they should no longer be about aesthetics and “cool” features such as Flash, but instead emphasize function and search engine optimization (how easily the website can be found when viewers use keywords to do a search in a browser program). This is a different website than the awe-inspiring, feature-filled ones we were all enamored by just a couple of years ago. New media facts to embrace:

— New media enhances traditional marketing and other vital corporate communication by building a brand using fresh, new networks and efforts such as viral marketing.

— New media efforts should in no way be considered a “campaign” but an ongoing dialogue that builds relationships over time. It requires keen writing skills, continual nurturing, daily management, updated tool sets and plenty of patience and perseverance.

— New media is not just social media, but it does include it.

— Building fruitful relationships with both current members and potential customers through new media requires transparency and authenticity of the highest order.

The old days of harboring “corporate secrets,” painting a rosy picture of things that aren’t, sweeping problems under the rug, sharing only parts of any given problem and obscuring the truth are gone, kaput. New media communication requires a special, highly authentic “voice” making it more like public relations than advertising.

— New media is much less expensive than traditional media, but not altogether free.

The tools and tactics of new media change or are updated continually, so small investments must be made along the way to stay current and relevant. The talent and know-how to manage new media also requires an investment in staffing.

Paige Henson is a new media consultant and certified inbound marketer.

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UM Digital Boom Conference; Industry experts discuss the future of digital ...

2010-11-12T19:08:00.001-05:00

UM, the leading MENA specialist media marketing consultancy firm tied in with Google, Nielsen Media Research, and Egypt's major website developer Digital Republic to host communications professionals from various media agencies and brands communications managers in Cairo.

Participants at the one-day event included Wael Ghoneim, Head of Marketing MENA and Wael Fakharany, Regional Manager from Google, Diego Semprun, MD of Nielsen Online, Omar Mandoor, GM of Coca Cola Egypt, and Rania Elbakry, Digital & Direct Communication Manager at Mobinil. In addition to Karim Khalifa, CEO of Digital Republic, Ahmed Osama, MD of TE Data, Con O'Donnell, MD of Sarmady Communications, Tim Baker, MD of Hug Digital, James Harris, Head of Digital, UM-EMEA and various industry experts from the MENA region.

Paul Katrib, Regional Managing Director, UM highlighted the importance of new and emerging media to reach out to different audiences and optimize investment for brands. "This conference falls within UM's regional initiatives to keep pushing the potential of the digital platform within our communication strategies, and exploring the ways it could help us strengthen the connections between our brands and the consumer," said Katrib.

Dina Hashem, UM Egypt Managing Director said: "the event organized for the first time in the Egypt aimed to bring industry experts together to discuss global best practices to optimize the usage of online and mobile technologies and facilitate access to and enable target audiences to interact with the brands and share with their peers."
Participants discussed the market dynamics especially the internet infrastructure in the region, mobile advertising revolution, viral marketing and the essential consumption habits and profiles of internet users in the region. And various successful case studies such as Coca-Cola and Mobinil were presented following an overview of the digital media scene in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Rania El Bakry, Manager, Digital and Direct Communication, at Mobinil said: "It was a pleasure to be part of this wonderful event. It was a great opportunity for idea exchange among parties involved in the field of Digital Communication and it was a much needed event to help this field evolve and grow."

In his closing presentation, Karim Khalifa, CEO Digital Republic Egypt re-emphasized that digital is not only about banner ads, but it is about creativity, entertainment, engagement and interactivity as well as building a two-way relationship with your consumer and rewarding them for their interaction with your brand. He called on communication professionals to get ready to take their brands to the next level to reach audiences through mobile advertising, online TV, and location based marketing.

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Use social media to build your brand

2010-11-02T12:06:00.000-04:00

Q: What is social media and how can I use it to help my small business?

A: The term "social media" is used to describe interactive communities on the Web. There are a whole lot of different social media websites. Some of the more popular are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and blogs.

Social media marketing can help most small businesses boost sales. Small business owners use social media to build relationships, which indirectly increases sales. The practice of using social media builds a business's database of contacts and connections, increases visibility to prospective customers, and gets the word out about their products and services in creative ways. The first thing you can do to use social media to help your business is to get your toes wet. Start by finding a blog that you enjoy reading that is related in some way to your business and regularly post comments on it. What you are doing is starting a conversation with the blog owner and its readers. You're building relationships.

If you sign each of your posts with your name and Web address, you are marketing your business and hopefully driving new traffic to your website.

Another easy place to get started is to create an account at Facebook or LinkedIn.

With these types of accounts you can make friends, build relationships, talk about your business services and products, and direct people to your company website. Facebook, for example, has over 500 million active

users with more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. That is a very powerful platform on which to build a presence.

Another way is to start a blog for your business. In one action you can give your company a Web presence, start building relationships, and get the word out about your products and services.

How successful you are at marketing your business with social media will depend on how much you put into it. Social media marketing takes commitment, effort and passion to make it work.

Social media are all about relationships. To be successful, you need to understand how to build and use those relationships. In much the same way, you are already building relationships and networking in the physical world, networking in the digital world isn't really that big of a stretch.

Social media marketing can be a phenomenal marketing tool for small businesses.

Laurel Eriksen is owner of Eriksen Web Design (www.eriksenwebdesign.com), a small business Web design and marketing firm based in Ranch Cucamonga.

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Wanted: Social Media Sifters

2010-11-01T15:25:00.000-04:00

By Ryan Flinn

Jonathan Spier, chief executive officer of social media analytics company NetBase, had the chance in early 2009 to win a multimillion-dollar contract for his 25-person firm if he could answer one question: Why do men sport stubble?

The query, posed by a consumer-products company to more than 100 research firms, had to be answered by mining millions of postings by men on social media sites. NetBase's software, which reads and analyzes 50,000 sentences a minute, found 77,000 mentions of stubble online in less than six seconds. Its researchers isolated all the positive comments, categorized them into themes, and built a chart in less than an hour ranking all the reasons. While the answer—most men wear stubble because they perceive it to be sexy—isn't that eye-opening, the ability to quickly collect and analyze all that Web data is. The process provides something marketers have long wanted: a way to pick up intelligence and trends from among all that chatter floating across the Net.

"It's all oriented around what businesses need and want from information," said Spier, whose Mountain View (Calif.)-based company now employs 50 people and works with Coca-Cola (KO), Kraft Foods (KFT), and Procter & Gamble (PG). "That's our selling point."

Companies are expected to more than double the amount they're spending for online data, to $840 million in 2012 from last year, according to marketing consultant Winterberry Group. The prospect of such fast-growing revenue is one reason social media monitoring outfits are being snapped up by larger software and market-research firms intent on improving their ability to use Twitter, Facebook, and blog postings as windows into the thinking of consumers.

"For years advertising was one-to-many, and then there was all this big hoopla about how to do one-to-one advertising, with the advent of the Web and Web metrics," said Debbie DeGabrielle, chief marketing officer of Visible Technologies, a social media analytics company that has grown 18-fold since 2006. "Social intelligence is the iteration beyond that—it is not mass personalization, it is personalization one-to-one."

Advertisers in the U.S. are getting the message. They will increase their spending on social media sites by 24 percent next year, to $2.09 billion, according to researcher eMarketer in New York.

Using the Web to collect information more quickly can help companies avoid product disasters. When Coca-Cola released New Coke in 1985, it committed one of the biggest blunders in marketing history, "spawning consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen," the company says on its website. Three months later, Coke returned its original soda to the market. Stan Sthanunathan, Coke's vice-president of marketing strategy and insights, doubts it would have taken that long to react in today's Web-connected world. "Back then, people had to write letters and send it to us, saying 'please bring back old Coke,' " Sthanunathan said. "It came out in large numbers, but it came after a few days. Right now, people will tell you that in a matter of two minutes on their Facebook page."

Gap (GPS) experienced such a reaction earlier this month when it briefly replaced its iconic blue box with a new logo. The design was widely panned online, and the retailer yanked it a week later. "We did not go about this in the right way," said Marka Hansen, the Gap president for North America. "We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community."

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Review-Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies

2010-10-27T18:34:00.001-04:00

Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies
by Jan Zimmerman and Doug Sahlin
Wiley Publishing
More info
ISBN: 978-0-470-58468-2
818 pages
$29.99 US, $35.99 CN, £21.99 UK

Almost everyone is now active in the social media arena. Who doesn’t have a Facebook page to keep in touch with family and friends? How often are you making your thoughts known 140 characters at a time on Twitter? Do you listen to podcasts on your favorite topics during your daily commute? Facebook, Twitter and podcasts are all forms of social media, but can they also be used for social media marketing?

In their book, Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies, Jan Zimmerman and Doug Sahlin go into great detail about how to use social media to market your business or service. The tome is divided into eight books, each addressing a different aspect of social media.

Book I discusses the Social Media Mix. Basically, this book talks about how and why you should use social media, how social media is a tool in your overall marketing plan, how to prepare for your social media campaign, and how to engage your audience. Using social media can be a free, or very low-cost way to get your message out to consumers.

Book II, Cybersocial Tools, goes a little deeper into search engine optimization and social bookmarks. Never heard of social bookmarks? If you use Delicious or StumpleUpon, for example, to get recommendations of web sites you may enjoy, or to share your favorite web sites with others, then you’re using social bookmarks. Wondering how it could help your particular business: read Book II, Chapter 3.

Book III is where the real meat and potatoes begin. If you ever wanted to know how to create a blog, podcast or vlog, this is the book to read. While there are other books and resources that go into more depth, just reading Book III of Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies is enough to get your brand new podcast up on iTunes in a matter of days. If you’d rather skip the podcast and go right to blogging, everything you need to know, from finding a blog host to handling comments can be found in Book III.

Books IV-VI talk about the kings of social media: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. How will Twitter help your business? Should you have a Facebook page for your business, and should it be linked to your personal Facebook account? Are there risks involved? Is LinkedIn worth it? Using Facebook and Twitter as marketing tools is a bit different from using them on a personal level. Zimmerman and Sahlin talk about these social media applications in a conversational way, making them a little less scary for those who are new to social media, and informative to those more experienced users. Did you know that using LinkedIn will help you meet people in businesses similar to yours, and can connect you to business professionals in nearly every industry?

Book VII, Other Social Media Marketing Sites, covers lesser known or used sites, including Flickr, Ning and MySpace. Just because they’re not as popular as Facebook or Twitter doesn’t mean they couldn’t have a place in your marketing strategy. The authors help you decide if these sites are right for your business, and if so, how to use them to their fullest potential.

Finally, in Book VIII, Measuring Your Results; Building On Your Success, the authors explain how to analyze if all your hard work is paying off. Here the concepts of metrics, analytics, integration, tracking, and social mapping are introduced and discussed. If your social media campaign isn’t giving you the expected results, Book VIII, Chapter 4 describes what steps to take to fix problems.

Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies is an excellent book for people who want to expand their businesses by entering the social realm, or for people who are just curious about what social media is all about. The authors include links for resources based on each chapter: everything from social media dashboards to web hosting to Twitter metrics. A very nice feature of this book is the generous use of real-life examples of businesses successfully using social media. Read how luxury footwear company “Omelle” markets their products strictly through social media outlets, or how social bookmarking helped laptop sleeve/creator “Barry’s Farm” increase their business and online presence.

The Dummies series of books have always been a favorite of mine. They’re easy to read, well organized, and contain loads of information. This book is no exception.

MyMac.com rating: 10 out of 10

Review – Building A Web Site For DummiesMemo to CNN: here’s how to use social media on-air without looking foolishiPhone: The Missing Manual, 3rd edition, and iPhone For Dummies, 3rd edition – ReviewsBook Review – Digital Photography for DummiesBook Bytes – Digital Photography Combo Review – Three Dummies Books for Smarties

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Increasingly, companies hire only by social media

2010-10-26T18:25:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Josh Shea started a new job as a senior web developer with Brayton Graphics, a design firm in Schenectady. But if it weren't for Shea's use of social media, he never would have heard about the position. It, like many jobs these days, was advertised solely on social networking sites -- specifically Twitter and Facebook.

With more than 500 million users on Facebook, 160 million on Twitter and 75 million on LinkedIn, social media are a growing avenue for employers to reach out to fill open positions and for potential employees to find jobs. Those statistics, combined with the competitive job market and the 6.8 percent local unemployment rate, add up to a new mandate for career-minded men and women: Get a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account and learn how to use it.

"These social networking tools are no longer considered a 'maybe' when it comes to job search and are a must-have for being noticed, building visibility and credibility and for ongoing career management," says Diane Crompton, a senior career management consultant with Right Management in Atlanta. "At least 50 percent of our landed candidates are now using social media as a critical part of being noticed, getting introductions and leads for their next position."

Crompton says more than 80 percent of people now find jobs through networking -- including in-person and online. A recent survey from Jobvite, a maker of recruiting software, found that nearly 75 percent of employers now use social media in their recruiting efforts.

Shea has been using social media -- primarily Facebook and Twitter -- to build his professional brand for nearly three years. Facebook has opened several freelance opportunities, while Twitter led to his new position.

He and Elizabeth Delos, the owner of Brayton, connected on Twitter more than a year ago. They started following each other because of their shared professional interests.

"When I started following them ... I didn't know I'd end up working there," says Shea. "I follow people because they're interesting, not because of an opportunity, but because I want to read what they have to say."

Shea is careful about what he says -- and the images he posts -- on any social networking site. His motto: "You never know who your next client is or who your next contact is."

Having a positive professional presence online through social media sites such as LinkedIn can help a job seeker compete in a crowded candidate pool, says Allison Keibel, the assistant director at the Center for Career Development at Adelphi University. Employers, she says, can find more information online about candidates before bringing them in for an interview -- as Delos did.

This can work to job seekers' advantage, she says, helping them develop a marketing strategy and "brand" their image online by displaying samples of their work on a personal website or by creating profiles with recommendations from colleagues -- a feature that is especially popular on LinkedIn.

As for Shea, the web guru wasn't looking for a job when Delos contacted him. He was working for LifeChurch.TV as a web developer, and enjoying his work, but he was familiar with Delos and her company and admired what they did.

The admiration was mutual. Delos and Shea had been following each other on Twitter for about a year and, while they didn't "talk" regularly, Delos was familiar with -- and impressed by -- Shea's work. So, after Tweeting the position (for those of you who aren't on Twitter, this is the equivalent of standing on a mountain top and shouting to whoever may be listening at the time), she contacted Shea on the social networking site.

Twitter was the only means of advertising she used to fill the spot.

The last time Delos had an opening, she had relied on craigslist, but the influx of unqualified candidates ended up being a waste of time, says Delos, who has never used newspapers or career-specific websites in her searches.

With Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, she can find potential candidates she knows, thanks to previous contact or interaction through the social networking sites. Using the sites also lets employers such as Delos get a feel for the personality of potential employees. She can gauge whether they may fit into the office culture, a key part of employee retention.

This time around, she received little spam and few unqualified or mistargeted applicants through her social media search. What she did get was a pool of about eight solid candidates -- a blend of people who contacted her, and those like Shea, whom she approached.

"A lot of businesses that are established and have been in business for 20 years are used to the print and see social media as an additional added benefit, but for me, this is the only way to go," says Delos, who is 27 and started her company four years ago. "I won't go back."

Kristi Gustafson can be reached at 454-5494 or by e-mail at kgustafson@timesunion.com. Follow her at Facebook.com/JustKristiOnline or Twitter.com/JustKristi

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Business success requires social media

2010-10-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

The Churchill Economic Development Authority's Small Business and Government Contracting workshop covered the importance of social media.

“We're currently in a communication revolution,” said instructor Ben Tedore of the Nevada Small Business Development Center. “The way people are getting information used to be different.”

Attendees were surprised to see social media as one of the available seminars but with its popularity, several were curious.

“I need to find out what social media has to do with government contracting,” said Leslie Martin, owner of MSE Welding and Fabrication LLC. “I'm kind of in awe of how much it's being used.”

Gail Kerr, owner of Squeezy's Cafe, agreed that it is important to pursue because everyone else is.

“I have a cafe where probably the (majority of my customers) are in their 50s, but it is amazing the number of people who are on the computer now,” Kerr said. “I'm sure there's some advantage for us if we find out about it. Economically right now you have to take advantage of everything that can work.”

New forms of advertising

Tedore said social media has changed the way people make purchasing decisions. He said consumers now learn about products and services from other consumers. Meanwhile, advertising seems less trustworthy.

“They want to hear what real people say about these products, not what the products say about themselves,” Tedore said. “They don't trust traditional marketing as much. People are becoming more self empowered. They trust their peers more than what businesses tell them.”

Information sharing occurs mostly through social networking sites, like Facebook, websites and blogs. Blogs are successful because they naturally rank high on search engines. Tedore said search engines look at different web pages and rank them based on key words, new content, content relevancy and the number of page visits. Tedore said blogs produce new content regularly, and they are full of key words on the related topic.

Getting started

Tedore said there are many social networking sites that use different methods to reach people. In addition to Facebook, there are sites like Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Yelp, LinkedIn, FourSquare and many more. Creating a page is as simple as visiting the website and following the directions to join.

To start a website or blog, Tedore recommended www.wordpress.org, which provides free website templates.

For those who are new to social media, Tedore recommended starting out slow by creating a personal page on a site like Facebook and looking at how other businesses use it.

“You can learn a lot just by watching what other people do,” Tedore said.

Once a business page or blog is set up, Tedore recommended people increase their fan base by advertising their presence on merchandise like coffee cups or business cards.

He also said it is key to provide relevant content that will benefit the reader, such as sales. He said advertising content will drive readers away.

“Don't spam,” Tedore said. “You always have to provide valuable content to the people who are following you.”

More change to come

Tedore added online advertising is already beginning to change. More and more companies are using personalized advertising software that reads a person's profile on a site like Facebook and tailors the ad to them. Tedore said there is talk of this technology moving from simple website adds to digital billboards.

He said there are also ideas like microchipping products to allow cell phones to scan for coupons. These are just some of the changes to come in the next 10-20 years.

“You can't wait for it to change or you'll be behind on that as well,” Tedore said.

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Social Media Marketing – Is It Right For You? | Social Marketing Tips

2010-10-25T08:01:00.000-04:00

What Is Social Media And Why We Have It?

Social media, as the name implies, is a means through which people online can stay in touch with each other. Social media sites are gathering places where you can go, log in and instantly see all the news that happened to your family members. You can go to Facebook and find out your friend Marry’s new baby’s name, you can go to YouTube and actually see Marry’s baby walking around, you can go to twitter and tell all your friends about Marry’s new baby’s new adventure, etc.

Makes sense? Social media sites are there for us to be able to stay in touch with each other.

They Are NOT Intended To Be Marketing Tools

Although YouTube is a great place to do video marketing as it gives you free tools and virtually u[pnlimitted space to upload as many promotional videos as you want, it's not intended for you to use it to make money. Although Facebook is an awesome place to use for your new product launch as it allows you to get in touch with up to 5000 people all at the same time, it's not intended for you to make money. Both those sites are there to help you stay in touch with your buddies, so...

How Do You Use Social Media Marketing In your Business?

Well, don't get me wrong. People use social media to make tons of cash all the time, but there is one thing to remember: be very careful.

Let me put it this way: imagine that a long lost friend that you haven't seen for ages calls you up and invites you to dinner. You're way excited to meet with him and talk about the good old times.Mabe you'll get to refresh the friendship. You get to the restaurant. You guys sit down and start eating. Finally, half way through the meal, he starts selling you something.

You almost feel your steak lost its flavor, don't you?

You feel cheated. You feel used. If you're tactful, you finish the meal politely, say good bye and never get in touch with the guy again. If you're really upset, you say you don't want to talk to him anymore, get up and leave. In any case, friendship lost.

Do you want that to happen to you online? Do you really want to be seen as the "pushy salesman" type of friend? Not really? Then use social media marketing with caution. The same is true of video marketing of course.

Now, as I said, if you actually know what you're doing, social media marketing is perfect for generating additional income and traffic to your website or business. You just have to know what you're doing.

Here's an awesome place for you to go check out and learn how to use video marketing and social media marketing to make loads of cash. Enjoy.

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The Role Of Twitter In Social Media Marketing | Social Media Forum

2010-10-24T16:57:00.001-04:00

Twitter is a social network, instant messaging and micro-blogging service that allows users to post “tweets”– 140 character updates that can be seen by other “Tweeters” who are following them. Users are prompted with the question, “What’s happening?” but tweets have evolved from descriptions of day-to-day life into conversations around popular topics, real-time news updates, shared links to interesting web content, photos, music and videos. For businesses, this ongoing dialogue makes Twitter a valuable social media marketing tool.

In order to successfully use Twitter in your social media marketing campaign, you have to post more than one-off advertisements and coupon codes. More than 50 million tweets are sent from Twitter each day, so hard work is required to make your business stand out. Stay afloat by gathering your target audience– the people who regularly tweet about your business’s subject. As well, if your posts contain popular keywords, people will also be able to find you. Once you have your preferred audience, interact with them. Pay close attention to their wants and needs and frequently post information they’ll find useful. After all, the most important part of social media marketing is being social.

Retweeting is crucial for a successful social media marketing campaign. Tweets that are exceptionally relevant and interesting have a chance to be spread and re-spread by other Twitter users, which allows your tweet to reach an infinite audience and possibly become viral. Posts that contain multimedia, such as links to videos, photos, fun articles, news and blogs have the best chance of being retweeted.

Tweetups, which are in-person gatherings of Twitter users, can easily bump your social media marketing plan to a higher level. You’ll have a chance to strengthen current relationships, make new ones and network with people who are just as passionate as you are. Afterward, participants will post followup tweets that contain valuable industry insight. Tweetups give your business a face and a name and close the gap between the virtual and physical worlds.

Twitter is a highly beneficial tool for social media marketing, but it still needs to be used in conjunction with other social platforms, such as Flikr, Facebook and YouTube. When used to its full advantage, Twitter will help create a far-reaching, robust social media marketing plan.

Before starting a social media marketing campaign, be sure to read this informative article on Twitter’s role in social media marketing.

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New Twitter Now Available for All

2010-10-23T16:55:00.001-04:00

Twitter has finished rolling out the new version of its web interface (a.k.a. the “New Twitter”) to all users, the company announced Wednesday.

In a blog post, company spokesperson Carolyn Penner revealed that the New Twitter is now available to all 160 million of Twitter’sTwitter users in six languages. She also said that users will only be able to switch between the old and new versions of Twitter for the next few weeks, after which time only the new version will be accessible.

The company told us last week that the majority of users had access to the new interface (which many have viewed as an all-out attack on third-party Twitter clients), but today marks the official completion of a rollout process that began in September.

The New Twitter, the design of which is based on the proportions of the Golden Ratio, brings many new features to Twitter’s web interface. Most notably, the new version provides support for multimedia viewing directly on Twitter.com, which prevents users from having to click off-site to view images and video.

The new interface also displays a slew of new navigation controls, concentrated in a drop-down menu bar that runs across the top of the screen. Another favorite feature of MashableMashable readers is the ability to view threaded conversations more easily on the Messages page.

Now that everyone has the New Twitter, we’re eager to hear how you like it. Do you prefer it to the old version? Do you now use Twitter.com instead of a third-party client on your desktop?

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Three Tools for Hyper-local Social Media Marketing

2010-10-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

With 500 million people on Facebook, 150 million on Twitter and every Fortune 500 company represented on LinkedIn, many marketers are overwhelmed and overspent trying to engage their customers and prospects. The answer is to think small, going after nano-markets using hyper-local social media marketing tools. A nano-market is smaller than a niche, and it's a group of people with a very specific set of interests.

Previously, these people were hard to find, and communicating with them was costly. But hyper-local search and social media have made it easier to target nano-markets, and most of the tools required to be successful are free or nearly free.

You can't outspend the big brands, and you can't put more hours in than them, either. What you can do is play the game differently by focusing on nano-markets. There are many social media outlets that can help you do this. I'd like to discuss three of my favorites.

Twitter Search
Twitter Search is already the second most used search engine on the internet. More than 1 billion twitter updates are created and indexed monthly; this puts 150 million Twitter members at your fingertips.

Too many people miss the "Advanced" search button. And that's too bad because one of the most important features is the location-based search option. You can drill down and search for people only in your immediate area who are tweeting about topics related to your business or industry and engage them in real-time

One great example of this is Blenz Coffee in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company found people within 10 miles of each of their locations who were tweeting about coffee, lattes, Starbucks and other coffee-related terms, and then engaged them by inviting them to its locations. George Moen, CEO of Blenz, also created a short list of influential bloggers and Twitter personalities and booked one-on-one meetings with them.

According to Moen, the strategy has increased store traffic and sales of online gift cards significantly. The Blenz strategy also helped them achieve the status of one of the top Ambush Marketers during the 2010 Winter Olympics, according to The Global Language Monitor, an independent media monitoring organization.

Meetup
According to founder Scott Heiferman, the purpose of Meetup is to "use the internet to get off of the internet." With more than 18,000 organizers and a growth rate of 500,000 members a month, it has proven to be a powerful tool. For less than $100 per year, you can start your own Meetup on a specific topic. Members in your region who indicate an interest in this topic will receive notifications of your group and upcoming events. Additionally, you can search for people within other Meetups.

By holding Meetup events that build community, share best practices and improve people's lives, you can elevate your organization and be seen as a trustworthy community hub -- versus a vendor or salesperson. It will also give you real insight into how you can help your clients and prospects.

Contact complementary Meetup group organizers and hold quarterly joint events. This exposes each of you to the other's market. It also will accelerate the growth of both respective Meetups.

Another strategy is to target Meetups that interest your prospects. Many of these groups have forums and complete member profiles that allow you to connect with them through Facebook, Twitter or their personal blogs. Be sure to gain consent, and don't send unsolicited pitches to these people. Instead, look for opportunities to contribute to the success of their Meetup groups and communities. This contribution could be in the form of providing sponsorship, guest speaking or even finding a venue for the group.

FourSquare
Some might describe FourSquare as a social game. Users "check in" to a business with their mobile phone and whoever checks in the most times at a business will be named Mayor of that location. Often, users post this information on Twitter and Facebook. Many businesses offer incentives and rewards to frequent visitors, and with more than 3 million users globally, most major cities have several thousand users.

One savvy independent Apple retailer in California monitors who is checking into the other local computer stores and corporately owned Apple stores. He then follows them on Twitter and FourSquare. On Twitter he watches their conversations for opportunities to provide relevant advice. Many of these people have come to his store as a result of their online conversations.

Particularly for retail and service-based businesses, filling out a complete FourSquare profile is vital. You might also add FourSquare-only specials. People will see your special offers when they check in at your business or a nearby business.

Blenz Coffee encourages check-ins by giving a $5 gift card to a new Mayor at each location weekly. According to Blenz, this immediately increased and sustained the number of check-ins at its major locations.

These are only three of the guerrilla social media weapons available. While your larger competitors fill the marketplace with noise, you can connect purposefully with your nano-markets and win the marketing battle one customer at a time.

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Washington Post Tells Journalists Not To Engage on Twitter

2010-10-20T22:32:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post sent a memo to its staffers telling journalists not to answer critics from Post-branded Twitter accounts or to use their personal accounts to “speak on behalf of the Post.”

The memo comes after the Post published a controversial guest article online, “Christian compassion requires the truth about harms of sexuality,” by Tony Perkins.

The article was published after a number of suicides by teenagers, who were bullied for being gay. The article argued that homosexuality is a mental health issue, which prompted GLAAD, a gay activist group to complain about the article via Twitter and on its site. Responding to GLAAD’s public tweets, a staffer from The Washington Post tried to defend the publishing of the article as giving a platform for “both sides” of the debate. The response only fueled more frustration from GLAAD, which took to Twitter to say that there aren’t two sides to the issue at all:

As a result, the following memo was sent to staff by Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti, who is no longer on Twitter after offering his thoughts on more spending for health care:

This week, some Post staffers responded to outside critics via our main
Twitter account. At issue was a controversial piece we’d published online. The intent in replying was to defend the decision to publish the piece, but it was misguided both in describing our rationale for publishing the piece and as a matter of practice. It shouldn’t have been sent.

Even as we encourage everyone in the newsroom to embrace social media and relevant tools, it is absolutely vital to remember that the purpose of these Post branded accounts is to use them as a platform to promote news, bring in user generated content and increase audience engagement with Post content. No branded Post accounts should be used to answer critics and speak on behalf of the Post, just as you should follow our normal journalistic guidelines in not using your personal social media accounts to speak on behalf of the Post.

Perhaps it would be useful to think of the issue this way: when we write a story, our readers are free to respond and we provide them a venue to do so. We sometimes engage them in a private verbal conversation, but once we enter a debate personally through social media, this would be equivalent to allowing a reader to write a letter to the editor–and then publishing a rebuttal by the reporter. It’s something we don’t do. Please feel free to flag Marcus, Liz and me when you see something out there that you think deserves a response from the Post. As we routinely do, we will work with Kris Coratti and her team to respond when appropriate.

The Post is clearly trying to do some damage control, but in a time when it is often difficult to encourage traditional journalists to embrace social media and dialogue with readers, this will only discourage it further. News organizations should be encouraging dialogue and debate, not stifling dialogue between readers and journalists.

Sure, it makes sense that they should rein in who manages the Washington Post-branded Twitter account, as that could be seen as an “official” response of the company and not an individual. But putting a stop on engagement and conversation regarding Post stories from journalists will only distance those reporters from the very community they are a part of. Perhaps a clarification to “speak on behalf of the Post,” could clear up what is okay for journalists to engage in dialogue. But it is also likely that some journalists will now avoid it altogether. There also seems to be a disconnect in what journalists are encouraged to increase audience engagement with Post content, and not the journalists themselves.

The memo goes on to explain why this sort of response or rebuttal for a story should not come from a reporter at the Post, with the reasoning pointing to an old model of dialogue that distances the reporter from the community. Basically, what Narisetti points to is the current process of dialogue and conversation in the controlled environment of “Letters to the Editor.” If readers have something to say, they can respond through that avenue and reporters are not able to write a rebuttal back.

Of course, this varies from news organization to news organization, but this model is broken. It only reaffirms the old model of “we publish and you listen,” and a model that had a disconnect from the news process and the former audience. It is not a model of conversation and dialogue around news that has become increasingly social. Why not encourage reporters to have a dialogue around the news? Around the stories they cover, producing and giving more transparency to the process?

It does appear that some dialogue will still take place from the Washington Post account, but the process seems overly bureaucratic at a time when responding quickly is important.

Thumbnail courtesy of iStockphoto, fotosipsak

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Upcoming Workshop: Marcus Evans Social Media Marketing Conference ...

2010-10-13T20:44:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Gauravonomics Blog for Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Activists! Follow the blog on RSS, Twitter or Facebook and you'll never miss a post again!

I’m delighted to share that I’ll be conducting a half day workshop at the Marcus Evans Social Media Marketing Conference 2010 at Novotel Mumbai on Novermber 18-19, 2010.

I’ll demonstrate the possibilities of a strategic social media program with the Dell case study, illustrate the 18 social media use cases around conversations, campaigns and community using short examples and close by arguing for my 360 redux approach to integrated marketing, with the Pepsi Refresh case study.

Other speakers at the conference include senior executives from Yum International, Viacom18, Cadbury, McDonalds, Taj Hotels, Nokia, Mahindra & Mahindra and Unilever.

Do consider joining me at what promises to be one of the most important conferences on social media marketing in India. More details here.

If you liked this post, you should check out some other posts like this:

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6 Free Web Tools for Managing Time Differences

2010-10-11T17:39:00.000-04:00

This series is brought to you by UPS. Discover the new logistics. It levels playing fields and lets you act locally or globally. It’s for the individual entrepreneur, the small business, or the large company. Put the new logistics to work for you.

Conducting business with international clients can mean more than just a language barrier — there can be a time barrier as well.

With 24 standard time zones, it can be overwhelming to keep track of all your clients’ business hours, and scheduling tasks across time zones can be a challenge.

If your business depends on knowing what time it is everywhere, don’t worry, as there are plenty of free online tools to help you coordinate, and ensure you never unwittingly call a client at 4 a.m.

World Time Zone is a handy, at-a-glance map that lays out every region. Divided and color coded, you can quickly see which areas fall into which time zones. It also displays local times for each of the world’s capital cities.

If you want to focus on a specific region, the site is broken up by continents, so you can view an easy-to-read chart with all the time differences.

Another handy feature is the highlighting of which areas are observing Daylight Saving Time. Also, take a look at the Sun Clock feature, which (as the name implies) allows you to see in what regions the sun is still shining.

This website is pretty much as straightforward as it gets when it comes to calculating time differences. There are two clocks. The one on the left displays your local time. The one on the right will do the conversion for a number of major cities. If you simply need to know the time elsewhere in a hurry, this easy-to-use website has you covered.

If you don’t want to use an external web app, you can keep tabs on international time zones right in your GmailGmail inbox. Simply select the “Labs” icon (the little green beaker) at the top of Gmail and scroll down to enable the “Sender Time Zone” feature. This will allow you to see what the recipient’s current local time is when you send them messages, and allay those worries about why they haven’t answered you yet: They’re probably asleep.

If you need a quick way to keep track of multiple time zones right from your inbox, you can add a Google Gadget to your side bar that displays the relevant info. You’ll need to enable this feature in Gmail Labs, so click that green beaker and enable the “Add any gadget by URL” option.

In a new tab, head over to the Google Gadgets Directory and type “Time Zones” in the search bar. There are a variety of time zone gadgets (of various quality), but a good option is one called World Time Zones.

Back in Gmail, click “Settings,” and you’ll now see a tab marked “Gadgets” has appeared. From the “World Time Zones” Gadget page, you’ll need to grab the second URL (which starts after “&url=” in the address bar, and ends in .XML). Paste it into Gmail’s gadget dialog and hit “Add.” Now, if you scroll down the left side of you inbox, you’ll see the gadget has appeared, and you can flip through all the world’s time zones without ever leaving Gmail.

The World Time Server is another helpful resource for all your international planning needs. The site shows you the current time and date for any city, country or time zone, and has a self-maintained database that adjusts for Daylight Saving Time.

Here too is a time converter, but with twist that’s great for planning long distance interactions in real time. If you were planning a meeting with a client via SkypeSkype, or if you were to live stream a presentation that you wanted clients in different cities to be able to watch at the same time, then this time converter might be of use.

After you’ve set the time for your event, you’ll be sent a link that you can then e-mail to clients or post on your blog or TwitterTwitter profile so that people can figure out at what local time your event is starting.

There is also a meeting planner that allows you to choose up to five states, provinces or countries so you can organize the best time to have a conference call for all the parties involved. The site also offers local news and weather updates — because it never hurts to show a client that you know what’s happening in their neck of the woods.

Time and Date has the same features as the sites listed above, plus a few extras. Calendars and holiday observances are listed here and broken down by country. They are particularly helpful for scheduling important deals or conversations since each country has its own civic holidays or widely observed religious ones that differ from the North American schedule.

The site is updated regularly with news on any changes countries have made regarding their daylight saving time schedule. Another useful feature is a pull down menu of international dialing codes, since it’s not always as simple as dialing one and then the phone number to call out.

Every Time Zone is a simple, nicely designed site that is perfect for quickly accessing time zones and date changes. Your local time is generated from your IP address and is displayed as a fluorescent green bar. Other regions are listed above and below your local time, giving you an instant look at the time difference. You can drag your local time tab forward or backward to measure specific time differences as well.

With these tools, you should be more than able to manage your international meeting times. Let us know in the comments below what works best for you and how you manage working with companies in different time zones.

Series supported by UPS

- HOW TO: Build Your International Business Network Online
- 5 Lightweight CMS Alternatives for Small Businesses
- HOW TO: Optimize Your Mobile Site Across Multiple Platforms
- 8 Funding Contests to Kick Start Your Big Idea
- 4 Tips for Writing SEO-Friendly Blog Posts
- How CEOs Will Use Social Media in the Future

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, JuSun

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Social Media Marketing by SearchReadySeo | Underground Research ...

2010-10-10T17:34:00.001-04:00

SearchReadySeo is located San Francisco Bay Area and serves the greater part of East Bay, Fremont, San Jose, Berkely, . We offer top-quality professional Social Media Networking/Internet Marketing at globally affordable packages.

Social Media Networking in Bay Area is more popular than ever in the online space today. People communicate, socialise and network increasingly online. Marketing in forums, social networking and social bookmarking websites can be more difficult than it seems. Normal marketing and advertising rules do not apply as communities are sensitive to their unique code of conduct that needs to be respected at all times. Adding value and building trust will be the key to our approach.

SearchReadySeo offers social media networking on sites like facebook, twitter, linkedin, yelp, digg, myspace & many more to all of our Bay Area clients.

Our consultants can help to introduce your company to these spaces and also advise you on how to better add value and rip the benefits of a well-positioned product or service.

Whichever method you choose, there are usually four main goals:
Increased brand awareness. You’re interacting with others on the social media channel in order to build awareness for your personal and business brand. You’re increasing your visibility in the right areas and trying to stick in the minds of others through active interaction on many different levels. From this perspective, networking also works to drive traffic back to your website.

Improved reputation. You want to improve how others think about your website so you hang out in forums or networking sites, in order to respond to feedback. You want to keep the communication channels open on all social media fronts. You may also want to improve your reputation as an expert by being consistently involved in discussions on topics that are relevant to your business or website.

Relationships with benefits. One can network with others with the aim of extracting future benefits such as testimonials, links or recommendations. Others are more likely to provide you with a benefit when you’ve taken the effort to interact with them. Networking is a way to build relationships that can be mutually beneficial.

We offer social media marketing services on a great number of networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, Bebo, Digg, MySpace and others. We also offer viral marketing services for marketing in video sharing sites. The work carried out by Social Media has a structured approach of strategy, creative thought, analysis, close monitoring and timely execution. The experience of working in social media spaces since beginning days to maximize their presence and create a viral buzz about their brands with highly effective ROI. The cost of a social marketing campaign can vary but the basic packages still deliver outstanding value for the advertiser.

Social networking allows you to maintain light and more in depth contact with both acquaintances and established friends. Goal for SearchReadySEO is to establish “Web Presence” for websites. Any Website is more likely to get a higher returns in the future than the immediate present.

SearchReadySeo is a professional Search Engine Optimization and Website Design company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. We have been offering our clients one-on-one service which our clients will agree is second to none. We at SearchReadySeo Design believe a company stands or falls not just by the quality of service offered, but more by the continued success of our clients.

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Tags: Advertising Rules, Amp, Berkely, Brand Awareness, Building Trust, Code Of Conduct, Communication Channels, East Bay, Francisco Bay Area, Internet Marketing, Main Goals, Marketing, Media, Myspace, Networking Internet, Reputation, San Francisco Bay, San Francisco Bay Area, SearchReadySeo, Social, Social Networking, Socialise, Visibility, Yelp

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4 Myths about Social Media Marketing

2010-10-09T03:36:00.001-04:00

This is a guest post by Jennifer's co-worker Britt Brouse

Would you say no to a free ad for your freelance business on television or in a local magazine or newspaper? Then you better be doing social media marketing!

Social media marketing is a free way to advertise, yet only a handful of freelancers are using sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to market their services and increase web traffic. The only cost to doing social media marketing is the time you invest in creating a profile, crafting messages and engaging with other users.

The more time and creativity you put into social media, the more leads and new business you'll get out of it. Below are four of the most common social media marketing myths, and how to overcome these falsehoods.

Myth No. 1: I don't have enough time

In order to start an active Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn presence you'll need about an hour a day for about two weeks. Once you have connected with enough followers and friends, the time investment drops to 15 minutes every day or 30 minutes three times a week. Hootsuite.com, is a free tool that aggregates all your social media profiles into one dashboard. The software saves time by eliminating the need to login to each site separately, and it allows users to schedule updates in advance. So by checking into Hootsuite for 15 to 20 minutes once each day, you can set updates to go out hours or days later.

Myth No. 2: I don't know where to start

On all of the leading social media sites, there are built-in tools to help you find your friends and colleagues. Facebook and LinkedIn are pretty easy to use in this respect; however, it's a bit more challenging to build a Twitter following. The best way to build a Twitter following is to follow other graphic designers and industry thought-leaders, and they in turn will follow you. Look at graphic designers’ Twitter profiles and click on the list of people they follow. Then go ahead and follow any of the users who look relevant to you. Use Twitter search to find contacts by keywords and even ZIP code. As you get more advanced at using Twitter, you'll find that lists are a great way to sort and manage all the incoming updates.

Myth No. 3: Nobody cares about what I'm doing

OK, it might actually be true that nobody cares what you're doing. Leading social media marketers actually say you should promote other peoples links and content 12 times more than your own content.

One way to develop content to post is to visit Alltop.com where you can find lists of the best blogs in graphic design and other areas. Then create a Google Reader or a profile on a social bookmarking site such as Delicious.com and add those blogs to your list. This way you can check in with what's being posted in the blogosphere and select a handful of sites to link to and share with your followers. On Twitter, the retweet button is a powerful tool, because it gives you content to push out to your followers and it’s a way to compliment and build a relationship with another user.

Myth No. 4: Social Media Wont' Pay my Bills

Business networking is happening online. LinkedIn.com is a powerful search tool where companies can find local experts and make contact with them for projects and jobs. A LinkedIn profile, complete with recommendations from past clients or employers, is becoming a new form of the cover letter. On Twitter and Facebook, you'll need to take a subtler approach to marketing your business. Let's say you are working on design for a nonprofit marketing campaign. If you share an update on Twitter or Facebook about what you are doing, then maybe another nonprofit client out there will notice and contact you. It never hurts to toot or “tweet” your own horn a little bit.

Britt Brouse writes for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. She has been writing about marketing, graphic design and online printing for more than five years. You can find PsPrint on Twitter and Facebook.

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Valley arts embracing social media

2010-10-08T07:04:00.000-04:00

by Kerry Lengel - Oct. 1, 2010 01:18 PM
The Arizona Republic

From the top institutions to the grass roots, Valley artists and performers are jumping on the social-media bandwagon, using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to interact with their audiences, and maybe even to grow them.

But for Jennifer Spencer, marketing director for Arizona Theatre Company, the latter would just be icing on the cake.

"I don't care how many followers we have or how many people 'like' us," she says. "People who are liking us or fanning us on Facebook already know us. They're already interested. So it's not always just a sales message. You want to get them talking."

Conversation is the buzzword. ATC, with nearly 1,200 friends on Facebook, uses the platform to link to videos or photos taking fans backstage for its next show or to invite patrons to chat about news bits from the theater world.

"It's so easy to just throw a generic marketing message up there, but how do you have a presence without being boring?" Spencer says. "It's exciting when this conversation gets going. It affirms the fact that we're doing something that people care about. And we do pay attention to what people say."

That's exactly the right approach, says Lorrie Thomas, CEO of Web Marketing Therapy, a California consulting firm.

"Social media is a way to serve and to support," she says. "You may get some sales off it, but if you enter the social Web with the idea that you're going to push propaganda, you're going to fail. You use the social Web as a way to offer quality information.

"We live in an era of mass collaboration, and we're looking for things that are useful and relevant."

Over at Phoenix Theatre (750-plus friends), public-relations rep Theresa Dickerson agrees that interacting with audiences is key, but she's convinced networking technologies have been gold for good old-fashioned sales as well.

"Word of mouth is one of our biggest tools to sell tickets, and social media makes that so much easier," she says.

The Valley arts group with the largest social-media following has to be the Phoenix Art Museum.

"We had a Facebook page for a while and it kind of sat there," museum director James Ballinger says. "So we went to a much more casual kind of language in our postings. We solicited feedback, so we've tried to have an active voice with our audience on Facebook. We try to change the message every few days, and the result is, over the past 12 or 14 months, we went from over 1,000 Facebook friends to over 16,000."

Furthermore, he's confident that online success has strengthened the institution's bottom line.

"I can't tell you that 7 percent of our attendance last year came from Facebook interaction," he says, "but I can tell you . . . it's clear that we have a much younger audience than we used to. Visibly, on a daily basis, you can tell. And attendance went up 10 percent last year, 10 percent again this year."

Individual artists are having success on social media as well, such as female impersonator Richard Stevens, better known as Barbra Seville, who is on Facebook throughout the day to keep her 3,000 friends amused.

"It's an extension of what I do onstage," Stevens says. "It's entertaining my audience."

Having a sizable online following helped Seville "go viral" with a video spoof of Gov. Jan Brewer last month that has racked up more than 67,000 views on YouTube. And that in turn brought more interest to the Facebook page.

"I was picking up five friend requests an hour for a while," Stevens says. "It was really crazy."

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Boston Globe to Launch Separate Paid Site

2010-10-07T07:19:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe announced Thursday that the online version of its newspaper will be moving from Boston.com to BostonGlobe.com, and that it will begin charging for full access to the latter beginning the second half of next year.

Print subscribers will automatically have full access to all of The Boston Globe’s daily published content at the new site; others will have to purchase a print or digital-only subscription. The price for the latter has not yet been determined.

Boston.com will transition into a free, local news site, pulling in breaking news, sports, weather and more from a variety of sources — including, of course, some from The Boston Globe. The paper is also developing a number of branded apps and other digital products for smartphones, tablets and other devices, the company announced.

“Our research shows that Boston.com currently attracts several different types of user,” Publisher Christopher Mayer said in a statement. “Some are readers whose main interest is breaking news and things to do, while others want access to the entirety of The Boston Globe. These two distinct sites will allow us to serve both types of readers with maximum effectiveness, while continuing to provide advertisers the large engaged audience they have come to expect from Boston.com,” he declared.

The strategy jumps on two emerging trends in the news industry. The first is a growing propensity among traditional print news organizations to charge readers for full access to content. A number of newspapers have placed or plan to place some or all of their content behind paywalls, including The Wall Street Journal, The London Times and The New York Times, the latter of which is owned by the same parent company as The Boston Globe.

Boston.com follows a different movement: The recent proliferation of free local news sites like ChicagoNow, owned by The Chicago Tribune and TBD.com, the content for which is sourced from other providers. These sites are filling in the void of local newspapers, more than 100 of which shut down in 2009 alone.

While the decision to split into two distinct properties may strike some as odd, it’s a wise move in a transitioning market. Faced with rising costs, falling print circulation and declining or flat advertising revenue, newspapers have been forced to explore new business models. Although digital advertising revenue is growing, the web offers nearly infinite ad space, and newspapers simply cannot command the same rates for online display ads as they could once charge for print.

The Boston Globe currently attracts about 5 million unique readers per month, making it the eighth largest newspaper website in the U.S.

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