23 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- IBM’s Beck: Social Business is About Enablement, Not Control
- Facebook Timeline Update: Declare Yourself an Organ Donor
- How To Block BranchOut on Facebook
- Using Pinterest For Business
- Why is the ‘24-Hour Rule’ Important in Building an Online Community?
- Evolving Social Media Analytics: Insights from Marshall Sponder
- Healthcare Companies Still Don’t “Get” Social Media
- LinkedIn Launches New iPad App
- Instagram Surges Past 50 Million Users
- Pinterest Marketing Guide: How to Use Pinterest to Boost Your Brand
- How To Measure Brand Awareness On Social Media
- Increase Your Social ROI With Quora
- LinkedIn iPad App Puts Content on Top
- The Five Challenges of Social Media Management in Tourism
- Avoid These Annoying Blogging Techniques
- How Social Media Monitoring Can Boost Your Lead Generation
- How To Regain Control in a Social Media Crisis
- PeerIndex Founder Reveals Social Marketing Developments
- Branding Opportunities with Facebook Timeline
- Three Laws of Blogging That Get Traffic and Maximize ROI
- Education – Investing in our Future – Social Media Training
- Twitter for Business: Expand Your Brand, Connect With Customers
- Tottenham Court Road ‘Siege’ Shows How Twitter Can Hinder, Not Help, Rolling News
| IBM’s Beck: Social Business is About Enablement, Not Control Posted: 01 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT Social business isn't about tools and promises. It's about giving people at every stage in the sales cycle the incentive to adopt tools that make their jobs easier and contribute to customer satisfaction.  Photo via NigelBeck.com IBM started with that simple premise when it tackled the task of convincing its sales and marketing people to adopt a new way of doing business. Traditional tactics involved too much interruption and intimidation, which ultimately made sales people less successful than they could be, said Nigel Beck, IBM's VP of Business Development for IBM Collaboration Solutions & Social Business in a speech to the SugarCRM SugarCon conference in San Francisco this morning. The challenge was to make social business a win for the people doing the selling. IBM has been a leading adopter of social business principles, which Beck defined as "the application of social tools and culture to business processes and outcomes. It's basically using social stuff to do work stuff," he said. A key value of social networks to our daily lives is that they make it easier to find people who can help us get answers and save time, so why not apply those same goals to sales? The social business initiative was organized around three key tasks:
The first goal was addressed by rethinking the traditional marketing process, which Beck characterized as "pushing messages down customers' throats and then flogging the salespeople to pursue leads." This approach leads to an over-emphasis on reporting, which distracts salespeople from understanding their customers so that they can keep higher-ups apprised of how the sales process is proceeding. In contrast, a social business approach has marketing organizations getting to know customers. "They hang out where customers hang out, build relationships and help them become part of our family," he said. "The tools help build trusted relationships." Sales people are empowered with tools that help them quickly identify resources within the organization that can help customers solve problems. When all those customer touches are documented, "the reports and graphs are generated in the background." The pitch to salespeople is that they can spend more time making customers successful and less time doing paperwork. The other part of the equation is supporting customers better. Beck wryly described traditional customer support as "the process of torturing customers to death. They need to find the right department and fill out the correct form and if they fill out the wrong form we delete it." By stressing the role of sales as problem-solver – and by involving the community of customers in solving each other's problems – support frustration is reduced. Beck pointed to examples of customers that are adopting social business tactics in their own markets. Amadori is an Italian food processor specializing in poultry that created a network of micro sites that combine company and public information to answer common questions. Omron is a global maker of industrial and consumer sensing and control technology whose European operation created a social portal to help people find answers or people who can help them. From a management perspective, the key to social business change is to reverse the standard mindset, Beck said. "We're making the transformation from managing the seller to enabling the seller."   |
| Facebook Timeline Update: Declare Yourself an Organ Donor Posted: 01 May 2012 01:50 PM PDT  Timeline event: Organ Donor As of today, Facebook users can now proudly announce that they are an organ donor. This update, accessible in the ‘health and wellness’ portion of Timeline, will show up on a user's Timeline to let their friends know that they've decided to become an organ donor. With this change, Facebook is hoping that it will draw attention to the fact that organ donors are desperately needed. According to CNN, "On average, 18 people in the United States die each day waiting for an organ transplant.” When Facebook users begin updating their Timelines, they'll be able to add their story of what encouraged them to become an organ donor, giving it a more personal feel. Says CNN, "Anne Paschke, a spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, applauded the organ donation plan. ‘It’s absolutely fabulous that so many people will learn how easy it is to sign up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor,’” she said. Bryan Laurienti, co-owner of BBB Systems, notes that while announcing that you'd like to be an organ donor on Facebook is a commendable act, it is not a legal declaration. If you'd like to officially register as an organ donor, please visit OrganDonor.gov.   |
| How To Block BranchOut on Facebook Posted: 01 May 2012 01:30 PM PDT If you're like me, you've been inundated with app requests on Facebook from an app called BranchOut. Supposedly it's the "next LinkedIn", but it has more than a few skeptics (me being one of them). The biggest problem I have with BranchOut is that it spams me with constant invites from people I'm friends with on Facebook. After my phone buzzed nonstop today with those invites, I got fed up and decided to write a tutorial on how to block Branch Out requests on Facebook. Step OneGo to the Main Menu to your Facebook Privacy Settings  Go to your Privacy Settings Step TwoScroll down and click on "Manage Blocking" in the Block People and Apps section. Click on Manage Blocking. Step ThreeScroll down to the Block Apps section, and start typing in BranchOut in the box. When it shows up, click on it and it will automatically be added to your list of blocked apps. Type BranchOut in the Block Apps field & then click on it. Step FourBreathe a sigh of relief! What do you think of BranchOut? Do you use it? Do you think it's the next LinkedIn? Are you as annoyed with it as I am? Let me know in the comment section.   |
| Posted: 01 May 2012 12:10 PM PDT Pinterest has become undeniable social media force in recent months. It has grown exponentially, in users and content, and is now the 3rd most popular social network in world behind Facebook and Twitter. The unique aspect of Pinterest, and where the business opportunity comes into play, is the amount of time users are spending on the site. With this much opportunity to be seen and shared, it is clear to see why companies such as Whole Foods, Southwest Airlines, and Sony have put such an emphasis on being relavent on the site. Here are some tip to maximize the opportunity: Avoid the Cheese Consumers today are savvy. They can spot a fraud from a mile away. Users that are overtly trying to sell their wears are going to be ignored and dismissed as SPAM by most Pinterest users. The best way to guard yourself from this is to be authentic. Assimilate into the site and don't let your pins and boards look like advertisements. Spend some time on the site browsing around and get a feel for what the top brands are doing before you jump in head first. Check out the boards below for some inspiration: http://pinterest.com/wholefoods/ http://pinterest.com/travelchannel/ Be Beautiful Cell phone pictures, no matter how good, are not going to get pinned and re-pinned as much a high-resolution photos. The quality of your photos matters even more when you first set sail on building our presence on Pinterest. Even when you have a relatively small number of followers, users will find quality pictures. If you dont have a high quality camera, try using a free photo enhancement suite like PicMonkey. This way you can clean up your pictures, make them more brilliant, and insert small text for an added branding layer. For more visual niches like food or design, this is not as hard. But, for companies in more 'professional' industries this could pose a little bit of a challenge. So, be creative. Be unique. Source: twistedsifter.sifter.netdna-cdn.com via Corey on Pinterest Engage & Be Active Another tell tale sign of a company abusing Pinterest is one that only shares its content and does not participate in the other aspect of the site. This is an easy problem to solve. Just spend some time on the site. Search some keyword that are relevant to your niche ,and re-pin. Follow individual users and share their content. Showing that you are engaged with your customers gives your company a more personable voice and leads to more followers and more traffic driven to your account. Do you have a favorite company on Pinterest? Please share in the comments!   |
| Why is the ‘24-Hour Rule’ Important in Building an Online Community? Posted: 01 May 2012 11:30 AM PDT You and your team worked your tails off building an online community and now, only a small percentage of customers or members are using it. Creating and growing a new online community, even if it is built on top of an existing customer base or membership organization, takes a vast amount of planning and community management activity. One of the most widespread challenges revolves around getting customers or members to use your online community as a resource on a consistent basis. An initial series of visits to your online community often look like this: A busy customer or member visits your community. They think it is cool and see the potential for adding value to their day. They decide to come back. They visit your community again. They don't get value that they expected. They don't come back for a while. This makes the 24-Hour Rule one of the most important parts of building successful private online communities. It aims to ensure that every customer or member finds the value they are looking for as they test out your online community. What is the 24-Hour Rule of Online Community Growth?The 24-Hour Rule says: For the first 6-12 months of an online community's existence, an organization must ensure that all discussions are responded to within 24-hours of the initial posting. When a customer or member asks a question or starts a discussion in your online community's discussion forums, it would ideally receive a response from other members of the community and a lasting, meaningful online conversation would flourish. However, people are busy, priorities shift, and customers aren't hanging around your online community all day waiting for discussions to crop up. The "legendary, instant conversation" rarely occurs and organizations that launch an online community expecting that to happen are often frustrated within months. If a customer, member, or partner does not respond to the initial forum post, the 24-Hour Rule means your organization must engage. Savvy businesses and membership organizations put processes in place to listen to their community and make sure that people get answers to their questions and reactions to their discussions. Sometimes, it is the business or membership organization that responds. Other times, the community management team will research others in the organization or customer base that might be able to help and ask them to respond. Tip: If the organization is responding to a discussion, avoid responding with definitive answers. Answer the question or add to the discussion with language that promotes ongoing conversation and invites other customers or members to chime in. Why Some Organizations Don't Follow to the 24-Hour RuleMany organizations feel that their community belongs to their members or customers and that management and employees should stay out of it so they are not seen a meddling. The truth is that customers and members come to online communities, not for the fun of being social online, but for help in their lives, daily jobs, or careers. If they don't get that help from your organization's online community, they will seek that help in other places. How to Use the 24-Hour Rule to Build a Successful Online CommunityStaffingMake sure that you have enough staff to respond to online discussions. The 24-Hour Rule is often an "all hands on deck" initiative. While not everyone will need to drop what they are doing to post a response to a customer or member discussion, they must all be aware of the policy and support its success. Online Community SoftwareBe sure that the online community software your organization is using enables the community management team to monitor the community easily to track new discussions and comments. Your online community platform should also have a strong search engine to help community managers search existing documents, files, and forums to find answers and experts. Role of Community ManagerAlong with committing to maintain the 24-Hour Rule, your community management staff must be empowered to find answers across your organization, as well as reach out to community members and volunteer leaders to ask them to weigh in on an online discussion. Measuring SuccessUsing the reports in your online customer or member community software, you can track the overall success of your responsiveness. Key questions are: Are the people to whom you have responded within 24-hours returning to the community? Are you seeing an increase in peer-to-peer discussions over time? Tip: The 24-hour rule can also be re-instated at any point in the online community's lifecycle if you see engagement levels dropping. Customers or members will respond positively to the increased activity and value in the community. Online Community TakeawayThe 24-Hour Rule is a basic law of growing a successful online community that Socious learned first-hand while managing the online community for our first software customer 10 years ago. We developed the 24-Hour Rule and wove it into our daily community management practices to make sure that all forums and listserv threads were engaged within 24 hours. That organization’s online community, where we tested the 24-Hour Rule a decade ago, has grown from 5,000 members to over 25,000 members. My hope is that many businesses planning online customer communities make the 24-Hour Rule part of their community management DNA for the initial phases of their online community. Have you implemented the 24-Hour Rule during your online community’s infancy? Tell us about it in the comments below.   |
| Evolving Social Media Analytics: Insights from Marshall Sponder Posted: 01 May 2012 11:02 AM PDT Social media analytics is rapidly evolving, always challenging the ways marketers measure and draw insights from web and social media. To get the inside scoop on the current state of social analytics we turned to analytics guru Marshall Sponder. Marshall is the author of Social Media Analytics: Effective Tools for Building, Interpreting, and Using Metrics and the founder of Web Metrics Guru, who speaks regularly about social media measurement, platforms and analytics at coveted industry events, including the recent Social Media Analytics Summit in San Francisco. Fortunately, we got a chance to sit down with him to learn about the latest thinking around social analytics and what marketers need to know to stay on top of their analytics game. Marshall defines social analytics as the data that measures key activity and engagement around people's social graphs. He would be the first to tell you that data is not that meaningful unless it captures what really matters. Marshall reminds us, as he always does in his industry keynotes, that social media measurement is hard. Here's why: there is really no defined processes and standards around it (despite industry efforts), most companies still cannot clearly articulate what success looks like, while most of social data (90% of it, to be precise) is unstructured and hard to reign in for business insight. In one of his latest industry sessions – this one coming all the way from Sydney, Marshall advised companies to start their measurement journey by first determining how they envision customer interactions and then measure how interactions are actually happening. Next, brands need to audit how they measure the interactions they can capture (as some interactions will remain elusive) and zero in on the two to three key performance indicators (KPIs) that clearly indicate how well social media campaigns are doing. It may surprise you to hear that the most valuable insights companies need, those insights that can help them make sense of their social media efforts, may indeed be locked away from the company's social analytics vault. This data, which Marshall refers to as "ultraviolet data", is like ultraviolent light – it surrounds us but is invisible to the marketer's eye. Ultraviolet data is data that brands may not be currently capturing but data that is the key to understanding a brand's audience. Examples of such data include comments where people speculate what may happen in the future, or location-based check-ins and corresponding comments. There is no doubt that social media data, and its ultraviolet equivalent, present real data aggregation, normalization and analysis challenges – a lot of times marketers are simply not equipped to process big social data. Marshall sees the relevancy of big data and all the heated discussions surrounding the topic as very relevant for social analytics. He explains that current processes for big data analysis are "like boiling the entire ocean" for a few valuable insights. To avoid the big data conundrum, companies can turn to Social CRM – new methodologies and toolsets that collect the social media chatter by tying it to prospect and customer profiles. Equipped with that data, marketers can then tie social with purchase information to model sales effectiveness. Marshall recommends brands follow these tips to understand how many people are buying a product because of social marketing efforts:
You probably won't be surprised to hear that even great thinkers like Marshall look up to their peers for insights and inspiration – after all, big social data is no small challenge. Gary Angel, the president and CTO of Semphonic, wins Marshall's award for overall analytics thought leadership, followed by Eric Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified, and Jim Sterne, the founding president and current chairman of the Digital Analytics Association. His favorite social marketing experts are Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Brian Solis, Larry Smith, Oliver Blanchard and Dave Kerpen. To learn more insights from Marshall Sponder, you can follow him on Twitter, read his blog, or check out his SlideShare. For more on social analytics, and you can harness external and internal insights for business value, download our complimentary white paper, Actionable Social Analytics: From Social Media Metrics to Business Insights. How do you make sense of the ocean of available social data? Have you successfully tied social marketing to sales? Share your thoughts and best practices with our community on Twitter (use #AwarenessTips).   |
| Healthcare Companies Still Don’t “Get” Social Media Posted: 01 May 2012 10:57 AM PDT “Social media is changing the nature of healthcare interaction, and health organizations that ignore this virtual environment may be missing opportunities to That was the very ominous and foreboding opening line from a press release announcing the findings of a report done by the Health Research Institute (HRI) at PwC US. Anytime I see the words “engage” and “missing” I am automatically intrigued because as we all know it’s all about engagement: how to get engaged with your customers, how to stay engaged with your customers and how to ensure they stay engaged with you. The report compared the social media activity of hospitals, pharma companies and health insurers to that of community sites and as you can see there is no comparison as community sites had 24 times more social media activity than corporate sites. This is very significant as the report aptly points out in that it has serious implications for “businesses looking to capitalize on social media opportunities.” The report also includes findings from an HRI social media survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers and 124 members of the eHealth Initiative and include the following results:
What Does It All Mean? Well I am glad you asked… What it all means, as the chart below demonstrates so well, is there is a golden opportunity for the hospitals, pharma companies and health insurers of the world to engage with their customers and prospects. I realize the hospitals, pharma companies and health insurers of the world are very reticent to engage via social media for fear of all the rules and regulations that govern their every move but… at the very least you can engage people at a high level, yes?
Sources: PR Newswire, Health Research Institute at PwC Named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review, Steve Olenski is a freelance writer/blogger currently looking for full-time work. He has worked on some of the biggest brands in the world and has over 20 years experience in advertising and marketing. He lives in Philly and can be reached via email,Twitter, LinkedIn or his website.   |
| LinkedIn Launches New iPad App Posted: 01 May 2012 10:25 AM PDT The world's leading professional networking site, LinkedIn, has recently launched its first iPad application. With more than 150 million users in 200 countries, the site's long awaited app creates an easy way to stay linked in with professional connections. For those of us who have only used the LinkedIn website, the new app is a pleasant surprise as it displays simple visuals and quick tools to check updates and messages. The redesign creates a sort of "social news" feel and aims for its users to check in throughout the work day. The central home screen provides users with three simple options: Updates, Profile, and Inbox. The "Updates" portion of the app is comparative to Flipboard, a social networking aggregation which collects content of social media and other websites and presents it in magazine format allowing users to simply "flip" through their social-networking feeds. LinkedIn users are able to flip through their friends' stories and updates and even check the local weather. The "Profile" option on the app is where you can view your own profile, update your status and see who has recently viewed your profile. This section of the app also allows members to send invitations to connect with other LinkedIn users. Finally, the "Inbox" is where you will find messages sent by connections, along with connection requests. The app's tools allow for simple follow up messages and initiation of new conversations. The app's new calendar feature is also able to pull information from your existing Google Calendar or Exchange calendar and display profile information for the people you're meeting with. As mobile devices continue to become more and more prevalent, sites such as LinkedIn will flourish as users move to use apps as a quicker and easier way to check-in on social networking sites. What do you think of the new iPad app? Let us know in the comments section!   |
| Instagram Surges Past 50 Million Users Posted: 01 May 2012 10:05 AM PDT Depending on your metric, Facebook's acquisition of Instagram just released some latent value. According to Mashable, the mobile photo-sharing service has soared past 50 mn users, up from around 35 mn at the time Facebook bought it for $1 bn in cash and stock. Instagram is adding 5 mn new users a week at this point. On a cost per user basis, relative to the acquisition price, this is definitely an improvement. Facebook effectively paid $29 per Instagram user, and now that price is down to $20 per user. Of course, this is only relevant if Facebook finds a way to monetize the Instagram user base. Click here for FREE email alerts from Inside IPO >> Source: Mashable Photo: lauriedeprete via Instagram   |
| Pinterest Marketing Guide: How to Use Pinterest to Boost Your Brand Posted: 01 May 2012 09:55 AM PDT
Regardless of your personal feelings for Pinterest (huge time waster or glorious godsend?), it's impossible to deny the marketing opportunities ripe for the picking! Read on to find out why. Why Developing a Pinterest Marketing Plan is Worth Your TimePinterest has shown remarkable marketing potential as some sites begin to receive more referral traffic from Pinterest than social media heavyweight Twitter. Some quick Pinterest marketing statistics and facts as we get started:
How Can Pinterest Work for Marketing?The most obvious industry to benefit from using Pinterest is retail—show all the people pretty things they (should) want! Pinterest has driven impressive spikes in traffic for online retailers like Etsy, Martha Stewart Home, and Anthropologie, specializing in stylish goods. Pinterest can work wonders for businesses outside of retail as well. The key is in focusing on images that promote the ideal end result of using your business's product or service. If you sell lawn care services, seeds, or gardening supplies, pin images of lush flower gardens, ripe tree-bearing fruit, and other images of the Eden-like utopia customers could experience if only they would get your help. You're selling the dream! When using Pinterest as a marketing tool, the goal should be to use images to spark the viewer's thought dialogue. You want viewers to think "How do I get there? How can I make that? How can my kitchen look that nice?" and then proceed to show them how to transform that visual image into a personal reality. Pinterest Marketing Strategy: Advantages of Posting in the Craft & DIY SectionThe problem with some "selling the dream" Pinterest pictures is that a single image can speak to a variety of different dreams. For example, I was scanning Pinterest the other day and saw a spectacular image of a boat. Actually, it was this image: Now someone might be pinning this image in hopes that seeing it will activate the urge deep within my soul to buy a sailboat. That probably is true for many people, but when I see this image, I think instead of sea-faring adventures and exciting vacations rather than purchasing a boat. Images may be worth a thousand words, but you don't have control over those words, unlike with other areas of online marketing, such as PPC, where you are selecting literal key words to present to searchers. You also lose control to some degree about where Pinners go after seeing your image. Some may follow the original link and see where the image came from. Others may just see a bed of flowers and then start Googling "flower seeds." You can scroll down below the image to learn about the picture's journey across Pinterest. Pinterest Marketing Ideas: Creating Tutorial How-To ImagesThis problem about user intent doesn't exist when it comes to posting in the DIY Craft section of Pinterest because you have more detail about what a Pinner is doing there – they are specifically trying to make something. The danger is that you might be dealing with a bunch of cheapos who would rather spend hours tying together old ties to make a cloth necklace than buy yours. Or, hopefully, you are encountering an audience that loves to create and experiment, with an undying adventurous spirit (as a crafter myself, I like to say I'm in the latter category, but most likely it's a mix of both). If you can provide these crafty spirits with the tools and materials they need to create unique works of art, they will certainly buy. To grab a hold of this audience, you'll want to post an instructional how-to image. Remember, YouTube tutorial videos are immensely successful, and the same logic passes over to Pinterest as well. Imagine you are a business that primarily sells handmade jewelry, but you also sell jewelry making supplies. You might try creating a tutorial image that shows viewers how to make a beaded bracelet. You'll want to make a detailed step-by-step guide with clear, bright, attractive images. The folks over at SEOMoz have dubbed these image-oriented tutorials "instructographics," existing as a species of instructional infographics. Creating a thorough tutorial is ideal because it allows you to use a longer image, which takes up more prime Pinterest real-estate. Here is a perfect example: At the end of the image, remind viewers they can get supplies from the original website link. It's also a good idea to include a logo or short web address on the image in case folks are unable to locate the original URL. Once Pinners click that link, they'll be taken to your site. It's crucial at this point to remember the importance of relevancy. When conducting PPC campaigns, relevancy between keywords and landing pages is essential because you want people who click on your advertisement to be taken exactly to what your text ad promotes. With Pinterest, relevancy is still paramount, but your image becomes your keyword. With the example image we are using above, you would want to take viewers to a page where you sell jewelry making supplies – specifically the supplies required to make the image they saw on Pinterest. Also post the same image on your landing page that you posted on Pinterest to reassure users that they are in the correct location. If you sell jewelry, this is also a great chance to showcase other bracelets and necklaces you offer (maybe ones more complicated that aren't quite so easy to replicate). Just make sure any offers you add don't interfere with the reason why Pinners are at your site, which is to purchase those jewelry making supplies. Using Pinterest to Develop Business IdentityPinterest is also a great tool for building your brand identity. Some businesses might already know the personality they want associated with their company, in which case you can browse through Pinterest and ask yourself, "does this image connect with the lifestyle we are trying to promote?" If so, pin away! If you're a small, growing business, take some time to think about your ideal clientele and what personality traits would appeal or match with them. If you sell rafting trips, then you will want to pin all sorts of outdoor activities and photos of rugged adventures. Consider what would appeal to your audience, and reflect those wants. Pinterest Marketing Tools and ArticlesI could spend more time talking about other aspects of Pinterest, but those areas have already been covered by some great existing articles. If you're looking to learn more about the latest social media mongrel, check out: Introductory Guide to Pinterest—Mostly basic information, addressing Pinterest marketing tips about how to use hashtags, dollar signs, etc. 7 Useful Pinterest Tools — Includes Pinterest marketing tools for measuring Pinfluence and tracking Pinterest analytics. 5 Pinterest Marketing Campaigns – Some cool examples of creative marketing campaigns using Pinterest. Some ideas include Pinboard manipulation, contests, and Pinterest lotteries. SEO Optimizing for Pinterest— KissMetrics presents some compelling evidence for Pinterest's growing influence, and gives an overview on how to SEO optimize for Pinterest. SEO Strategies for Pinterest – Search Engine Journal offers some in-depth link building strategies for those ready to launch a complete SEO campaign focused around Pinterest. Informative Pinterest Infographic – Because information is always more fun when it's a pretty picture!   |
| How To Measure Brand Awareness On Social Media Posted: 01 May 2012 09:50 AM PDT Last week in our 'social media objectives' series, we explored how to measure brand perception so this week, given that the two are often mistaken for each other, let's take a look at how to measure brand awareness. Social media brand awareness refers to how many people you reach through your social media activities – you want to find out how many pairs of eyes saw your brand and what action was taken as a result. A good place to start is by breaking brand awareness down into these elements: ExposureFirstly, you need to measure the reach that you achieved using metrics such as the number of fans, followers, subscribers, impressions, basically anyone who had the potential to see it. InfluenceInfluencers have a loyal and often very large following. Their followers are more likely to engage and/or take action so this exposure is much more powerful than general exposure. Once you know who your influencers are, you need to know how many of them mentioned you and the reach of their audience. For example, if they have a total of 100,000 followers, that equates to 100,000 impressions. EngagementNow you need to measure how people interacted with your social media efforts, such as:
Financial ValueOnce you've tracked these metrics over a period of time, you'll naturally want to place a financial value on your efforts to demonstrate that they've had a positive effect on your business. These might include:
Got your content ready?Of course, in order to increase your number of likes, shares, comments, followers etc, you need to ensure that your content is high quality, original and worthy of sharing. If you need help with creating content, just give us a shout on 0845 658 3334. Next week…how to measure lead generation  |
| Increase Your Social ROI With Quora Posted: 01 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT
But Quora can actually help to boost your social ROI, which means you shouldn't discount it just yet. And, in fact, there's a little more to Quora than just asking questions and providing answers. The overall idea is that it helps you to build and spread your authority within your industry. Don't think this won't play a big role with AuthorRank, which focuses on author authority, just around the corner. In addition, if you play your content marketing cards right on Quora, you can make the power of search work for you. It's a very valuable search tool with people seeking information on a wide range of topics. Aim to be the answer in your realm and you will find that when people search, they find your answers. So how can you use Quora to increase your social ROI (which will, in turn, hopefully lead you to social media-based conversions)? #1: Generate interest in your company – in a tactful way.Before I say anything else about this, it's absolutely imperative that you understand that spamming and self-serving posts are generally frowned upon, but there are ways that you can go about it without hurting your chances of making those conversions. Okay, whew. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about generating interest in your company. To boost awareness of their sites, products, and services, some companies might begin question threads about themselves (anonymously, of course). This is good for a small business or startup with which people are not yet very familiar. So as an example, that business might ask the question, "What does [X Company] do and what kinds of services do they provide? Then they answer that question (anonymously or not). This method can be a little bit tricky because of the anonymity factor (you give up that authority factor), so proceed with caution, but know that the option is available to you. #2: Build your authority through industry-related questions/answers – in a tactful way.As opposed to posting about your business specifically and giving up the authority factor (or, perhaps, in addition to it), you can and should also post to topics within your industry in order to build and spread your authority. Here's an example of this: In this thread about email marketing, you see that two very thoughtful answers are provided with suggestions for which ESPs to use. One gives a range of answers with no apparent affiliation, and the other suggests services ultimately revealed to be provided by his company. While self-promotion is frowned upon by many, it seems to me that it's inevitable on a site like Quora. If you ask a question, you want someone who is an authority in that field to provide answers. If they specialize in their own products, chances are pretty good that they're going to mention them in their responses. What you shouldn't do is get spammy and off-topic. Most people will accept a mention of your company or services under two conditions: a.) you don't go in for an elaborate hard sell, and b.) you provide disclosure that you are employed by that company. If that kind of blatant self-promotion makes you feel icky (I hear ya), what might work better for you is to provide answers to industry-related questions, but leave out your business. Here's what I suggest: Go back to Content Marketing 101 here for a second to understand why you don't need the hard sell. As part of a good content strategy, you've likely got a blog. And somewhere along the line, you learned that the blog is a place for you to educate your audience. It's not a place for selling. Be the solution to their problems with your quality content, and the rest will follow. Now apply this content marketing strategy to your Quora experience. That is, provide intelligent, useful responses that will educate and help the person asking the question. (Tip: writing lengthy answers in the 400 word range or more will get you noticed, but make them count!) When you do this on your company blog, you establish yourself as an authority, and as potential clients begin to see you as a trusted resource, they start to move through the funnel, so to speak. It's really no different with Quora. Establish yourself as an authority by providing targeted, well-written, and useful responses, and people will follow. If you have your profile completely filled out with links to your social sites and webpage, they'll know when to find you and how to make off-Quora contact (so make sure your profile is complete!) #2a: Repurpose your blog content.If you've got a really great blog post that addresses someone's question, don't reply by saying something like "Glad you asked! Find the answers here: ." For one thing, that's considered pretty ultimate in the self-serving department (notice that the comment itself is pretty weak and doesn't really address anything other than to promote that user.) For another thing, enough people would consider that spammy to warrant not doing it. But the fact remains that you might have some really great content that will answer those questions. What can you do? This is where another content marketing strategy, repurposing content, comes into play. Take that blog post, pare it down, and provide some of the top tips from it for your Quora response. You don't need to copy it word-for-word. Just take the parts that best answer the question, and rework them through this lens. If your content is useful and relevant and truly answers the question, it will be acceptable for you to add a note at the end that says "Content sourced from my blog post: ." And remember, no need to include any contact info. If they're impressed with that answer, they'll check out your profile, which, because it's complete, will direct them right to you. #3: Don't be afraid to ask questions.You might think your question is stupid, but it's not. In fact, it's probably safe to assume that someone else has been hoping to find an answer to the same question. Asking can get you noticed (not to mention it shows initiative and that you take an interest). Answering can establish you as an authority. Both can help you to build relationships. A Well-Known Example of Quora Done Right SEOmoz CEO Rand Fishkin is quite active on Quora, and a good example of how to leverage the site without being self-serving. Rand's profile is filled out completely. His headline lets you know who he is and what he does, so it's already obvious at that point that he knows what he's talking about. He answers questions related to business, online marketing, and, of course, SEO. While he absolutely mentions his work at SEOmoz, he does so in a tactful way. He's not overly promotional, but given the quality of his responses and his knowledge on the subjects, you can be sure his activity on Quora is driving some traffic back to SEOmoz. There are so many possibilities with Quora (I personally love the site for helping me to come up with blog topics because it's a hotbed of what people want to know). It can absolutely be used to increase your social media ROI if you work it into your content marketing and social media strategies. It also helps to carve you a place as an authority while helping you to build relationships. Are you using Quora for business? What are your thoughts on using it to boost social ROI? Let us know!   |
| LinkedIn iPad App Puts Content on Top Posted: 01 May 2012 08:03 AM PDT Last week, LinkedIn finally released its long-awaited iPad app. Rather than being just another social connection application, LinkedIn's entry into the tablet world puts content on top… literally. Here's a screen shot of the app, which includes "All Updates" in the first position:
Here are a few tips for sharing content on LinkedIn's new iPad app:
The app does lack some nice features (which I won't belabor here), but this beautifully laid out content feed does exactly what it's meant to do. What's that? Well, as one app store commenter put it, "It makes me want to spend more time browsing around my professional groups and networks." Have you tried the new LinkedIn iPad app yet? What do you think? Learn How to Make LinkedIn an Important Part of Your Inbound Marketing Mix  |
| The Five Challenges of Social Media Management in Tourism Posted: 01 May 2012 07:55 AM PDT I recently ran a series of posts for the French side of this blog, interviewing different tourism organizations in the province of Quebec that execute many aspects of their social media strategy effectively. There was a big city hotel, a destination spa in the Eastern Townships, a regional destination marketing organization (DMO), a cultural promotion office and a well-known resort located North of Montreal. Each have different realities, yet similar approaches and concerns. However, when I asked them what was their greatest challenge in managing social media moving forward, they gave very different answers. And from my experience in the past four years in this sphere, it's a safe bet that these concerns are shared by many in the tourism & travel industry. 1. Staying in the know
More than 80% of organizations in the tourism industry are small or medium businesses (SMB), with many Mom & Pop shops or solo-preneur inns and family-owned restaurants. Staying abreast of every change in social media and its implication is near impossible, so many rely on their DMO officers for know-how and training in order to stay on top of things. 2. Being consistent For some, it's a challenge in itself to find enough content to fill up an editorial calendar and publish accordingly across all the channels managed by the organization. For others, content is not the issue: being consistent is. While there may be plenty of texts, contests, interviews, photos and videos to engage in a variety of conversations, the challenge is to resonate with the audience and this requires more in-depth approach than simply "churn out content". When you rely on members or partners to provide quality content to your audiences, you also depend on their understanding of the priorities at hand. And while I did mention the necessity of an editorial calendar in the previous paragraph, this should not be taken as a given. For many organizations, this is still a struggle and many just go with the flow, with the uneven frequency and frustrations this can create. 3. A clear and measurable strategy
Defining the strategy should identify the target audiences which, in turn, will define which social media are best to achieve goals sought for the organization. For each target, there also needs to be specific and measurable indicators so one can track progress and fine-tune the approach as one moves forward. Few organizations are at this level, and failure to report appropriately how social media is managed is perhaps one of the biggest challenges tourism organizations are facing right now. Failure to report appropriately how social media is managed is perhaps one of the biggest challenges tourism organizations are facing right now 4. Demonstrating ROI Stemming directly from the previous point, the need to demonstrate return on investment is certainly a major point but, surprisingly, did not spring out from the various conversations held with industry stakeholders. Truth be told, save for a chosen few examples, for many tourism organizations in Quebec social media is the part-time job of one individual. Thus, return on investment is not a major challenge. Yet. But once the need will be identified to add a resource, or simply have a full-time person to manage this reality, the question will arise: what's the return on that investment? Social media is often managed under marketing, when there is a marketing department, or by the savvy, tech-inclined coordinator who was hired for other reasons but will end up helping out with "the social media stuff". Once organizations will truly realize that blogging, engaging on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or Pinterest is not just a marketing function but something that permeates across the whole company, including above all customer service, it will be a rude awakening… 5. Integrating social media into business processes Finally, there are a few organizations that have come to realize that indeed, social media should not be the sole ownership of marketing. When questions asked on the Facebook page relate to shareholders or community relations, it's a matter of Public Affairs. When conversations on LinkedIn deal with corporate culture, or B2B sales leads, it's a matter of Human Resources and Sales. Or when irate customer lash out on Twitter or via blog posts, why should it be the "marketing-based social media guy" that answers? Task forces need to be put in place and, more fundamentally, corporate cultures need to change. Social media impacts every aspect of how organizations work and the need for open leadership is more compelling than ever. In order to properly respond to real-time customer service, real-time marketing and communications, organizations need to adapt accordingly and adopt transparency, openness and empowerment to front line employees in order not only to survive, but to strive in this new reality. (Would you like to automatically receive posts from this blog? Simply insert your email address in the upper right box on this page in order to subscribe. Cheers!)   |
| Avoid These Annoying Blogging Techniques Posted: 01 May 2012 07:44 AM PDT
What annoys blog readers most? Here is a list of some of the most commonly annoying blog-writing practices—habits that are far more likely to backfire than spread like wildfire:
Is your business blog guilty of any of these annoying blogging practices? Consider making changes to see better blogging success!   |
| How Social Media Monitoring Can Boost Your Lead Generation Posted: 01 May 2012 06:40 AM PDT Getting the most out of social media monitoring tools is something we're obviously very interested in, and our series of free eBooks is tailored towards different uses available to SMM tool users. In the fifth such book, we've taken an in-depth look at using tools like Brandwatch for lead generation. If you're unconvinced by the potential power of finding and nurturing leads through social media monitoring, then consider this: 17.9% of B2B companies and 24.8% of B2C marketers say that social media lead generation is even more potent than PPC or SEO is. Furthermore, a staggering 68% of marketers claim to have created leads from social media, and 55% of them have closed deals originating from a social media lead. It's not a simple as simply identifying them; and the prospect will be unlikely to be looking to buy straight away. Buyers will most likely undertake some research before comparing available options, followed by sampling them, before finally making the purchase, dividing the process into four clear sections. Understanding these buyers is essential to finding these leads, and you will need to evaluate the following considerations. Find out who your target consumer is - Refine which kind of people are buying your products, or which type of consumer you wish to market to. Building a profile for each target niche will help you focus your sales efforts later on. Locate where your prospects are hanging out – Look for the forums and web spaces that your target consumers are spending their time online in. Discover what they're saying about you – If users are aware of your brand, which terms are being used in discussions? There could be particular keywords that people talk about in relation to your product (e.g. pricing or shipping) that could then inform your sales strategies. Ascertain what people are talking about – your market or industry will have a number of recurring themes that people are discussing that relate to the service you provide, allowing you to accurately serve the needs of your prospects. Uncovering this information is vital to generating new leads, and entering the sales cycle as early as possible will help you best achieve success. Identifying those that are still in the research stage means you can then act as an educator to early-stage prospects and establish yourself as a thought-leader in your niche. The majority of B2B leads have a sales cycle of around 4 months, meaning that becoming involved at this early stage is essential, and you can nurture these leads along the funnel to become a sale at the end. Brian Carroll puts it like this: "Imagine your marketplace is like a field of banana trees. Your marketing people are those who nurture and pick the bananas. Bananas are harvested when they are green, and they turn yellow as they ripen. Fully 95% of your leads are like harvested green bananas, and, off the top, your sales team needs only the other 5%, those that are ripe." You can discover how to follow the process through here, and also read plenty more on social media lead generation than is covered here. There are plenty of ways that monitoring tools can help you measure the success of your lead generation and provide feedback from performing these activities, such as:
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| How To Regain Control in a Social Media Crisis Posted: 01 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT
Although these are natural and understandable reactions, they won't get you any closer to regaining that lost control. That's why it's important to understand which aspects of your organization and the crisis you always have control over, and to focus your efforts on those areas within a crisis. Focus on the areas for which you always have complete controlYour content
Your messaging Brands who panic in a crisis and go against their traditional messaging disappoint their market and find it hard to recover from such a mistake. Your brand message is your promise to your customers and many relationships are built on such promises. Go back on them and you'll continue to spiral out of control throughout the crisis. Stay true to them and you'll continue to build that relationship with your market and begin to regain control of the situation. Your response to the crisis Your actions Your actions are clearly within your power and are what will make or break your organization throughout a social media crisis. Act fast, act honest and act responsibly – and by the way, all of the answers to the above questions should most definitely be yes! What to take awayThe struggle within a social media crisis is to regain control of the situation and to suffer the least amount of damages to your brand, your brand's reputation and your brand's bottom line. A social media crisis is a stressful situation for anybody and everybody involved, but by focusing on the areas in which you always have control, as well as focusing on continuously building and strengthening the relationship you share with your market, you will regain control of the entire situation and your brand – and you will do so with positive results. Have you ever experienced a social media crisis, and if so how did you focus on regaining control of the situation? Share your experiences with me below.   |
| PeerIndex Founder Reveals Social Marketing Developments Posted: 01 May 2012 05:00 AM PDT Click here if you can’t see this video interview with Azeem Azhar, founder of PeerIndex. I had a chance to catch up with PeerIndex founder Azeem Azhar at his homebase in London. Azeem is prominently featured Return On Influence and this was a golden opportunity to catch up with him about some of the newest developments. In this interview we cover: Is social scoring getting traction? Is it creating measurable value for companies and brands or is it still experimental? How is the company going to use its new round of funding? Why is social scoring so disruptive for many traditional advertising agencies? How are companies realizing "TV ad-like" results by approaching influencers? What is the "magic middle" of influencer outreach? Is this still experimental or are companies beginning to dedicate real money towards influence marketing? How are companies measuring benefits from this new channel? I think you'll find this conversation quite interesting! Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, author and college educator who blogs at {grow}. You can also follow him on Twitter: @markwschaefer.   |
| Branding Opportunities with Facebook Timeline Posted: 01 May 2012 04:45 AM PDT By now, you have probably heard that it is imperative to optimize your Facebook brand page for the new Timeline layout because there are many opportunities to showcase your brand's content aside from just wall posts and a thumbnail photo. Mashable revealed a new study today that clocked how many seconds people's eyes were attracted to various parts of your new brand page. The image above provides some highlighted results. Not surprisingly, the top of the page (predominantly the cover photo) received the longest eyeball time. The cover photo specifically captured users' attentions for an average of 6 seconds. Tabs captured 3.5 seconds, followed by the actual Timeline with 2 seconds per column. In other words, as we see in paid media, what's at the top is what matters most. So, here are some helpful tips to get started by optimizing your Timeline to capture users' interest. 1. Start with an amazing cover photo. 2. Put your most compelling content in the first few tabs (sweepstakes, contests, photos, videos). 3. "Feature" (by pressing edit post and then starring the post) content at the top of your timeline. Be sure to refresh this every few days for those users that might be returning visitors. 4. Upload more photos and videos to entice people to stay on your Timeline longer. 5. Optimize your Timeline for the years you've been in business. 56% of people look to your additional years on the top right. Add milestones that you've already crossed to give people a good idea of your business' history.   |
| Three Laws of Blogging That Get Traffic and Maximize ROI Posted: 01 May 2012 04:30 AM PDT How well you make money from your blogging, or from getting traffic to your business website from publishing content online, determines whether or not you will succeed. Without the ability to generate a stream of income (a positive ROI), blogging is not really a sustainable business practice. Blogging requires, thought, effort, time, creativity and skill. This is why so many people are prepared to put in a huge amount of effort to find workarounds for Google’s Panda updates, instead of simply creating great content – what Panda is designed to find and promote. This article will highlight the three main “laws” about blogging or content marketing in general that you have to understand before the content you create has any chance of making an impact, driving traffic and earning revenue. Generating a positive blogging ROI (Return on investment)?Assuming you are prepared to create great content, then ensuring that you are rewarded for your efforts is a top priority. No-one else is going to do it, so it’s entirely up to you how much money you want to earn. Regardless of how you choose to monetize your content, it could be through affiliate advertising, Adsense, eCommerce, or any number of methods, the way in which you build up a social media following, increase traffic volumes and maximize conversions relies on:
Understanding these points, let’s formulate them into the three laws of blogging: 1. Great content is a prerequisite not a guaranteeMost advice about blogging is centered around creating “great content“. Unfortunately, the overwhelming impression people get is that by creating great content, success will eventually find you. This is simply not true. Great content (Any content that is interesting or noteworthy, and engages its target audience well) is a bare minimum requirement. If you have it, there is no guarantee that you will succeed. Without it, you will almost certainly fail. Instead of looking at content as the “product you are selling“, think of it as the platform from which you can start doing business. It’s your ticket into the debate only – you still have to get involved in the conversion and rise to the top. Check out these articles that highlight the importance of great content in driving traffic and engaging people:
2. Credibility is a perceptionCreating fantastic content is important, and yes, it’s the seed that grows into your credibility as a blogger, entrepreneur or business. You won’t be seen as credible without great content. Credibility, from the perspective of the audience, however, comes from other people. Credibility is something other people infer on you, it’s not an intrinsic quality of your writing and character. Have you ever noticed that articles and content that make it on to huge blog sites and generate thousands of tweets and create an appreciable ripple, aren’t necessarily any better than your own content? Yet they generate far more traffic, why? Credibility. The message might be the same as yours, but people are listening to someone else who is more credible. Those people are more credible than you because they have people who say they are credible. Check out these articles on how to build blogging credibility:
It’s not the quality of the content, it’s the say so of other people who are credible. 3. You can’t make a big enough impact on your ownEvery successful blogger will admit that they could not have achieved their success without the loyal help of their most avid fans. Simply put; without a team of marketers (readers who love your content) working tirelessly on your behalf (tweeting and sharing your content), it is not possible to inject enough presence into the social sphere to cross any meaningful threshold that leads to industry wide exposure. If you’re looking at blogging as “me against the world“, think again. It is far quicker and easier to actively seek out alliances and connections with influential people in your niche. Find out what they want, and work out how to deliver it for them. Then let them know about it, so that they can connect with you and continue to work together for mutual benefit. Check out these articles that talk about how to build up a social network that helps to promote and market your content:
How to evaluate your performance under the three laws of bloggingUnderstanding whether or not you are succeeding as a blogger is not difficult. There are always signs that you are on the right path, and one sure sign that you aren’t.
If you find that you aren’t succeeding, then don’t panic. Start following people who have offered good advice. Start interacting with and talking about people who are succeeding in your niche. Learn as much as you can and keep trying new things based on what you learn. Eventually, you will find your own niche within the niche and, with persistence, start to succeed.   |
| Education – Investing in our Future – Social Media Training Posted: 30 Apr 2012 05:45 PM PDT We've all read blog posts bemoaning the alarming content that our kids are willing to share in the social stream. Perhaps our own kids are shocking us with their indiscretion regarding what is appropriate to share to the public. We still bear a responsibility to teach our own kids about reasonable boundaries of disclosure, but what if we could run 1-2 hour seminars in the middle school and high school classrooms? Of course, we also need to point out the benefits of using social media to begin crafting a personal brand for future employers and colleges to review. Here are some of the highlights we are considering. Due to the limited amount of time in a 1-2 hour presentation, we would only broach these topics with a focus on the most common social media platforms. I hope you can benefit from these suggestions as well as offer up new ideas in the spirit of crowd-sourcing to best equip our students: Privacy Settings Are you astonished at what K12 kids are sharing via social media? This section of the presentation would focus on the privacy settings for both YouTube and Facebook. Although many students will continue to flaunt their content to the largest audiences possible, we would explain the differences between Friends and "Friends of Friends", Wall-to-Wall communications, Messages and Lists. On YouTube, we would discuss public/private URLs, and the consideration of either disabling all comments or moderating comments to keep other users from adding inappropriate content to your channel. Cyber-Bullying With the discussion of Wall-to-Wall communication and private messages, we need to outline the boundaries of acceptable behavior when it involves bullying. Cyber-bullying is even more gutless than physical bullying, yet the abuse continues to escalate. We will provide statistics and case studies to illustrate the effects of this terrible behavior. Appropriate Content and Disclosure The Internet.Never.Forgets. Posting graphic photos, prejudicial rants and diatribes about parents, teachers, employers and fellow students will follow you forever! Again, we can provide case studies to show how users were not selected for jobs or college placement as well as examples of arrests and lost child custody cases due to publishing inappropriate content. LinkedIn Profiles Did I mention that one day I forbade my recently graduated high school senior from going out on a Friday night until she started her LinkedIn profile? As both a professional and an employer, I believe in the power of LinkedIn, professional networking and personal branding. We are much more likely to find employees via LinkedIn connections, group memberships and profile reviews than from any resume or generic job board profile. We are no longer constrained to a "References upon Request" line at the bottom of our resumes; instead, we can proactively solicit recommendations from employers, instructors and coaches. If students are in a competitive scenario for job placement or college acceptance, a well-crafted LinkedIn profile could be the difference maker! This section of the social media training program will focus on what constitutes a 100% complete LinkedIn profile including keywords, Honors & Activities, Interests, Recommendations and Job History. Blogs and other Social Profiles This topic is even more advanced than a detailed LinkedIn discussion. However, some students may benefit from additional knowledge regarding platforms they can use to promote their personal brands to employers and colleges. We can briefly touch upon topics like YouTube channels, Facebook Fan Pages, Pinterest Boards and blogging platforms. This section could also briefly discuss content creation, content curation and online influence. Digital Media Careers A discussion around content creation and curation provides a great transition into talking about Digital Media Careers. High-tech is not constrained to careers like software development, testing, project management and network engineering. We can complete our social media training sessions with the highlights regarding digital media careers that include social media strategy, social media marketing and even content creation via blogging. Let's get these kids excited about the wide world of technology and careers available to them! Finally Viveka VonRosen had an outstanding idea when we were discussing social media training ideas for students – a live TweetChat! We could introduce students to the power of TweetChats for education and sharing ideas. Think of how many high school juniors and seniors, and even college students, would benefit from chats like #CollegeCash! I will post more about this topic as we develop the concept, but Viveka has already recommended the use of #LinkedInKids for the chat hashtag. What would you add to this list? More importantly, would you support your own children attending this type of onsite, in-class presentation? I look forward to your comments!   |
| Twitter for Business: Expand Your Brand, Connect With Customers Posted: 30 Apr 2012 04:15 PM PDT Many companies use Twitter for business to expand their brand and connect with customers. But to achieve Twitter success, you need to have a deep understanding of your audience, have a social media strategy, and a way to measure your results. Here are a few things to consider: Know The Community: Getting to know your community inside and out is must if you want to improve your chance of success. One way you can do that is by asking questions to your Twitter community. It’s a great way to gain insight on what's important to your customers, what's influencing their decisions, and how they feel about your competitors. When you gain insight in your customers and your industry, the more likely you’ll be perceived as an approachable and personable brand. Figure Out A Strategy: All businesses need a strategy to get, keep and build your customer base. So before you start tweeting, you should figure out a “plan of action” and how to take part within the community. Think about what you plan on posting and how often you plan on posting. And whether or not you're posting “retweet-worthy” content that will attract more followers. Develop Social Media Magnetism: The first step is to use word-of-mouth advertising to drive awareness and traffic to your Twitter page. Follow experts, companies and competitors and leaders in your industry. Share your expertise to enhance your reputation build credibility. Figure out what your brand persona or voice is and start engaging with your audience. Talk To Your Customers: Twitter is about having a dialogue. So start replying to tweets talking about you and your brand. Start and join conversations. And most importantly, be authentic, genuine and real. When you have a dialogue with your audience, it you can convert conversations into actions. Build Customer Loyalty: When you post insightful content on a regular basis, more people will find out about your business and you'll attract more followers. Many businesses use Twitter as a customer retention tool so that they spot unhappy customers and solve their problems. Also, keeping your fans up to date on what’s happening with your business will keep your brand top-of-mind. Optimize Your Content: It's important to have a set of industry keywords for your business to use so that your content is optimized for search results. You can start by including keywords in your bio. Also, it's important to make sure your tweets are compelling and are within 120-130 characters. Posting short and intriguing content will not only improve your click through rates (CTR), but boost your ranking in searches. Measure Your Engagement: The best way to understand your online influence is by selecting the right tools. Social media tools like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite or helpdesk software can save you time and resources with research, engagement and marketing. With Twitter you'll be able to get your name and message out in the public's eye quickly and easily. Twitter gives you an opportunity to be personable which builds trust with your customers. And if you create an online persona that is strong and on point, your business will gain recognition and possibly new customers.   |
| Tottenham Court Road ‘Siege’ Shows How Twitter Can Hinder, Not Help, Rolling News Posted: 30 Apr 2012 03:40 PM PDT Twitter was at the forefront of another breaking news story this week as Michael Green sparked a bombscare and a hostage crisis in Tottenham Court Road, London. As news broke, the phrase 'Tottenham Court Road' was quickly trending, while the earliest reports didn't have the details. Some tweets reported a bombscare evacuation, some said a man was holding hostages in Starbucks. In fact a disgruntled man had entered the office of Advantage HGV – a driver training company – to accost (and presumably threaten) one specific woman. Witnesses said he had gas canisters strapped to himself and pictures quickly emerged of smashed windows and papers being thrown out of windows. Michael Green had reportedly forced his hostages to throw things out of the windows. He was protesting at his failure to gain a HGV driving licence. Initially Twitter was the source for the news but once the big boys of news got on the scene, Twitter became the place to discuss the news. It went from informer to analyser and then to confuser. While many tweets used the hashtag #tcr, many other people made glaring hashtag errors, typing things like "#tottenham court road" or "#tottenham #court #road" in their tweets. Thus, the story took on a new dimension as thousands of people then thought the story was about something happening in Tottenham, which is not where Tottenham Court Road is. By the time Americans had woken up and started following the trending topics, they were reporting en masse about a bombscare in Tottenham. Twitter is perhaps the greatest thing to happen to global news since CNN reported from the war in Kuwait in the early 90s, but Twitter is also the greatest proponent of Chinese whispers, not to mention a great exponent of poor literacy skills. Percentage of people on twitter who don't know the difference between licence and license? About 99% if Friday is anything to go by.   |
The potential marketing advantages of Pinterest have been well documented recently, as the fledgling social sharing site boosts traffic and sales for niche retailers like Etsy.
Quora is probably one of the most overlooked social media sites around right now. The people who use it will rave about it while the people who don't will say they don't get it. You're just asking questions and providing answers? Sounds boring and kind of useless in the grand scheme of things.
The social media landscape evolves so fast that many feel ignorant or fear being left in the cold with all these changes. When it's not Facebook making its almost-monthly major facelift, it's Youtube introducing changes to its branded channels, Twitter promoted tweets or LinkedIn changing its company pages. Not to mention when a new-comer like Pinterest shows up, or Google+ taking its foothold or Instagram becoming the new must-have, must-do-something-with application for destinations and hotel marketers alike.
Back in 2008 or 2009 when most tourism organizations started treading the waters of social media, it was almost normal NOT to have a strategy in place for these platforms. It was more trial and error, fail fast, learn and move on. While this is a mantra I still believe in, it no longer makes sense for travel organizations to approach social media that way. It's not acceptable (was it ever?) to do what I call "me-too marketing", whereby you set up a Facebook page because your next-door competitor did so just last week. Social media should be approached under the overall business objectives and targets, not just under marketing strategies. What is the hotel, destination or resort seeking to achieve in 2012: increase brand awareness? drive traffic to the web site? reduce calls or visits in the information center? increase numbers of resumes sent to the company for recruiting purposes?
When it comes to blogging, it doesn't matter if you're a 
One of the biggest stresses of a social media crisis is the loss of control that comes with one. Organizations see their social media platforms being taken over with negative and critical comments and they don't know what to do or how to respond in order to regain control of the situation. This is when 
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