That's only the tip of the iceberg.
The saying that there is more to something than meets the eye is a cliche that besides appealing to our paranoia, is grounded in reality.
What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) may be true of computer interface applications, but people and businesses are complex.
Their "face" or brand represents a fraction of who they are. And, like an iceberg, the remaining amount provides the ballast that keeps the company (or person) afloat and stable.
I was thinking of this analogy while researching various business models. I wanted to understand why some companies seem totally unaware that the 90% of their business that lies below the surface is the foundation of the company's public "face" - Think Cher's cheekbones.
When business get tough, bad managers panic. They go into micromanagement mode and start chipping away at that the bottom 90% of the iceberg believing what isn't visible is dispensable.
What do you think happens next? Let's continue the iceberg analogy.
If it were a substantial iceberg, it would begin to sink until there was enough of it submerged to regain its balance. It would probably remain standing, but the proverbial tip of the iceberg would be much smaller than it once was. And the iceberg would certainly become much less stable, and much easier for the changing tide to displace.
If it were a small, thin iceberg that had its underwater base removed, the tip above the surface would most likely fall over. And, without a solid foundation, the iceberg would become slave to the ever-changing ebb and flow of the tide. In fact, without a foundation, a small iceberg may cease to be an iceberg altogether.
By hacking away at the bottom 90% of the company, the business destabilizes it by compromising the talent and personalities that give the company it's most valuable asset; it's trust factor.
Consumers in social media land have become very adept at seeing beyond the tip of the iceberg. They trust people, not brands.
Because social media tools exist to facilitate interaction through engagement, a company would do well to always remember to have enough ice on hand.
Marketing Beyond Your Website - Social Media Marketing
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Thursday
Getting reconnected with social media
Love this project and especially am impressed with the intergenerational approach. I have always felt that social media has the ability to make real change in how we interact with each other.
In regards to people who find themselves isolated, be they older, infirmed or simply physically distant, learning the basics of Twitter, Facebook or Blogging goes a long way towards having them connect to their family, friends and the world in general.
This is a very worthwhile project that I hope will be replicated everywhere.
In regards to people who find themselves isolated, be they older, infirmed or simply physically distant, learning the basics of Twitter, Facebook or Blogging goes a long way towards having them connect to their family, friends and the world in general.
This is a very worthwhile project that I hope will be replicated everywhere.
Parkway Seniors 'Get Connected'
Monday
Living the "4 E's" of social media
Summertime and the living is E-asy.
My passion for social media stems from what it can offer not from what it can sell.
I have a post-it note above my monitor with the four words:
ENGAGE - EMPOWER - ENTERTAIN - EDUCATE
Engage - Listen and recognize contributions
Empower - Create a space to encourage active role
Entertain - Have some fun, make someone smile
Educate - Enrich, bring something new to the table
This is my social media mantra. These words represent not only what I want to achieve in each blog that I write or tweet that I send but in each personal or professional interaction that I have.
As someone who is not a marketing professional, I use my many years of experience in managing arts organizations and restaurants to provide the context from which to execute a social marketing campaign.
And while I believe you don't have to be a marketing expert to practice social marketing, there are some basics that you have to understand.
Take the four "P's" for example: Product / Price / Place / Promotion; they've been around since the "Mad Men" were slapping secretary's asses and still form the bedrock of modern marketing practice.
Trade you 4 "P's" for some "E".*
From an outsider's perspective, it seems that some Marketing and PR firms are having trouble navigating this new landscape. You still see lots of broadcasting out there. On the other hand, there are some Marketing industry visionaries out there leading the way; interpreting for us the very complex language of the media 2.0.
Social media is still very new, so I'll keep my mantra handy and hope that by using it as a guide, I'll find my way out of the maze.
*disclaimer: Any double entendres are purely coincidental and do not represent the habits or preferences of the blogger.
Here is a video of Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, past CMO for Eastman Kodak on his own four "E's":
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A Conceptual Map of the Social Web by Ryan Turner |
I have a post-it note above my monitor with the four words:
ENGAGE - EMPOWER - ENTERTAIN - EDUCATE
Engage - Listen and recognize contributions
Empower - Create a space to encourage active role
Entertain - Have some fun, make someone smile
Educate - Enrich, bring something new to the table
This is my social media mantra. These words represent not only what I want to achieve in each blog that I write or tweet that I send but in each personal or professional interaction that I have.
As someone who is not a marketing professional, I use my many years of experience in managing arts organizations and restaurants to provide the context from which to execute a social marketing campaign.
And while I believe you don't have to be a marketing expert to practice social marketing, there are some basics that you have to understand.
Take the four "P's" for example: Product / Price / Place / Promotion; they've been around since the "Mad Men" were slapping secretary's asses and still form the bedrock of modern marketing practice.
Trade you 4 "P's" for some "E".*
From an outsider's perspective, it seems that some Marketing and PR firms are having trouble navigating this new landscape. You still see lots of broadcasting out there. On the other hand, there are some Marketing industry visionaries out there leading the way; interpreting for us the very complex language of the media 2.0.
Social media is still very new, so I'll keep my mantra handy and hope that by using it as a guide, I'll find my way out of the maze.
*disclaimer: Any double entendres are purely coincidental and do not represent the habits or preferences of the blogger.
Here is a video of Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, past CMO for Eastman Kodak on his own four "E's":
Friday
Still think you can't measure Social Media?
Great update of video showing what employing social media can do for marketing.
Social Media ROI: Socialnomics
Sunday
Now ain’t that just Perfect!
“A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.” ~John Henry Newman
I listened to C C Chapman’s pod-cast about perfection this weekend. It seems that whenever there’s an issue surrounding social media and/or marketing, either C C Chapman, Mitch Joel or Jaffe Juice read my mind and then run to their mikes to rain upon me their little aural gems of wisdom.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer but self-censorship and self consciousness provided convenient excuses that led me to procrastinate for a few decades.
Instead of practicing my craft by just doing it, I stored away post-it notes to be resurrected later and be metamorphosed into that great Canadian memoir or play.
Fear of making mistakes, fear of not being perfect has robbed me of living to my potential.
Maybe it’s the maturity that comes from being on the far side of the hill, but by opening the Pandora’s Box of social media, I have rediscovered passion and promise in myself.
I know now that making a mistake doesn’t diminish me as a human being - It makes me more human. It took me a long time to understand that.
“Congratulations! You're not perfect! It's ridiculous to want to be perfect anyway. But then, everybody's ridiculous sometimes, except perfect people. You know what perfect is? Perfect is not eating or drinking or talking or moving a muscle or making even the teensiest mistake. Perfect is never doing anything wrong - which means never doing anything at all. Perfect is boring!” ~Stephen Manes
Believe in Yourself!
I listened to C C Chapman’s pod-cast about perfection this weekend. It seems that whenever there’s an issue surrounding social media and/or marketing, either C C Chapman, Mitch Joel or Jaffe Juice read my mind and then run to their mikes to rain upon me their little aural gems of wisdom.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer but self-censorship and self consciousness provided convenient excuses that led me to procrastinate for a few decades.
Instead of practicing my craft by just doing it, I stored away post-it notes to be resurrected later and be metamorphosed into that great Canadian memoir or play.
Fear of making mistakes, fear of not being perfect has robbed me of living to my potential.
Maybe it’s the maturity that comes from being on the far side of the hill, but by opening the Pandora’s Box of social media, I have rediscovered passion and promise in myself.
I know now that making a mistake doesn’t diminish me as a human being - It makes me more human. It took me a long time to understand that.
“Congratulations! You're not perfect! It's ridiculous to want to be perfect anyway. But then, everybody's ridiculous sometimes, except perfect people. You know what perfect is? Perfect is not eating or drinking or talking or moving a muscle or making even the teensiest mistake. Perfect is never doing anything wrong - which means never doing anything at all. Perfect is boring!” ~Stephen Manes
Believe in Yourself!
Monday
Twitter? What do I do with this Twitter?
That question was recently put to me by a perspective client who kept coming back to Twitter when I began listing some available social media tools.
Face Book didn't seem to faze him as much. Perhaps it was due to the recent profile it received in the news regarding its privacy issues.
As for You Tube or LinkedIn, I didn’t make it that far - we were "twipping" over Twitter.
As for You Tube or LinkedIn, I didn’t make it that far - we were "twipping" over Twitter.
"I don’t have time to go to the bathroom let alone twitter about it. And how’s it gonna make me money, anyway?"
Twitter has got a bad rap; time to go into witness protection and get a new name. It’s like introducing "Bunny" as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company – difficult to take seriously (apologies to any Bunny execs out there)
As much as social media is not about the tools, the tools are what people see and how they define it. Yes, the use of Twitter can be vacuous, but so can the telephone:
“Hi, what’cha doin’?”
“Nothing, what you doin’?”
“Nothing much... (insert Harold Pinter pause)...you there?”
“Yeah, … what you listening to?” etc.
Early Twitter application:
There’s a great post from Barry Davis today that gives 4 examples of why people are cynical about social media: 4 Reasons You Should Avoid Social Media
1. It’s just a fad
2. It takes a Geek
3. It’s a digital black hole
4. We’re already too busy
The last point is the one that I find myself having to address the most often.
How do you reply to someone, especially in the service industry, who says that they’re too busy to use social media?
Are they too busy to speak with customers? Are they too busy to listen to customers? Are they too busy to build their brand and reputation?
Having managed restaurant before, I can totally empathize with the owner/manager. But he doesn't run the company by himself and there maybe staff who are already on social media; the maitre‘d? The Bartender?, The sommelier?
Twitter is the least time intensive application and, especially for restaurants, the most spontaneous.
Just as there are many tools in the social media toolbox, there are just as many applications available that can maximize their efficient use.
As long as you have a clear idea of what you want to say and who you want to say it to, a solid media plan will be worth the investment in time.
Going back to the original question, with Twitter you can check out the competition, find out who's talking about you, listen to client feedback and provide a megaphone for your fans to spread the word about you.
What you shouldn't do with Twitter is this...
Thursday
Will Social Media change Your Company?
Will the philosophy of engagement and trust building that drives social media marketing find its way into your organization?
You've chosen to embark on a social media campaign to enhance your place in the market and build a network of loyal clients. By doing this, you represent a fundamental change in the traditional corporate mindset represented by Dilbert and Mad Men.
Your customer no longer represents solely a business transaction or opportunity but a source of innovation and feedback. This new relationship, nourished with constant and immediate interaction, will be integral to the successful development of your company.
Now turn this around and apply this mindset internally. What if you treat your staff as you do your social media network? What if you listen to them; address their concerns; encourage their participation?
How will this change how they relate to you? How will this affect your employee morale and productivity?
By engaging clients through FaceBook, Twitter and blogs, you open yourself to new partners; by engaging your co-workers; you inspire your current ones.
You've chosen to embark on a social media campaign to enhance your place in the market and build a network of loyal clients. By doing this, you represent a fundamental change in the traditional corporate mindset represented by Dilbert and Mad Men.
Your customer no longer represents solely a business transaction or opportunity but a source of innovation and feedback. This new relationship, nourished with constant and immediate interaction, will be integral to the successful development of your company.
Now turn this around and apply this mindset internally. What if you treat your staff as you do your social media network? What if you listen to them; address their concerns; encourage their participation?
How will this change how they relate to you? How will this affect your employee morale and productivity?
By engaging clients through FaceBook, Twitter and blogs, you open yourself to new partners; by engaging your co-workers; you inspire your current ones.
Tuesday
Are you a Social Media Specialist?
One of my biggest dreams as a kid was to be a writer and/or an ad man like Darrin Stephens in Bewitched. (Pardon me, my age is slipping)
While I did some creative writing for theatre and copy writing during my years in arts administration, life, work and cowardice provided ample diversions from realizing my dream.
Although I've been blogging for just over a year (mostly on my personal site: arayinthelife) I have now decided to make blogging and social media my life.
In preparation for this momentous milestone, I have been immersing myself in all things BLOG and SOCIAL MEDIA. I just completed my first online social media summit: Social Media Success Summit 2010 or #smss10 as we tweetheads refer to it. I scan my Google Reader each morning and pray at the altar of Seth Godin and Chris Brogan. I figure I should be all set to go. But no!
It's not enough that I'm committed to engagement and building trust, I must chose a specialty so that those with whom I wish to build relationships can find me. I must pepper my blog with keywords and Google friendly phrases; I must become an expert on one thing and my blog posts shouldn't deviate from it.
Well, if I had known that at sixteen, it would have saved me a lot of grief. Blessed are those who know exactly what they want for they shall inherit followers.
In this blog, I write about social media; how it relates to my life, how my journey of discovery is progressing and reasons why I believe social media will change how we connect and communicate in every facet of life.
I am not a marketer, nor have I worked in e-commerce or multimedia organizations. I don't have marketing expertise to give but what I do have is the wisdom that comes from a history of communicating with fellow artists, audiences, restaurant customers, employees and corporate and government bureaucracies.
So am I a specialist? No. We have too many specialist. Ever try to find a GP in your area?
Sunday
What's your story?
These days I tend to start my day with cereal, coffee and a perusal through blog postings courtesy of my trusty Google Reader.
I can count on, Mitch Joel's blog: Six Pixels of Separation to provide me with enough brain food that, along with my breakfast, gets me off to an inspired and healthy start to the day.
This morning was no exception. Like many of the articles he posts, I related with this one very much: it addressed the idea that we create our own stories.
In particular, he was presenting Donald Miller's new book: A million Miles in a Thousand Years.
I'm not familiar with Donald Miller -a little more now at the time of writing this - but let's say it was a great marketing job complete with a video of Chris Brogan giving the book a review.
The book evidently refers a lot to making our own stories.
Writing your own story means you have to know the protagonist very well and as Donald Miller says, we tend to identify ourselves by how others perceive us. I'm not sure if I agree; but I look forward to reading the book to understand better what he meant by that as another day and another page of my new story is completed.
I can count on, Mitch Joel's blog: Six Pixels of Separation to provide me with enough brain food that, along with my breakfast, gets me off to an inspired and healthy start to the day.
This morning was no exception. Like many of the articles he posts, I related with this one very much: it addressed the idea that we create our own stories.
In particular, he was presenting Donald Miller's new book: A million Miles in a Thousand Years.
I'm not familiar with Donald Miller -a little more now at the time of writing this - but let's say it was a great marketing job complete with a video of Chris Brogan giving the book a review.
The book evidently refers a lot to making our own stories.
Writing your own story means you have to know the protagonist very well and as Donald Miller says, we tend to identify ourselves by how others perceive us. I'm not sure if I agree; but I look forward to reading the book to understand better what he meant by that as another day and another page of my new story is completed.
Book Notes | Donald Miller Interview, Part 1
Donald Miller Interview, Part 2
Donald Miller Interview, Part 3
Dipping into the Social Media pool.
Blogger made setting up a blog easy. This was great because I have absolutely no experience with setting up web pages - HTML might as well be hieroglyphics. I wanted this site to be a personal magazine filled with articles I found interesting. Among the assorted special interest essays, I intended to write "letters from the editor" personal postings to get things off my chest or to just have a whine outlet.
Surprisingly, I stuck to it and now I have another blog; newraycom that deals almost entirely with my new social media and marketing.
I've become very passionate about social media in spite of having little marketing and no technical experience (I've never played a game of Dungeons & Dragons).
Yes, I've heard all the tedious comments about how Twitter was for people who wanted to broadcast their doughnut choices and Facebook users were friending everybody to make up for being a such loser in High School. To be honest, I was sleptical as well. Contrary to how I may appear at a cocktail party, I am quite a private person. I desserted Facebook a number of times before it and I became friends.
There's always a danger of backlash when anything gets too popular. I remember people hating the Beatles, and look at poor Britney . And don't get me started about Disco. There is such a buzz around social media that people, especially those who have no clue what it is, are digging their heels in the sand resisting the mob mania. That's a shame.
What inspires me most about social media is my feeling that it will have a profound impact on how we communicate with each other. Reaching out to others by engaging with them in conversations and sharing with them news, ideas and support will filter down into our day to day relationships with family, friends and workers.
Social Media is a great democratizer, we all have the power to exchange tweets, blogs and news-feeds with whomever we want. There is only one rule; we must engage. We must share, exchange and offer something interesting. Hey, just like in the real world.
So now that I am immersing myself in this world, ( I'm even participating in my first social media seminar - The Social Media Success Summit 2010 - #smss10). I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed though at the density of information coming at me. I listen to podcasts while commuting to work, I dip regularly into the Twitter stream for whatever floats by, and I have subscribed to numerous RSS feeds on my Reader. I haven't thrown myself into something so intensely since my early performing days when I spent hours at the library researching everything there was written or recorded about musical theatre. (Ask me any question about Sondheim or Fosse!)
One concern I have is that from what I have been reading and hearing, social media seems to be all about marketing, SEO's & ROI's. That could be because I have been listening to Marketing professionals who seem to be at the vanguard of this phenomenon.
I find marketing very interesting. I'm a big fan of The Age of Persuasion and Six Pixels of Separation, but I'm a bit worried that I haven't come across much information relating to social media and the community. How is it being used in charitable organizations; in the arts? As far as politics is concerned, we saw how it was used in Obama's campaign, and the news worthiness of Twitter has been demonstrated over and over again.
It's place in everyday life, in our society, in our schools and workplaces is what I would like to learn more of as I embark on my Social Media career. While I will be working with companies on building their Social Media strategies and explaining as persuasively as I can that organizations should be all over social media, I also hope to assure people that once the social media hype deflates, we will be left with channels of communication that will make us a global village of neighbours chatting over our broadband fences.
Tuesday
Facebook for Grownups- Are you Marketing with Social Media? « Jeffbullas's Blog
Facebook for Grownups- Are you Marketing with Social Media? « Jeffbullas's Blog
Facebook offers several tools for business promotion, and there are also a number of apps available that give Facebook marketers even more options. Facebook can create buzz and help you stay in touch with customers. If you’re interested in getting started, here’s a basic tutorial:
Profile Page
This is where you create your business profile. Enter information that will help people find you, based on what you want to promote. This is a good place to tag your page so that both consumers and the search engines can find you, so make sure you choose the correct category. Profile pages can generate a lot of page views, so make yours interesting!
Facebook Pages
Your Facebook Page is where you’ll post everything you want people to see- photos, news, videos, messages and any other information. Establish your brand presence on your page, and customize it with Flash, apps and relevant content. Anything you do here is broadcast to your fans, so they can get updates in real time.
Facebook Groups
Once you create your profile, you can build groups centered around people who share your interests. This creates awareness of your business and brand through conversations and interactions. Users can’t become fans with this feature, but you can communicate in a more personal way with members by sending messages to their inboxes.
Facebook Events
Facebook Events is a free application that you can use to promote events, such as parties, contests, upcoming sales and product launches. Each event gets its own page where fans can request invitations and sign up for notifications. Facebook marketers use Events to build a community of interested people who want to become involved.
Notes and Photos
These are applications that allow you to share blog posts and pictures. They offer a way to create branded content that helps your Facebook pages rank. Just be sure to stay away from salesy verbiage, and don’t spam people with a lot of company information or logos. You’ll maintain your credibility if you just stick with text and photos that are more educational in nature.
Another nice feature for marketers is the ability to tag photos and notes. If you want to bring them to the attention of certain people, you can tag them to be sent to those people.
Messages
Facebook Messages help you target your marketing efforts. You can look at it as an alternative to email. While it doesn’t have all of the functions and features of email, it does prevent spam by monitoring the volume of message sent to users.
Marketplace
The Facebook Marketplace is like a classified, or ad section. If you’re looking for goods or services or want to offer yours to fans and members, you can post your ads here. This has the potential to generate leads and sales by targeting people who are likely to be interested. All Marketplaces are tied to actual Facebook accounts, so you can see the profiles of all respondents.
News Feed
The Facebook News Feed gives your posts wide exposure by syndicating it, like an RSS feed. When a user joins your group, responds to an invitation, or engages you in any way, Facebook automatically adds that transaction to each user’s “mini feed” in the form of a “recent news” stream. This stream unifies all actions so that everyone can see what’s been going on with your business.
As you can see, there are many ways to market your business using Facebook. There are also a lot of useful apps available to anyone who wants to take advantage of Facebook to promote a product or service. The best way to learn is to get in there and play around with it to see what works for you. So, get started!
This is a guest post by Beth Hrusch who is Senior Editor at Interact Media, a content marketing software company
Facebook for Grownups- Are you Marketing with Social Media?
Still think Facebook is for kids and college students? According to O’Reilly Media (2009), over half of all Facebook users are out of college, and their numbers are growing each year. Why are so many adults getting on board? Well, while younger people are using Facebook primarily for socializing, the older crowd is using Facebook to market their businesses.
Facebook offers several tools for business promotion, and there are also a number of apps available that give Facebook marketers even more options. Facebook can create buzz and help you stay in touch with customers. If you’re interested in getting started, here’s a basic tutorial:
Profile Page
This is where you create your business profile. Enter information that will help people find you, based on what you want to promote. This is a good place to tag your page so that both consumers and the search engines can find you, so make sure you choose the correct category. Profile pages can generate a lot of page views, so make yours interesting!
Facebook Pages
Your Facebook Page is where you’ll post everything you want people to see- photos, news, videos, messages and any other information. Establish your brand presence on your page, and customize it with Flash, apps and relevant content. Anything you do here is broadcast to your fans, so they can get updates in real time.
Facebook Groups
Once you create your profile, you can build groups centered around people who share your interests. This creates awareness of your business and brand through conversations and interactions. Users can’t become fans with this feature, but you can communicate in a more personal way with members by sending messages to their inboxes.
Facebook Events
Facebook Events is a free application that you can use to promote events, such as parties, contests, upcoming sales and product launches. Each event gets its own page where fans can request invitations and sign up for notifications. Facebook marketers use Events to build a community of interested people who want to become involved.
Notes and Photos
These are applications that allow you to share blog posts and pictures. They offer a way to create branded content that helps your Facebook pages rank. Just be sure to stay away from salesy verbiage, and don’t spam people with a lot of company information or logos. You’ll maintain your credibility if you just stick with text and photos that are more educational in nature.
Another nice feature for marketers is the ability to tag photos and notes. If you want to bring them to the attention of certain people, you can tag them to be sent to those people.
Messages
Facebook Messages help you target your marketing efforts. You can look at it as an alternative to email. While it doesn’t have all of the functions and features of email, it does prevent spam by monitoring the volume of message sent to users.
Marketplace
The Facebook Marketplace is like a classified, or ad section. If you’re looking for goods or services or want to offer yours to fans and members, you can post your ads here. This has the potential to generate leads and sales by targeting people who are likely to be interested. All Marketplaces are tied to actual Facebook accounts, so you can see the profiles of all respondents.
News Feed
The Facebook News Feed gives your posts wide exposure by syndicating it, like an RSS feed. When a user joins your group, responds to an invitation, or engages you in any way, Facebook automatically adds that transaction to each user’s “mini feed” in the form of a “recent news” stream. This stream unifies all actions so that everyone can see what’s been going on with your business.
As you can see, there are many ways to market your business using Facebook. There are also a lot of useful apps available to anyone who wants to take advantage of Facebook to promote a product or service. The best way to learn is to get in there and play around with it to see what works for you. So, get started!
This is a guest post by Beth Hrusch who is Senior Editor at Interact Media, a content marketing software company
Monday
6 Common LinkedIn Mistakes Small Businesses Make, and What You Should Do Instead : Technology :: American Express OPEN Forum
(blog imported from: http://www.openforum.com)
Apr 22, 2010 -
If you use LinkedIn correctly, it can be a marketing godsend. You can form relationships with hundreds of potential customers and solidify your brand—without spending an arm and a leg. Do it, wrong, however, and you won’t just embarrass yourself; you might actually hurt your company’s—and your own—reputation.
How to do it right? Learn the most common mistakes small business owners make—and what to do about them.
Mistake: Coming on too strong in your profile.
LinkedIn is all about the subtle, soft sell. Promote your product or service too openly on your profile and you’ll be sure to turn people off. “You don’t want to sound like you’re bragging,” says Jill Konrath, a sales expert and CEO of Sellingtobigcompanies.com.
The answer: Get your customers to write as many positive reviews of your company on your profile as possible. If people who use your product or service comment about it, you’ll increase your credibility. Why? It shows that customers are willing to take time out of their busy days to write something nice about your company. “It carries more clout,” says Konrath.
Mistake: Promoting your product or service in a message or a group discussion.
Similarly, just because you’ve connected with someone, doesn’t mean you have permission to start plugging your wares. “It feels like a violation,” says Konrath. That’s also true for group discussions. “People will see right through you,” says Patrick O’Malley, who runs 617-PATRICK Social Media Training and Consulting in Medford, Mass. In fact, according to O’Malley, you can be tagged for spam if you do that too often.
The answer: Before contacting anyone, make sure you understand the number one rule of making connections on LinkedIn: keep it low-key. In group discussions, don’t ask questions or make comments that are obvious sales pitches. Instead, establish yourself as a key expert or resource by providing thoughtful, pithy observations.
Mistake: Failing to highlight the problems you solve for customers in your profile.
Too often, small business owners describe the product or service they sell in their profile, without explaining what the benefits are. Result: you miss the chance to stand out from the crowd.
The answer: Focus on the issues and challenges your company addresses. Examples: “We help customers struggling to increase their sales to tap new markets,” or, “We show companies how to decrease their manufacturing costs.” “You’re talking about results, and that’s what attracts more interest,” says Konrath.
Mistake: Not taking advantage of all the capabilities available.
LinkedIn provides access to a plethora of research and other features that many people aren’t aware of. “They’re things that, quite simply, can give you a leg up on the competition,” says Konrath. “People think of it as a referral network, but there’s a lot more.”
The answer: Find out what LinkedIn has to offer—and use it. Example: Before every first-time meeting with a prospect. Konrath always checks the person’s LinkedIn profile to learn about the individual’s background and interests. It’s information she uses to “create important connections right away that I couldn’t make otherwise,” she says.
Mistake: Joining too many groups.
By taking part in group discussions , you can attract a lot of positive attention. But, join too many and you’ll be spread too thin.
The answer: Focus on two or three that are most likely to provide access to potential customers or partners.
Mistake: Inviting too many people you don’t know.
Do that a lot and you can get in a heap of trouble: you’ll find yourself on a list of violators. Then, if you want to invite somebody to join you, you’ll need to have their email address to do so, according to O’Malley.
The answer: Just don’t do it. Make sure you know your invitees. And be especially careful if you’re inviting a lot of people at one fell swoop. O’Malley, for example, once invited 3,000 people, only to find that several of them were individuals with the same name as contacts he knew. He’s never done that again.
Thursday
Social Media - Has Twitter, Facebook & YouTube become the message?
Ever since Marshall McLuhan came up with that brainteaser, "The medium is the message", communications and sociology students have killed millions of trees writing papers about how the media and television in particular, affected the messages we recieved.
His theory held great attraction for those people who were "left hemisphere" thinkers. ( I'm currently reading the new biography of Pierre Trudeau who was rather smitten by Marshall McLuhan.)
 |
| Marshall McLuhan striking professor pose |
Now, I'm not your typical early adapter and I'm far from being a computer geek. What I learned about computers I learned through trial and error. And believe me, when your first computer was a Window 286, it was more like trail by fire.
What intrigues me most about social media is how it has changed not only the way we communicate but what we communicate. As well, it is communication and we, the users are the content. (to paraphrase Marchall).
So, without having a Communications or Marketing degree, I have decided to bravely embark on an exploration of this social media phenomenon and, in spite of jumping into a very crowded pool, make a place for myself in the competitive world of social media consulting.
Looking back at my life, I have always been recognized the importance of communications; as a performer, as a director, as a restaurant manager as an arts administrator. And to be very honest, it has been a few years since I have felt such passion about a subject.
Communication is the basis of all human dealings; person to person; person to community, person to business and government. What social media does via technology is return communications to its primal function; the exchange of information with the emphasis on "exchange".
So that is what I will be exploring further on this "newraycom" blog. As the name implies, it's a new me hopefully exchanging views on where social media fits into our professional and personal lives. I know I don't have all the answers, but each day brings more insights and each contact, new ideas.
Sunday
21 Tips for Using Twitter for Business - Brian Solis
When I'm asked about the practicality of social media in the terms of business strategies, people seemed to always come back to what they believe is the banality of Twitter as an example of the superficiality of the medium. They are stuck in that cliché that tweets are for kids.
Although I give them examples of companies who successfully increase both their bottom line and their brand profile; they are suprissed but still can't see how it works. Hopefully, this article by Brian Solis will help them.
Last year, Forbes magazine assembled a visual list for its Top 21 Twitter Tips to showcase business examples on how to use Twitter for marketing, service, sales, and ideation. The original compilation served as inspiration for a new list, one that helps businesses of all shapes, sizes, and focus embrace not only Twitter, but all relevant social networks. While many examples and quotes remain the same, the list is modified based on my observations and personal experiences.
1. Special Offers
People are making decisions on what to read, view, purchase, visit, and sample based on the information that filters through their attention dashboards. At best, even the most qualified information sourced from the most trusted contacts will receive only a cursory overview. The trick is to concisely introduce the value up front. If the offer is compelling and affiliated with their interests, the consumer will make the connection to personal value and benefits and click-through to redeem the special or coupon when ready or so inclined.
For example, California Tortilla (@caltort), a chain of 39 casual Mexican restaurants based in Rockville, MD, sends coupon passwords via Twitter, which customers must say at checkout to redeem the offer.
2. Ordering
While the distance between introduction and action is only separated by a link, many businesses are using Twitter to log orders. Coffee Groundz (@coffeegroundz) uses the direct-message channel on Twitter to receive and prepare orders. Using Twitter as a promotion and marketing channel, Coffee Groundz reports a 20 to 30 percent increase in sales and market share.
3. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Moonfruit offered 11 Macbook Pros and 10 iPod Touches to celebrate its 10th anniversary. In order to qualify, contestants had to send a tweet using the hashtag #moonfruit. One month later, Moonfruit site traffic was up 300 percent, and sales increased by 20 percent -- all because of a meager investment of $15,000. The company also realized SEO benefits by landing on the first results page on Google for “free website builder.”
4. Conversation Marketing
Zappos (@zappos) doesn’t necessarily market on Twitter. Instead, it “unmarkets” via conversations and engagement. At current count, 436 Zappos employees use Twitter, including CEO Tony Hsieh. For the record, Hsieh has over 1.6 million followers.
Aaron Magness, director of business development at Zappos, acknowledges that proactively sharing the company culture and values creates a humanizing effect that invites people to be part of the community and also acts as a sales driver.
“It’s easier for them to embrace openness,” he said.
5. Customer Service
Frank Eliason of Comcast (@comcastcares) and Richard Binhammer of Dell (@richardatdell) are paving the way for service-focused organizations on Twitter. Eliason, director of digital care, uses Twitter to help 200 to 300 subscribers a day. Frank and his 10-person help desk receive direct questions but also proactively seek out complaints. His key to success lies in his desire to earn relations, not bark advice or chat people up.
“If they want assistance, they’ll let me know,” he said.
6. Focus Groups
Wisdom and creativity are widespread in social media. Tuning in to the frequency of conversations related to the brand or marketplace can serve as a real-time focus group for innovation and adaptation.
Over 3 million mentions of Starbucks populated Twitter in May 2009, and as the company learned, the price for paying attention is less than that for a caramel macchiato, but the value is priceless.
Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications at Jet Blue, was inspired to change policy because of Twitter. He helped eliminate a $50 fee for carry-on bikes after hearing complaints via Twitter.
Johnston listens to the people who are active on the social Web in order to improve company processes and customer service.
“Think of Twitter as the canary in the coal mine," he said. "We watch for customers’ discussions about amenities we have, and what they’d like to see made better.”
7. Direct Sales
Brian Simpson (@BSIMI) has helped The Roger Smith in New York monitor dialogue related to hotel stays and travel in order to offer specials and attract new guests. Using Twitter search, he can identify prospects and offer them a 10 percent discount on the lowest-rate rooms. Simpson estimates Twitter and other forms of social media have netted between $15,000 to $20,000 in additional revenue.
Simpson also professed the necessity of cultivating community in social networks: “It validates us more when other people talk about us than when we talk about ourselves."
8. Business Development
Twitter, along with blogs, blog comments, and other social networks, is abundant with conversations that broadcast and echo dissatisfaction with brands and products. One company’s crisis is another’s opportunity
Monitoring conversations (social reconnaissance) related to competitors provides the ability to “save the day” with better service or monetary incentives.
9. Curation
I’ve written in the past that Twitter is not necessarily most advantageous when used as a conversation platform. Embracing it as a broadcast channel is also beneficial when used strategically.
For example, Google maintains over 2 million followers but only follows 230. It employs a strategy I refer to as a “curation” feed. It compiles links to content and company posts elsewhere and aggregates them into one channel. I recommend that companies use this for information collected from customers and influencers, and to truly curate the best, most helpful content from around the Web while building good will in the process.
However, Twitter accounts can also create and portray a persona around an social objects. For example Albion’s Oven, a bakery in London, notifies followers when fresh croissants are ready.
10. Information Networks
Unlike a curated network that keeps followers in sync with trends, services, and solutions, Information Networks can serve up helpful alerts and notices to help followers avert problems, change plans, and also pursue new opportunities.
The Michigan Department of Transportation uses Facebook and Twitter to alert friends and followers of traffic and road closures. Oakland County Parks uses Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about events and news and also conducts polls to improve local programs and services.
In business, customers could also benefit from updates and alerts that they might not have otherwise have encountered on their own.
11. Dedicated and Branded Channels
On Twitter, Ford Motor uses distinct accounts for sharing information about specific models and products. For example, @forddrivegreen focuses on sustainability, whereas @fordmustang, well, you guessed it, shares content related to the Mustang. Scott Monty, head of social media for Ford, recognizes that social media reveals the people who formerly comprised the audience.
“We give customers a choice as to how they want to consume information," he said.
Whole Foods also maintains independent channels to better serve customers. For example, the healthy foods retailer channels specific information and updates for wine, beer, cheese, and recipes.
12. Mobile and Geo Location Marketing
Local businesses are using social tools to identify customers within the area to attract new business and also extend the online interaction into a full-blown community in the real world. Because I was there when this story was just about to unfold, I will reference my good friend Mike Prasad and the great work he’s done for Kogi, a mobile force of Korean barbecue taco trucks (@kogiBBQ).
One night in Hollywood, Prasad and I were talking about getting a late-night snack. He told me about the company he was working with and how if we sent a tweet out requesting their presence, there was a good chance that they’d stop by the neighborhood to serve us dinner. Thirty minutes later, Kogi was indeed outside our hotel and a group of about 25 to 30 people immediately began proclaiming their appreciation on Twitter.
Prasad echoes this sentiment and is helping to lead the way.
“We try to foster a culture by interaction with the people around us," he said. "Now, Kogi isn’t about getting a taco; it’s about having an experience.”
Expect to see this trend continue in mobile social networks dedicated to locale and accessibility via mobile phones.
13. Hosted Conversations That Generate Traffic and Referrers
Social media dashboards are the future of hosted and aggregated conversations. As we’re observing, those sites that integrate Twitter chat functionality can not only thread conversations in one place for easy following, but also send out tweets in the Twitter stream for all followers to see, and hopefully feel compelled or curious to join, as well.
During last year's NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, Turner Broadcasting integrated Twitter into TNT.com with the help of Gigya. Visitors could log into the site with their Twitter ID and respond directly in the hosted timeline. As such, their tweets not only appeared on TNT.com but also on Twitter, attracting more fans into the site.
14. User-Generated Change
As we’ve seen and will continue to see, tiny online social revolutions can manifest and ultimately ignite change. Historically, the 2009 Iran Election will serve as an inflection point for the rise of user-generated change. While the results of election itself weren’t altered, the Iran government was forced to respond.
Two services mentioned in the Forbes article, Twitition and TinyPetition, are dedicated to organizing people on Twitter to call for change officially.
15. Vendor-Relationship Management
A form of relationship management introduced by Cluetrain Manifesto author Doc Searls, Vendor Relationships Management (VRM) flips the workflow of customer relationship management (CRM) from companies to customers.
Whereas people are relegated to faceless customers when e-mailing or calling into the service department, social media takes the power once held exclusively by the brand and injects balance.
UK-based Wiggly Wigglers, a marketer of farming and gardening supplies, was surprised to learn that British Telecom overcharged the company by $10,000. After five months of a stalemate and without any promise or hope of resolution, company owner Heather Gorringe took her story to the Twitterverse. Within 30 minutes, @BTCare responded with help and two days later, the bill was adjusted.
16. Ideation
As we’ve witnessed with My Starbucks Idea and Dell’s IdeaStorm, crowdsourcing ideas can not only be an excellent source for innovation, but also an effective means for establishing goodwill.
IBM uses Twitter to test concepts and solicit feedback and ideas through @ibmresearch.
17. Employee Recruitment
Recruiters and hiring managers turn to Twitter to seek referrals and applicants for open positions. Twitter and social networks can spark a social effect that galvanizes community support and action. Not only can companies save a significant amount of money on listing and referral fees using traditional outlets and resources, they essentially create a presence through the practice of “unmarketing” itself through seeking qualified candidates.
18. Events
Organizing and promoting events are natural applications for Twitter. Tweetups transcend online relationships and become real-world connections. Using Coffee Groundz as an example again, the Houston-based business regularly organizes tweetups to draw hundreds of customers into the store for each event.
19. Research and Intelligence
The social Web is a real-time collective and assembly of valuable information that mostly goes unnoticed. A few existing services are dedicated to applying a magnifying lens into the dialogue that leads to insight, direction, creativity, and inventiveness.
For example, PeopleBrowsr.com provides real-time insight into the most actively discussed celebrities on Twitter at any moment in time, while also revealing the sentiment that is most associated with each. If you notice at the top, you can also view the latest on the airlines industry or stock market sentiment and associated tweets.
StockTwits provides an open, community-powered idea and information service for investments. Users can listen to traders and investors, or contribute to the conversation. The service leverages Twitter as a content production platform and transforms tweets into financial-related data structured by stock, user, and reputation.
20. Fundraising
This is a big opportunity and one that will yield amazing stories on how people are using Twitter and social media to raise money for charitable causes and capital for projects and companies. It’s the art of spurring contributions through information and education, not solicitation.
When it comes to social media for social good, we don’t have to look much further than anything Beth Kanter touches or spotlights. She’s one of the most influential people using social media for raising awareness, support, and money for causes. One of the projects she remains dedicated to is helping orphans in Cambodia. To date, it has raised over $200,000.
She has also used Twitter, Widgets and other social networks to help many other organizations and causes. In one live demonstration, which still leaves me in awe, she raised over $2,500 to send a young Cambodian woman to college while she was onstage at Gnomedex in Seattle.
21. Words of Wisdom
As reiterated throughout, listening and responding is helpful and efficacious in luring new customers, empowering advocacy, and instilling loyalty.
Serving as a resource for your community or industry positions, proactively responding to online users who are posing questions, and assisting those who are seeking advice and guidance can garner trust, respect, and camaraderie for you and the causes you espouse.
There are measurable and also incalculable benefits to dedicating resources to lead individuals and organizations to resolution. For example, @homedepot monitors dialogue related to the company, but also those individuals who are tackling home projects and seeking tips and instructions.
Best Buy’s @Twelpforce has authorized its entire staff of trained employees to seek out discussions related to consumer electronics, home theaters, gaming, music, appliances, and technology, and to answer questions, whether or not they’re directly tied to the Best Buy brand.
Thursday
Foursquare - not for squares
Had an impromptu info session at work today about social media. Most of the conversation related to its role in PR & marketing as well as how difficult it was to make the case for businesses to embark upon social media. The age range of the participants in this dialogue was twenty something to fifty something. With the exception of myself, who did most of the talking and defending of soc med's importance, everyone else had little or no idea how the subject was relevant.
Somehow the conversation always seem to return to the idea that the medium was on one hand, an invasion of privacy and on the other; a platform for egomaniacs who believe everyone in the world should share in the minutiae of their lives.
So we discussed Twitter (that name again- so easy to dismiss), Facebook and blogging. Most were familiar with these more popular platforms. But when I mentioned Fourquare, no one had even heard of it.
I had because I constantly have my ear to the rails about social media news, but even I was unsure of how or why it has become so popular. So I looked it up and posted the video intro from the Foursquare website.
I must say that I am intrigued. Because it is very social and works best when subscribers get out a lot; this platform has very real potential for businesses, especially those in the entertainment, restaurant, and retail sectors. Whether it spreads to the general public remains to be seen. Until I have an opportunity to study it more, and maybe even try it out, I'll reserve judgment and just recommend to anyone who asks; Foursquare or square. (I just showed my age, didn't I?)
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