A few years ago, most technology firms, as well as most companies, were not as familiar with the benefits of social media sites for creating brand awareness, building a wide network, and creating an online presence to communicate, and engage followers / prospective clients.
Now that social media has become more “main stream”, a noticeable paradigm shift has occurred in the attitude toward social media held by people, companies, retail stores, civic organizations, restaurants, non-profits, athletic teams, and of course, all types of media and nightly news organizations.
Individuals and companies, formally content to sit on the “sidelines” with little or no interest in social networking sites, have embraced social media with renewed interest, and want to be more a part of it now, or at least have a better understanding of what all the social media “buzz” is about.
The more savvy converts to the power of social media have learned to “listen” to what others say about them, their company, product, or industry. They have discovered a way to grow a wider network, create greater brand awareness, and build solid relationships to promote better customer engagement.
“Fish where the fish are. There are a great number of social networking sites that a company can leverage to its advantage to see where their customers are “active”, and expressing a desire or need for services, products, or information. ” – From a previous Richmond Social Media Examiner article, 6 social media marketing tips for e-Commerce
Many success stories of how different companies are benefiting from social media have been documented in several articles. The following insight by Eric Rivers brings to light how some well known brands are not only embracing social media, but are encouraging their employees to do so, as well.
“IBM has a presence across most of social media, but perhaps their greatest innovation is the way in which they positively encourage their employees to use social media to discuss their work. This can include what they’re working on at the moment, plans for the future and even new products.
There is a central concept here that many companies should consider: IBM believes the best way to showcase its work and products is via its own staff. Their talent and enthusiasm acts as a great commercial for all they do and by allowing its staff to use social media, the company is showing its faith in its employees and by extension customers feel more comfortable and engaged by the brand.”
- From Technology Brands Using Social Media Effectively – By Eric Rivers January 7, 2011
“Mumbai: Indian companies have increased their usage of social networks like Facebook , besides blogs, microblogs like Twitter and other on-line fora to win new business in 2011, a survey said.
An increasing number of Indian companies are using social media as an effective business tool with 83 per cent firms in India agreeing that without social media activity, marketing strategies cannot hope to be successful, while globally, 74 per cent companies endorse the view, according to the survey by Regus, a leading office-space solutions provider.
Around 52 per cent of businesses globally and 64 per cent in India use sites like Twitter and Weibo to engage, connect with and inform existing customers. In India 67 per cent of firms encourage their employees to join social networks such as LinkedIn, Xing and Video, compared to 53 per cent globally.”
- Indian firms using social media to win new business – By PTI, Tuesday, 07 June 2011
Although this next article was published a few years ago, the message is clear, even if the statistics for social media usage have certainly increased since the original publication.
“In the past few years social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube and others have revolutionized the way businesses go about networking. Whether promoting themselves to customers or journalists, or gathering market feedback, major corporations and small enterprises have begun leveraging the power of online social networks. Let’s examine this growing phenomenon to see how it’s applicable for many businesses.
Is Social Media really here to stay?
The statistics below indicate that this is not simply a fad, but a real paradigm shift.
- 88% of marketers are using social media
- 67% of global web-users visit social network sites
- 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites
- 77% of all active internet users regularly read blogs
What is the value of social media networks?
Social media is really about two things; raising awareness of your company and tapping into relevant online conversations that affect your company and its technology. Today, when such a large percent of your audience is using social media to research just about everything, drawing online attention to your company and learning about your audience’s needs through these networks, is clearly one of the keys success.”
- From WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA ESSENTIAL FOR TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES – By David Anthony | 11/16/09
Research was conducted on some of the top technology firms in the Richmond, VA area on June 15, 2011 to see which social network sites were being used for their branding and marketing efforts.
The statistics below indicate the level to which these firms now embrace the social media “power trio” (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter), and other social networks like You Tube, as well.
- 100% of the 20 firms surveyed had both Facebook and Linked accounts
- 75% of the firms had also had Twitter accounts
- 75% of the firms had social media links on their home page
- 30% of the firms had YouTube accounts
The social media footprint – online reputation, customer engagement, communication, interaction, and attention to brand are all part of the new economics / e-Commerce picture.
Many technology firms in the Richmond area understand this and are embracing social media to create better brand awareness, get their message to their target market, create engagement with followers, and monitor their online reputation.
Is your technology firm on the same “playing field” with other technology firms finding success with social networking, or are you watching from the “sidelines” – out of sight, out of mind? Will your firm be ON or OFF the radar when that next potential customer comes looking for technology services via social media?
- Daulton West, Jr., aka “DWestJr” on Twitter
Other articles that may be of interest:
5 best practice tips: use social media to engage, not enrage followers
6 social media marketing tips for e-Commerce
Companies use social media to boost e-Commerce sales
More social media news, views, tools, & tips:
Richmond Social Media Examiner
Posted in Social Media 4 Business by .
(Used for account hosted at GoDaddy.com)
After researching the WordPress forums, and other sources that listed options for changing a domain name or URL, I did not find one that convinced me that there is one method that works in all cases.
This is what worked for me. It was relatively simple and did not take much time to complete. I wanted to share it with others, in the hope that I can save others the time I spent researching how to change a WordPress domain name.
The steps are: BACKUP your site, CHANGE domain name, CHANGE the URL directly in the database.
1) Hosting Account => backup site and change domain name
Backup site
- Go to My Account => Hosting => Launch => Databases => MySQL
- Click pencil icon (Edit) under Action => Select Backup => click OK (May take up to 2 hrs)
- Use an FTP program (Ex: Filezilla) to copy your completed database backup and all files off-site (to your PC)
Change domain name – Domain Name System (DNS)
- Go to My Account => Hosting => Settings (top menu) => Change Domain Name (Edit Primary Domain box appears)
- Enter new domain name ONLY (not entire URL address) Ex: newdomain.com
(takes up to 24 hrs; I did this at 9 PM; DNS was changed by 8:30 AM in the morning)
2) phpMyAdmin => change the URL directly in the database
Log in to your Account Manager
- From the Products section, click Web Hosting
- Next to the hosting account you want to use, click Launch
- In the Databases section of the Hosting Control Center, click MySQL
- Next to the WordPress database, click Manage via phpMyAdmin
- Enter the username and password for your database
- In the left hand column, click ‘+’ beside your database name
- Click ‘wp-options’
- Click on the ‘Browse’ icon on the left in the top menu
- Find siteurl in the ‘option_name’ column, click the Pencil (Edit) icon and change ‘option_value’ from http://www.OLDdomain.com to http://www.NEWdomain.com (where http://www.NEWdomain.com is your site’s new address and http://www.OLDdomain.com is your site’s old address)
- Increment Page number to ‘2’, find home in the ‘option_name’ column and repeat step 9 to change ‘option_value’ from your site’s old address to site’s new address
To verify all occurrences of your site’s old address were changed to site’s new address
- On the phpMyAdmin page, in the Left column, click the SQL icon in the middle
- Enter the following in the text box that appears: (remember the quotes ‘http… ‘)
UPDATE wp_options
SET option_value = ‘http://www.NEWdomain.com‘
WHERE option_value = ‘http://www.OLDdomain.com‘
(where http://www.NEWdomain.com is your site’s new address and http://www.OLDdomain.com is your site’s old address)
=> Click Go (Check information window to see if any other occurrences were changed)
If any graphics / other files do not appear on your site after the above changes:
- Edit the pages of your WordPress site in HTML view
- Enter ‘Ctrl + F’, then old site URL (Ex: http://www.OLDdomain.com), to Find any occurrences of old site URL
- Replace any old site URLs with the new URL (Ex: http://www.NEWdomain.com)
Posted in WordPress by .
The VCU Mass Communications & Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program presented the results of their social media campaigns for Nonprofits at the VCU Commons Theater on Thursday,7/29/10.
I attended, took notes, and published an article on the event. Here are the article highlights:
VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University), located in Richmond, VA, was honored as one of the two host universities to participate with the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP).
See VCU Social Media and follow @VCUsocial on Twitter for more details.
Background information:
“The Iraqi students are participating in the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP), funded by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and implemented by the Academy for Educational Development (AED). VCU was chosen by the U.S. State Department as one of the two host universities this summer and is the only host university in which IYLEP participants are working side by side with American students.” (From the VCU Social Media Networking and Intercultural Understanding program event notes).
Social Media Networking and Intercultural Understanding event – 7/29/10
The event got under way at 6 PM, with a brief recap of how the VCU – IYLEP partnership program was formed. VCU professors Marcus Messner and Jeff South introduced the program.
The audience was told that the participating students from Iraq and VCU were put together into teams, and given the opportunity to select a Nonprofit agency. 10 Richmond non-profit organizations had new or redesigned social media projects. 47 students from Iraq and VCU formed the teams, comprised of 24 VCU students (graduate & under-graduate), and 23 Iraqi students (under-graduate only).
The first step was to create a social media campaign for the Nonprofit. The teams were given some basic guidelines for creating the social media campaign. In general, the campaigns were to increase awareness, community support, foster greater community involvement, and create an ongoing dialogue with the Nonprofit agency.
The format for the evening was each team would have 10 minutes to present their campaign details, identify which social media tools were used, how they were implemented, campaign results, and what benefits were realized by the Nonprofit. A max of two questions would be taken from the audience at the end of each team’s presentation.
At the end of the event, the audience was given a Text Login, and an ID for each Nonprofit, with instructions to use their cell phones to vote for only one winner.
Nonprofit teams / winner campaign highlights:
The 10 Nonprofit agencies are listed, along with a brief recap of the team presentations from my notes. Twitter ID’s were listed where possible, along with the website designated in the Twitter account.
Please visit the websites, and all the social media sites, to get the full picture of all the wonderful work these agencies do in our community.
The VCU and Iraqi students shared their unique stories of how the campaigns were designed, implemented, what challenges were faced, and the campaign results, if known. Other results may be available at a later date.
One result was realized by all agencies. The use of social media to get the word out, build a stronger brand, engage followers with better information, and provide tools for an ongoing dialogue with the community was a major success.
The 10 teams consisted of:
ConnectRichmond
CultureWorks
Dream Academy
Family Lifeline
Greater Richmond SCAN
Greater Richmond Urban League
Hilliard House
Richmond Public Arts Commission
Voices for Virginia’s Children
YWCA of Richmond
Campaign voting results
At the end of the night, I had the difficult task of voting for the one team that ran the best campaign. Suffice it to say, all teams did a tremendous job in a very short time frame, and all were WINNERS!
Winner’s link - http://www.vcusocialmedia.com/2010/07/and-here-are-the-winners/
Top 3 teams, as voted by the audience:
Greater Richmond SCAN – http://www.grscan.com/
Description – Stop Child Abuse Now. Our mission is to treat and prevent child abuse & neglect in the Greater RVA area.
Goal – Reinforce brand colors, get consistent message out to prevent & treat child abuse
Social Media tools used – Twitter @rvaSCAN, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare
Action – Added new Facebook Programs and Donate tabs, YouTube promotional video, WordPress blog site to organize news, events, newsletter, get the message out to the community, Alix Bryan (@alixbryan) created IYLEP @VCU 2010 – http://vimeo.com/12404828
Results – Social media enhancements created greater community awareness for SCAN mission.
* 1st place finish in voting for best Nonprofit campaign *
Family Lifeline – http://www.familylifeline.org/
Description – Established in 1877, mission is to provide families with the tools and resources needed to create a better future for themselves and their community.
Goal – Storytelling + Outreach + Sustainability
Social Media tools used – Twitter @familylifeline, Facebook, Blog
Action – Started a blog, averaged 20 minutes a day on Facebook, Twitter to get message across, followed related Nonprofits on Twitter, Facebook, hoping to attract new followers
Results – Increased awareness in community, 20 minutes a day plan to post updates was sustainable and produced results
*2nd place finish in voting for best Nonprofit campaign*
Greater Richmond Urban League – http://www.empowerrichmond.org/
Description – Urban League of Greater Richmond: Young Professionals network, focused on assisting Richmond with better employment, education, housing and health issues.
Goal – Increase awareness, reach 21 – 45 yr old demographic.
Social Media tools used – Twitter @RichmondYP, Facebook, Hootsuite
Action – New website created, Hootsuite used to organize Facebook, Twitter, and get the word out
Results – 75 new members obtained.
*3rd place finish in voting for best Nonprofit campaign*
Most popular social media productivity tools – Were Hootsuite (a dashboard for managing multiple accounts) and Tumblr (blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links)
Twitter categories to track comments, articles, links, results and information on the event - #vcuiylep #iylep #SMCEDURVA #VCUsocial #SMCRVA
The partnership of the VCU Social Media and the IYLEP organizations, that launched effective campaigns to benefit the 10 Nonprofits, was highly successful in using social media for storytelling, raising awareness, and creating a dialogue in the community to engage supporters. The fact that all of this was accomplished in 16 days was truly remarkable. (teams met with clients on 7/13)
A common theme and goal of many of the campaigns was to obtain maximum brand awareness, and spread the word with simplicity and sustainability in mind.
Click US and Iraqi students partner on social media campaigns to benefit nonprofits for the complete Examiner article.
Posted in Nonprofits by .
Shortly after I began using Twitter, I became aware of many of the Twitter tools available -Twhirl, TweetDeck, and HootSuite. I used all of these on occasion, but eventually settled on HootSuite as my social media dashboard of choice.
The ‘Send Later’ option was always a plus and made it very easy to schedule tweets at a later date. The dashboard for organizing tweets provided a quick glance for viewing mentions, direct messages, sent tweets, received tweets, and with a later release – searches, and lists.
HootSuite was designed for Twitter initially, but later releases included a very user-friendly interface that allowed other social networks to be updated when posting messages to Twitter – notably LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace. One of the more recent releases added WordPress and Foursquare to the social network options.
I took a closer look at the new HootSuite5 release that came out at the end of June, and found many new features, changes, and innovations that provide better ways to share updates, engage followers, track mentions, and gather site analytics.
My most recent Examiner article provides a more in-depth review of many of the new features and can be viewed at – HootSuite5 adds new features: drag & drop, keyword filters, message drafts & more
A few excerpts from the article follow -
HootSuite5 arrived on June 24, 2010 with new features including Monitor Mentions, New Retweets, Custom Interface, Drag & Drop, Facebook+, Google Analytics, and Team Collaboration, to name a few.
Hootsuite continues to drive innovation and enhance its very popular social media dashboard with more features to engage customers and followers, a custom interface to change themes, native Twitter Retweets, and integrated Google Analytics. Other highlights include improvements to the Facebook interface, saving messages as drafts to send later, tracking keyword mentions, and a RSS feed option.
Helpful links for more information
http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-html-5/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-owl-news-roundup/
http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-customer-relationship/
The world of social media continues to evolve, and the Hootsuite dashboard remains at the forefront as a very helpful, time-saving tool for organizing, updating, viewing, and sharing information across social networks.
Frequent releases add new innovative features, tools, interfaces, and ways to monitor brand mentions via keywords, searches, and site analytics. The challenge is to become of aware of the new tools as they become available and put them to work for you.
I hope this article will help both those new to Hootsuite, and previous Hootsuite users, find some useful tools and tips to better engage followers, grow a wider network, and save valuable time along the way.
To view other Richmond Social Media Examiner articles that may be of interest, click here.
Posted in HootSuite Twitter Tools by .
Everyone should understand a few “best practice” guidelines so that they can maximize their brand awareness and establish a positive online presence. With all the social media sites that are available now, and as a growing number of people discover and use them, the result may be the tendency to share too much information, too frequently, or annoy followers with excessive self-promotion.
What is effective communication via social media, and specifically, what is the right level to engage others without driving them away? How frequently should one send out updates, post new messages, or update their status / profile? For many, these answers may depend on what the goals are – growing a network for business building, sharing information / industry updates / late-breaking news, or building a wide network to help with a job search.
No matter what the intent for using a social media site, sharing something of value or “free” will serve one well and begin building a positive brand for an individual. Blasting out numerous updates too often, or trying to “sell” someone, may label you as a self-promoter who shares “anything and everything”, and even run the risk of being viewed as a “spammer”. You want to “engage”, not “enrage” followers.
There are many social media sites that could be reviewed, but LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook remain the most widely used, so I will focus on them. Given their huge following, and with users numbering in the millions, I coined the phrase social media “power trio” to refer to these popular sites in a previous article, 3 sites to help in your job search: the social media ‘power trio’.
1) Use the social media “power trio” – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook wisely
Here are ways to help, not hurt your personal brand, with these sites.
- Profile updates - keep this current, update it every time you update your resume. Also update when you add new files, SlideShare presentations, book recommendations, or a new website.
- Twitter - add your Twitter ID so connections can find & “follow” you on Twitter.
- Link or News – share items that have value; something your connections might want to share with others. Some examples of content that will add value / pique the interest others: recommendations to great articles, blogs from industry leaders, useful links, tools, tips, late-breaking news, and upcoming events, something funny, thought-provoking, or unusual.
Best practice tip -
Do NOT post status updates describing a laundry list of all your daily / weekly meetings. Focus on sharing content that has value for others, and don’t post too many updates. A good rule of thumb is post status (Link or News) updates at least every week or two, and avoid excessive daily updates, remember – it’s “quality”, not “quantity” that matters.
- What’s happening? - Twitter’s status update window is probably best used for sharing and gathering valuable content – links, tools, tips, news, views, recommendations, quotes, interesting or humorous posts from others. This is really a great site to wisely use the 140 characters to recommend the work of others or share your own content with a brief headline and link to a blog, website, or recent article. (Think 80/20 rule – promote others 80% of the time; only 20% personal or The thirds rule – 1/3 = industry related; 1/3 = about your field/company; 1/3 = about YOU).
- #hash tags - add the # tag to categorize important posts, breaking news, etc. so that they are captured and can be retrieved by you and others later.
- Lists – adding the Twitter ID of others to lists you create is a great way to validate that their tweets are valuable and worth sharing. The number of times a person’s ID appears in a similar list throughout the ‘twitterverse’ is a strong indicator of how well their posts mirror their brand. List examples: social-media-marketing, job-career-experts, personal-branding.
- If your Twitter ID is not appearing in the lists that support your brand objective, it may be time to take a closer look at your tweets and the signals they are giving off. Maybe a change of content or tone to deliver the right message is in order.
Best practice tip -
Think BEFORE you send – ask yourself “so what?”
“Thinking “so what” at the end of a message is a good test to pre-qualify whether the message may have value (for someone other than you). Are you tweeting something that your followers will want to share with their connections? A message that shares information about a great new social media tool, career networking event, or late-breaking news probably passes this test. What one had for breakfast or sharing boring, mundane, daily details, adds little value, and does NOT pass the test.
- From a previous article, Best practices tip: post high value messages to build your brand
Facebook
- Profile / Info – keep Work and Education, Contact Information current with career experience, accomplishments, current websites, or blogs.
- Groups – join groups in your industry, field of expertise, and those that match your likes and interests
- Profile / Info/ Likes and Interests / Pages - “Like” pages that support your business or career goals, hobbies, music interests, civic clubs / organizations, etc.
- Create your own page to promote a new business, website, or blog, and share something of value – information, links, industry news, articles, “free” downloads with friends and followers.
- Networked Blogs – follow blogs of industry leaders, friends, similar business interests; submit you own blog for others to follow
- SlideShare – share your latest PowerPoint presentations
- My LinkedIn Profile – be sure to add your LinkedIn URL so that others can find & view your profile information on LinkedIn.
- Photos- share business-related, interesting, fun, or unusual photos here.
- A word of CAUTION: To maintain your personal brand, and ensure your online presence is not compromised, DO NOT post risque, controversial, or wild-party weekend / vacation pictures here. REMOVE any pictures that may damage your brand. This is especially true for job seekers and those in career transition. Most employers these days are very aware of social media sites, and will check all of them to verify that a person is a good candidate for a position at their firm. Any non-professional photos that present one in a bad light can be a ‘deal-breaker’ and cost one a job opportunity.
2) Send out high value messages to build your brand
“Do your messages add value? Would others want to share them?
Facebook asks, “What’s on your mind?”; Twitter asks, “What’s happening?“; LinkedIn has a “Share an idea, article, question or update” window.
The problem is too many people take this literally and often post messages describing their day-to-day mundane activities. Most people don’t really want or need to know about one’s daily routine.
Think “what are you focused on?” What value message can you post that others may want to read and share with others?”
- From Examiner article, Best practices tip: post high value messages to build your brand
“Share really useful links, news related to your field, things that are really funny or inspirational, or inside information about your business or blog. The key is to make sure almost every message is something that people will want to share with their friends.
Here’s something that many people who use social media don’t understand: if you send out too many messages, people might stop following you or might even block you, because you’re flooding their inbox.”
The secret is to try to make every message you send, or at least a high percentage of them, high-impact messages. Limit yourself to high-impact messages to reduce the time you spend communicating.”
- From ‘Focus on sending out high impact messages‘ article by Leo Babauta, May 14th, 2009
Protect your brand – send out messages that add value. Learn to be selective - “less” is “more”
3) Resist the need to “follow” or “friend” everyone who sends you an invite.
Everyone using social media sites will surely get Facebook “friend” requests, LinkedIn “connection” requests, and will most likely get new “followers” on Twitter.
Learn to be selective – “quality” is better than “quantity” when it comes to connecting. If you get a request from someone you don’t know, share nothing in common with them, and they were NOT suggested to you by a friend – why would you connect with them? In the case of Twitter, you do not need to “auto-follow” someone back.
Best practice tip –
Decide if there is any risk involved BEFORE you accept a “friend” request or “connect” with them. View their profile in advance and see if you have any common interests, business or otherwise, that might be mutually beneficial to both of you. On Twitter, check out the websites of any new “followers”, and also view a sample of their tweets. If you like what you see – follow them back, otherwise NOT following them poses no real threat; you can always “block” someone from following you later.
Connecting with someone you are not familiar with could lead to receiving “spam” or “buy my stuff” type messages.
4) Avoid any “negative” or “controversial” messages at all costs
Social media sites can prove very beneficial for optimizing online presence, personal branding, building relationships, and growing a wide network to promote a business or help with a job search.
Reminder: anything negative you share on the Internet is “permanent” and never goes away. Be very cautious of the content and tone of messages you send out; you cannot assume the person you sent the message to will not share it with others. A really negative comment can come back to “bite you” and permanently hurt your brand.
Likewise, avoid any highly controversial subject matter, “sensitive” political issues, personal attacks, or inflammatory remarks in your messages or comments. Take the “high” road, keep it “professional”, or you may lose friends / followers. Remember: people did not connect with you, only to have you message them with your political commentary, or inappropriate remarks.
5) Learn, Listen, Engage, Share, Build, Grow
I originally shared the six points listed here in my online marketing article, 6 social media marketing tips for e-Commerce. The concepts seem applicable for any online marketing plan, and are worth repeating as “best practice” recommendations for effective brand building with social media.
- Learn - about social media, how to leverage it for information gathering, branding, and marketing.
- Listen – to what others are saying about your company / product / industry.
- Engage – your connections and customers frequently, recommend them, follow their conversations, offer your help and services, and be a “problem solver” for them.
- Share - something of value to your social community – discounts, giveaways, downloads, memberships, e-books, or other “free” offerings.
* You have to give in order to get.
* Build your brand as someone who shares valuable content.
* Look for opportunities to share articles, sites, links, and breaking news.
* Support industry leaders by recommending their work, and sharing links to their websites.
Best practice tip: don’t just connect with someone in order to sell them something.
- Build – relationships and maintain them with frequent follow ups, updates, and phone calls.
* Leverage social media as a catalyst to build “online” connections to get “offline” meetings.
- Grow - a strong, dynamic social media presence to expand your business network, and cast a wide net to reach more potential followers / customers.
To view this Examiner article and other articles that may be of interest, click here.
Learn, Listen, Engage, Share, Build, Grow
As I shared in a previous Examiner article, Companies use social media to boost e-Commerce sales, online retailers, computer companies, and other more traditional “brick & mortar” type companies are leveraging social media to boost e-Commerce sales. In addition to traditional marketing means, many companies are considering some form of social media to build their online brand presence and enhance their overall marketing strategy.
Based on recent research and the findings of other authors, a list of tips was compiled to benefit not only those new to social media marketing, but also those who want to expand their social media presence to take their e-Commerce marketing strategy to the next level.
1) Learn - about social media, how to leverage it for information gathering, branding, and marketing.
- Check the calendars of local network meetings, Meetup groups, and business events; attend the ones that offer social media programs to learn and become more social media savvy.
- Find and follow the blogs, articles, and recommendations, of industry leaders, or a “champion” (an advocate who understands the benefits of social media).
- Hire a social media strategist / consultant for some “hands on” training for your company to leverage the latest social media trends, tools, and how to use them.
- Learn how social media marketing campaigns can stimulate business growth.
2) Listen- to what others are saying about your company / product / industry.
- “Fish where the fish are.” There are a great number of social networking sites that a company can leverage to its advantage to see where their customers are “active”, and expressing a desire or need for services, products, or information.
- Leverage popular social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube to see how your brand is being discussed, what is being said about your competitors, or by them.
- Use a Google Alert or other free tools like Social Mention or Trackur to monitor mentions of a company name, specific industry or keyword.
3) Engage- your connections and customers frequently, recommend them, follow their conversations, offer your help and services, be a “problem solver” for them.
- Leverage social media sites to “connect”, “follow” or “friend” new contacts to expand your network and reach potential customers.
- Use Twitter sites such as Twellow to research companies or individuals of interest, “follow” them and monitor relevant conversations to see what is being discussed about your industry.
- Use Facebook and LinkedIn search to locate companies, people of interest, and events to find new ways to engage and interact.
4) Share- something of value to your social community – discounts, giveaways, downloads, memberships, e-books, or other “free” offerings.
- You have to give in order to get.
- Build your brand as someone who shares valuable content.
- Look for opportunities to share articles, sites, links, and breaking news.
- Support industry leaders by recommending their work, and sharing links to their websites.
Best practice tip: don’t just connect with someone in order to sell them something.
5) Build – relationships and maintain them with frequent follow ups, updates, and phone calls.
- Leverage social media as a catalyst to build “online” connections to get “offline” meetings.
- Use timely communications to strengthen relationships for existing and potential customers.
- Schedule face to face interaction whenever possible to strengthen relationships.
6) Grow- a strong, dynamic social media presence to expand your business network, and cast a wide net to reach more potential followers / customers.
- Grow your network and build your brand by creating conversations that span several social media sites.
- Target the right audience with something of value to increase engagement, business interactions, and more opportunities for e-Commerce sales.
A recent post by Michelle Bowles, offered great tips for those venturing into e-Commerce marketing:
Monitor What Your Competitors Are Doing. Whether your ecommerce business is new to social media marketing, or just need to take your efforts up a notch, competitive intelligence can be very useful.
Spend some time by conducting a competitive audit of your top five competitors on the social web. Include:
• The social sites in which they are active
• The type of content they publish on the social web
• The number of followers/fans/views they have on each site
• How they promote specific products, programs or events via social media
Don’t Just Push Products and Promotions.
The primary goal of your ecommerce site may be to sell products, but your social media marketing strategy should encompass a wider range of tactics than simply promoting offerings.
Incorporate some of these ideas into your ecommerce social media marketing strategy:
• Share messages or news stories from external sources
• Create a blog on your website and feed blog content to your social accounts
• Ask questions, participate in discussions or poll your customers via social media
• Post pictures from company events or videos from your CEO’s speaking engagements
- From 5 Social Media Tips for Ecommerce Marketing, Michelle Bowles on Mar 12th, 2010
Many existing e-Commerce sites are now making it easier for customers to purchase their products via social networking channels. The challenge for many becomes how to leverage the benefits of social media marketing, and how to best integrate social media into their overall marketing strategy.
The marketing tips are just a starting point for creating an e-Commerce social media marketing strategy for a business. As social media sites evolve and new tools, features and functions are made available, the new challenge becomes how to keep up with all this, and know what, if any, changes need to be made to the social marketing strategy.
Are you using social media to complement your marketing plan? Do you need a social media champion to take a closer look at your online brand presence and help take your e-Commerce marketing strategy to the next level?
To view this Examiner article and other articles that may be of interest, click here.
Posted in e-Commerce by .
Companies + social media marketing = boost for e-Commerce sales
Online retailers, computer companies, and other more traditional “brick & mortar” type companies are leveraging social media to boost e-Commerce sales. While other companies appear ready to consider a marketing option that includes at least some aspect of social media, Starbucks, Dell, and JetBlue are not waiting on the sidelines, they are leading the way and have enjoyed increased sales as a result.
In a prior Examiner article, Do you need a social media champion?, I shared the observation, “Marketing firms, ad agencies, large companies, entrepreneurs, small businesses, sales people, start-up companies, consulting firms, internet marketing firms, job seekers, software developers, technology pioneers, hiring managers, curiosity seekers, and everything in between, are taking a much closer look at social media to understand exactly what it is, and what, if any benefits, it has to offer.”
Starbucks, Dell, and JetBlue got results using innovative ways to provide value for customers using social media. Social Media Success Stories on SlideShare mentions Starbucks, Dell, and many other companies who have found success with web 2.0 marketing. The author mentions that, “new technologies evolve daily resulting in new opportunities. Cutting edge campaigns can look “old fashioned” within months. The focus of these campaigns is usually not on direct sales, but rather on brand building and initiation of conversation among potential consumers.”
The Starbucks success story
Starbucks jumped into the social media arena with My Starbucks Idea – Starbucks’ own version of a social network where customers are asked to share their ideas on anything related to Starbucks. Starbucks also started a blog entitled “Ideas in Action”. This allows them to reach many more customers across a wide social media landscape, recognizing that not all consumers use the same social networking sites.
Starbucks increased its online brand presence with these additions:
Starbucks on Twitter
Starbucks on Facebook
Starbucks on YouTube
In a blog post, Starbucks’ Formula to Social Media Success, marketing consultant Ayelet Noff analyzes Starbucks highly-visible social media footprint across the web, the secret for its success.
“Overall Starbucks’s social media strategy integrates many different elements into the mix and combined together, these elements create a social media plan that works beautifully to create millions of fans for the brand and keep them involved in the brand’s doings. The brand has created a digital dialogue with its customers, enabling people to give their feedback and receive a response back from Starbucks addressing their concerns/comments. Starbucks is showing its customers and potential customers – “hey, we care about what YOU have to say.”
“I am certain that if each one of these elements was done alone then the strategy would not have been as successful and complete as it is when done like this in integration with the rest of the elements on board.”
“Starbucks has over 705,000 followers on twitter and over 5,428,000 fans on Facebook. I guess you could say that they’re doing something right on the Web.” – Ayelet Noff, aka Blonde 20, 1/11/10
A post by Clark Fredricksen offered this insight.
“While the classic mantra on social media may be all about “conversation” and no up sell, the reality is that a mix of promotion and interaction can yield results, as companies like Dell, JetBlue, and Starbucks show.”
“More to the point: Consumers — even those on social networks — really aren’t that offended if you give them a good deal. As we wrote in a recent newsletter article, “those polled for the ‘2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study’ were interested in brands that would keep them informed, provide product information and give incentives—and generally use new media to help solve consumers’ problems.” – Tracking Twitter Success at Dell posted by: Clark Fredricksen – December 11, 2009
JetBlue
JetBlue made good use of the fan option on Facebook to spearhead an All-You-Can-Jet Fan Sweepstakes promotion, where being a fan on Facebook might qualify you for free round-trip tickets, a vacation for you and three friends, or even unlimited free travel on JetBlue for a year.
Dell
Dell offered both coupon discount promotions on Twitter, and good customer service by “listening” to customer complaints and offered free shipping, in one instance to address a problem.
“Dell Inc., relying on social- networking sites to drum up sales of personal computers, said its promotions on Twitter have helped generate more than $6.5 million in orders for PCs, accessories and software.” – By Connie Guglielmo, December 8, 2009
Take the time to learn social media marketing or not?
A post by Amanda Brooke puts it this way -
“Internet research has shown that social media communities, blogs and social networking can have as much or more of an impact and effect than TV, radio or print media.”
“Online businesses that use social media to build their brand, and to assist in customer service, will rise to the top much faster than those who don’t.”
“By working on your brand recognition on the most popular social media sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, you can reach a much, much broader audience than traditional marketing methods.”
“Take the time to learn about Social media marketing!”
- From Your Social Media IQ: Understanding How it Works for eCommerce – Amanda Brook 11/ 03/09
Where will your company find customers? Are you “all in” or watching from the sidelines?
The jury may still out on whether other companies choose to add social media marketing to their traditional marketing campaigns, but for the companies covered in this article, they have enjoyed success not only with increased e-Commerce sales, but have strengthened their online brand presence and created a very highly-visible social media footprint across the web.
“Listening” to their customers, and creating conversations that span several social media sites, allows for communication that strengthens relationships for existing and potential customers. This has become a top priority for Starbucks, and other successful companies, who have learned to navigate the ever evolving world of web 2.0 / social media marketing.
Is your company taking advantage of the opportunity to Learn, Listen, and Engage to Build strong relationships by offering something of value to the social community and potential customers?
You have to go where the customers are and be willing to try marketing in a different way. If you don’t, your competitors will see the potential, jump in and seize the moment, and utilize social media marketing that will likely take customers away you might have had.
Is your company willing to risk remaining on the sidelines and watch your competition take away e-Commerce sales that may have been yours?
To view this Examiner article and other articles that may be of interest, click here.
Posted in e-Commerce by .
Friday shout-outs => Best social media + job search + personal branding sites
4/23/2010
It’s Friday and I thought I would try something new. For those of you on Twitter, I’m sure you’re familiar with the #FollowFriday concept. This is how you recognize friends, authors, industry leaders, and others, with a Twitter @mention on Friday, as a way to thank them for sharing valuable content and to recommend their work. (a sort of “pay-it-forward”)
Today, I’m highlighting industry leaders who have been great resources for me, and have provided timely social media tips for creating a successful job search strategy. Whether you are new to social networking, personal branding, actively looking for a job, or seeking a career change, I’m sure you will find, as I did, that these leaders provide a great service to all their followers by researching and sharing the latest tools, tips, late-breaking news, and industry trends.
Today’s recommendations:
About.com: Job Searching – Job Search Tips - Alison Doyle
Alison Doyle is a job search expert with many years of experience in human resources, career development, and job searching, with a focus on online job searching, job search technology, social media, and professional networking. She has covered job searching for About.com since 1998. Alison is the author of Internet Your Way to a New Job: How to Really Find a Job Online (2009) and the About.com Guide to Job Searching (2006). Her time-saving tips will help you jump start your job search and get into gear.
http://jobsearch.about.com
@AlisonDoyle
Career Success Radio – Keith Keller and Annemarie Cross
Career Success Radio is a global media network and founder of the career management and development portal – Career Success Mastery Network, an innovative and pioneering concept within the human development and potential arena. Co-hosted by multi award-winning Career Management, Personal Branding and Brand Communications Specialist and Author of ’10 key steps to Ace that Interview’ — Annemarie Cross, as well as International Social Media Strategy Coach and Social Media Specialist — Keith Keller.
Annemarie and Keith amass 17+ years’ career and HR experience and harness their expertise to bring you empowering career-related topics so you can accelerate your level of success whether you are a career changer or an entrepreneur running your own business.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/careercommunique
http://www.globalsocialmediacoaching.com/
http://yourexecutivebrand.com.au/
@KeithKeller @AnnemarieCross
Executive Career Brand – Meg Guiseppi
Executive Personal Branding, Resume, Biography, Online Identity & Job Search Strategies for C-Suite, Senior Executives and Rising Stars. Your unique promise of value … differentiated, strategically positioned, and connecting.”I love my work collaborating with savvy top-level executives and entrepreneurs who know where they’re going, but need help branding their unique promise of value in the new world of work and executive job search, and positioning themselves to work their passion.”
http://www.executivecareerbrand.com
@MegGuiseppi
Interview Angel – Brent Peterson
The Complete Interview Preparation and Execution Toolkit
Looking for a new job? What will make you stand out from the crowd?
You can significantly improve your odds of getting hired if you have the tools to
properly prepare for and execute the job interview.
http://www.interviewangel.com
@InterviewAngel
Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel
The Personal Branding Blog is your #1 resource for personal branding online.
Topics covered: Career development, recruitment, marketing/branding, public relations, social media, entrepreneurship, search engine optimization (SEO) and relationship networking.
http://www.personalbrandingblog.com
@DanSchawbel
Tim’s Strategy – Tim Tyrell-Smith
Ideas for job search, career, and life. A menu of resources – tools, tips, career experts, e-books, and Tim’s insight on the psychology of the job search. Excellent blog posts, and career expert recommendations.
http://timsstrategy.com/
@TimsStrategy
I hope you find this list beneficial. I look forward repeating the Friday shout-outs again in the near future.
Posted in Best of - Social Media, Branding, Job Search Sites by .
I have been sharing social media news, views, tools, and tips from my Examiner articles on my blog since June of last year. I’ve highlighted a few of the more popular ones for the new followers that may have missed them the first time.
If you find them helpful, please feel free to share, and comment on them, if you like.
3 sites to help in your job search: the social media ‘power trio’
Are you using the social media ‘power trio’ to help with your job search? Of all the social media sites, the ‘power trio’ of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook can prove very beneficial for building a wide network to help with a job search.
8 tips for creating a social networking plan for your job search
Social media is the new way that people connect, communicate, and build relationships on the internet. Those that understand this are finding quicker, better ways to share information, late-breaking news, and reach a much larger audience through the viral nature of social networking. Here are 8 tips to help in your job search.
Do you need a social media champion?
Whether one chooses to take a closer look at social media in an attempt to understand it and embrace it, or opts to ignore it or dismiss it, social media is here to stay and is now part of our culture. there is growing evidence to support the idea that a “social media champion” has skills that add value and benefit any organization or individual. Their insight, knowledge, and the willingness to share the latest tools, tips, recommendations, and to coach and train others, should make them an asset that will become increasingly in demand as people try to navigate through the changing social media landscape.
Using Twitter for career networking
Twitter has fast become the new way to communicate, market, and do searches on the internet, and those have the vision and can “connect the dots”, already know this. When used professionally, to share valuable content – not mundane daily activities or excessive self-promotion, it can be an awesome tool to expand your network and stay current on “in the moment” late-breaking news, and cutting edge industry information.
Nonprofits embracing social media for fund raising
Nonprofits understand the importance of building quality, lasting relationships for maintaining a base of supporters to embrace their many causes and fund raising campaigns. Recent articles suggest that nonprofits have been quick to realize the upside potential for social media sites that can quickly get the message out, strengthen brand awareness, and take advantage of the viral nature of social networking to reach a wider base of potential supporters and donors.
Click Richmond Social Media Examiner’s Articles to view the complete list
Posted in Best of - Examiner Articles by .
Given the current economy and high unemployment rate, many recruiters, hiring managers, job seekers, networkers, and job placement firms are embracing social networking sites for help. LinkedIn and Twitter are seen as a great sites to get information quickly about potential new hires, companies, industry trends, job search tools, and late-breaking news.
I attended a very timely, well organized social media event recently that confirmed once again the expanding role that social networking is playing for recruiters, companies, job seekers, and networkers.
On Tuesday, March 30, SMCEDU-RVA (the Richmond, VA chapter of Social Media Club Education Connection) partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University to host a panel discussion entitled – “Social Media and the Job Hunt.”
The event was moderated by Nhat Pham (@Nhat Pham), of SUCCESSWERKS, and sponsored by RichmondJobNet. Also present was Sara Dunnigan (@RichmondJobNet), who posts many job openings on a daily basis via Twitter, and provides a huge benefit of all Richmond job seekers.
The panelists included were:
David Nour (@davidnour): Consultant, Professional Speaker, Author of RELATIONSHIP ECONOMICS
Candace Nicolls (@cjsn): Recruiting manager at Ironworks Consulting
Lauren Rinker (@lauren_rinker): Copywriter at Royall and Company
The audience enjoyed hearing about various social media sites – the differences, and value they bring, and some best practices to keep in mind for brand building as it relates to a job search. Insight was offered for the potential value that a blog can bring to differentiate oneself in today’s job market.
LinkedIn, Twitter, SlideShare, and YouTube were the social networking sites of choice. All panelists agreed that LinkedIn is probably the most widely used professional network, connecting professionals, job seekers, networkers, companies, recruiters, and hiring managers. Twitter can be a great resource for gathering valuable content on just about everything, from job seekers, career sites, companies, events, trends, late-breaking news, views, industry highlights, and recommendations.
Some takeaways were:
* Engage, listen, and interact. Share content, DON’T sell. Add value, avoid NEGATIVE comments.
* Go beyond social media — call contacts, follow-up, maintain relationships.
* Be prepared — use social media to research companies, hiring managers PRIOR to interview.
* Keep online presence consistent across social media sites — keep profiles current and accurate.
* Be an asset, a problem solver — help recruiters solve challenges, build relationships, and find ways to differentiate
yourself others.
* Research to learn about companies, job interviewers, and company personnel — use LinkedIn or Google to find as much
valuable information as possible to help prep for an interview.
For the complete Examiner article, click Social Media and the Job Hunt (SMCEDU-RVA event), for more details.
Posted in Social Media 4 Job Search by .
