Taking Advantage of Social Media

When 95% of senior marketing executives around the world say they believe social media will “grow in significance over the next five years”, you’d better listen. In a recent study conducted by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, some 49% of global executives believe that social media should be monitored at the executive level & be allocated significant resources. So what does this mean to you and marketing your business? If you haven’t created a social media plan to take control of your brand yet, strike now while the iron’s hot or be left in the cold!

As we've learned, Social media is not just another media channel to use in order to push your messages to the consumer. Wise organizations are using it to build stronger relationships with their customers. According to a study conducted by the Society for New Communication Research, 59% of consumers are using social media to “vent” about customer care. Additionally, almost three quarters (72%) said they sometimes research company’s customer care prior to purchasing a product or service. With so many opportunities online for consumers to share feedback on their experiences with your brand, it is very difficult for businesses to avoid and ignore the comments of consumers. It behooves companies to become apart of and to take the lead in the conversation.

In Social media there are two types of responses: Active and Passive. Companies who are “Active” have a corporate blog, post videos, and actively engage their consumers online as well as ‘reading & analyzing relevant social media to understand genuine & unfiltered consumer perceptions’. An “Active” response empowers the consumer with brand assets, in various forms (information, applications, widgets, etc) that they share and control and eventually embed on their personal profiles. Listening & interacting with the consumer is a greater priority than simply promoting a brand message. Though this is a difficult idea to embrace for most traditional marketers, it is quickly becoming our online reality.

The “Passive” response, which is the most common approach, encompasses buying & running ads on social media sites, creating viral campaigns and creating a dedicated MySpace/Facebook page to promote a product or service. Though the passive approach does make a definite impact, true success will only be gained by understanding & utilizing the “two-way” conversational nature of social media.

I hope this article helps to rev up your engines to get started fully utilizing all that Web 2.0 has to offer. It's the wave of the future and its time for you get your boogie board and hop on!


Yours truly,



B.Croom
Social Media Stepchild

Blogging for Business

So the age old adage "Build it and they will come", applies to blogging as well. However, there are certain caveats to keep in mind in order for this work. Having a blog is one thing, getting people interested in reading it, subscribing to it and linking to it on a regular basis is a different issue.

Last week, we briefly touched on the basics of blogging. Now, we're going to go a little deeper on the etiquette of blogging. For my business, I try to keep my blog as conversational as possible. Have you ever read most corporate blogs? BORING!!!!!! Just like entertainment & sports blogs work to engage you by having interesting content, your business blog must do the same. A blog is not the same as a white paper, wherein your goal is to educate and inform. Your business blog should be more about starting a conversation with your readers, stimulating intelligent conversation, taking a side and allowing others to share their side as well.

Most business blogs fail because they don't take into account the human side of business. You must be able to relate to your readers as a human first, not a business. Sharing your personal insights & experiences in your business blog is what makes it human and its something most B2B blogs lack. Being conservative is great for your web copy, but in your blog, its okay to let your hair down a bit and just be human & relate.....after all isn't that what business is all about anyway? What do you think?

Yours truly,

B.Croom
Social Media Stepchild

Social Media Marketing for the Small Business Owner (B2B side)

With so many applications and websites to choose from where does the small business owner begin? Well, to get you started here's a quick breakdown of all of the various types of "Social Media" tools we have available at our disposal.

Blogs
Blogs are perhaps, the most obvious type of social media. Blogs, like this one, are simply a regular entry of commentary, done by an individual or a company. They can be written on any topic under the sun. Why should your small business have one? I can give you 3 good reasons: 1)It presents you as an authority in your industry to your clients & customers 2)It is a great way to get your website noticed by search engines (Who can't use help w/their SEO?) 3)If you don't, you can believe your competition is already doing it. Bottom Line: You need a blog these days to help market your business online and it doesn't hurt to share what you've learned w/others. I guarantee they'll thank you for it.

Podcasts
Podcasts, are very similar to blogs, in that they contain commentary on any topic imaginable,but they are not the same. Simply put, podcasts are an audio or video file that can be downloaded, heard or watched on the Internet. They are particularly great for small businesses that need to explain or show specific techniques or share musical insight.

Social Networking Sites
Sure there's MySpace & Facebook, almost everyone has heard of them. But now there are many more niche sites that can be a great help to small businesses. LinkedIn & Plaxo Pulse are great alternative networking sites that are tailored for businesses. By becoming a member you have access to other members, their expertise and its a great resource to generate leads for your business. Additionally, its a great way to create relationships, which, after all, is what social networking is all about.

Wikis
Wika What? No, it is not a sound you make as you're scratching a record. Wikis are basically a collaboration web site. It allows you to post documents, notes, etc in one location that can then be edited by others in your organization at any time. Wikis are especially great for businesses that are process oriented or have high turnover ratios. It allows you to create an online repository for all of your documents, so even when employees leave, you still have the work stored in one central location. Still don't get, just take a trip over to www.wikipedia.com

Media Sharing Sites
This is a huge area, that we could spend all day on, but lucky for you, I've only got 175 words. Basically this bucket includes everything from YouTube, Flickr & Digg to iLike.com & Justin.tv. Each has various uses, but they center around video, photos, social bookmarking, Internet TV and music. These sites offer users the ability to upload & share all different types of media. However, its not just about sharing, its also about creating an online dialogue & connection around the media.

Aggregators & Activity Feeds
As if the above wasn't enough to learn, you have Aggregators & Activity feeds to think about. But these guys are actually your friend. Applications like FriendFeed and Tumblr help to create a real time resume of all of your social media activity. So instead of going to each individual web site to participate in social media, sites like these create a profile w/all of your links in one place.

Micromedia
This is one of the newest phenomena to hit the web. This category includes sites like Twitter & Pownce. What's Twitter? It's essentially an application that allows you create mini-blogs known as "Tweets" that can be sent to people in your network. Despite the ease of use, you can only use up to 140 characters, so you've got to keep it brief. Real Estate & Financial business have found it exceptionally helpful to "Tweet" new home listings or stock tips out to their network.

So that's the rundown of Social Media Tools. Is your head still spinning? Don't worry, once you become more comfortable with the terms & actually immerse yourself into the "Social Media World" it'll be a breeze. Next week, we'll go in depth into using blogs to build your business. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to send it my way, and I'll be glad to answer.

Yours truly,
B.Croom
Social Media Stepchild

Social Media for Dummies

As a frequent social media consumer, I got tired of hearing everyone talk about ways to get my attention, ways to engage me and ways to market to me w/o my knowledge, (that Burger King viral ad got me though). So after years of being on the consumer side, I decided to try out the marketing side of things. I figured I've been a part of every movement of social media since there wasn't a term for "social media", why not try my hand at the marketing side of things for my own company. In doing so, I've been introduced to a whole new world of websites, services and terms that I still struggle to pronounce.

However, I have learned a thing a two a long the way and I've decided to join the blogging world of social media, as if they needed another, but from a different perspective. As a small business owner, it can be difficult to run a business, figure out where your next meal is coming from and think about your online social media strategy too. Well good thing I started blogging, b/c I'd like to share a few of my successes as well as failures so that Small Business Owners of the world can unite online, discuss social media tactics for their businesses and maybe just maybe, take over the world!!!! Well, at least the online world.......for now......(evil laugh)

I will be posting various topics of interest to small business owners and marketing professionals as well around the topic of social media and I would love if you come along for the learning experience of a lifetime. I will post new & interesting topics on a regular basis. But I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Drop me a line with your thoughts and I'll be glad to return the favor.

Till next time,

B.Croom
Social Media Stepchild