Posts Tagged ‘social tools’
Social bookmarking is becoming more and more useful as consumers turn to the web to find information on products and services. It is the process of saving web pages to a public web site and tagging them with keywords.
Any visitor can search for their topic of interest at a bookmarking website using keywords, names of people, popularity ratings, and so on.
According to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Report, social bookmarking is the number one social media tool marketers want to know more about. A reported 61% of marketers wanted to learn more about sites like del.icio.us and how they can be used to help reach their audiences.
Small business owners and B2B marketers were more interested in social bookmarking tools than others surveyed, according to the report.
Why does it work?
Social bookmarking is an easy way to aggregate and categorize resourceful information. It is also extremely effective for disseminating information about your product or service to your consumer audience.
Because the person who bookmarks the page has the authority to tag it with specific keywords, anyone who searches for those keywords will be exposed to that page. This is especially effective when distributing blog posts out to the web.
Also, once a person sees a bookmark, he or she has access to seeing the other bookmarked resources tagged by the person who created it. This allows for social connections, online conversation, word of mouth marketing, and the quick and easy dissemination of information.
Why should you use it?
If you are a small business owner it is important for you to at least experiment with social bookmarking because it is absolutely rising as a trend. Social bookmarking is an activity that allows consumers to express different, personalized perspectives on the information they are exposed to.
Consumers make social connections based on common interests. If your topic of interest is sailing, for example, you may read a bookmark tagged about sailing. You may find that the person who tagged that bookmark also bookmarked a page about boat repairs. This can take you into a completely new and potentially profitable direction.
The possibilities are endless.
Facebook has hit 500 million users and more companies are using Facebook and social media in their marketing and advertising strategies. There is a huge amount of audience reach in social media marketing, but there are also certain tactics a business should use when engaging with their customers.
Here are 3 effective tools to use for your Facebook business page.
1. Business Page
Have a business page that is separate from your personal account. It should represent your company and be designed to encourage visitors of your page to interact with other facets of your profile. It should also include a call to action and a link to your business website if you have one. You have the most control over this page. Facets include:
- Company Info
- Photos
- Videos
- Links
- Discussions
- Updates
- Several hundreds of optional applications
Any consumer or company can interact with you on your business page by simply clicking the “Like” button at the top of the page.
2. Facebook Groups
Groups are simple networks that allow you to build a community of supporters for your brand. They provide a Facebook marketer the use of:
- Discussion boards
- Photos
- Video
- Links
Plus, they’re free. Period. Any company can affordably and instantly network with consumers and other companies through Facebook groups.
3. Facebook Events
Facebook Events is a free application that enables you to promote marketing events. These events could include sponsored parties, product launches, or fundraisers.
Events get their own pages, like groups, that include:
- A “wall” attendees can post comments on
- List of invitations and RSVP’s
- Discussions
- Photos
- Videos
- Links
All friends invited receive a personal notification requesting their RSVP. Facebook events are a quick and easy way to promote events to hundreds of people, monitor who will be attending, and gauge the anticipation of attendees.
These 3 basic Facebook tools provide marketers with the ability to reach their audiences at a much more personal and involved level. It allows for an audience member to feel like they are a part of their brand and share their association with other friends.
Social media marketing is fast becoming the best way to reach consumers. It is important for a business to maintain a presence in social media and be available to consumers online.
With a membership of over 400 million users, Facebook is becoming increasingly important to include in a marketer’s repertoire of audience reach methods. A marketer must use the social media network to his or her advantage. Below are 4 basic necessities to perfect in order to market effectively online:
1. Profile Page
Your profile page is the personality of your Facebook presence. It is designed to encourage visitors of your page to interact with other facets of your profile, and includes a call to action. You have the most control over this page. Facets include:
- Personal Info
- Work Info
- Photos
- Several hundreds of optional applications
This kind of workspace allows you to be more personable and accessible to the average consumer. Facebook is a tool you as a marketer can use to affiliate your personal identity with your product or brand. It is about being personable and connected with the general public.
2. Facebook Groups
Groups are simple networks that allow you to build a community of supporters for your brand. They provide a Facebook marketer the use of:
- Discussion boards
- Photos
- Video
- Links
Plus, they’re free. Period. Facebook groups are a viral marketer’s dream come true.
3. Facebook Pages
Fan Pages are separate from personal profiles. They enable businesses of all sizes to create brand awareness on Facebook. Similar to groups, pages can be followed by “fans,” and allow for a community of brand supporters to grow. Facebook pages are great for small businesses to practice viral marketing. Some effective tools included on Facebook pages include:
- HTML, Flash, or Facebook applications
- “Bumper Stickers”
- No limitation on the number of “fans”
- “Fans” can share the page with their friends through different venues
- Pages are usually created by authorized agents, creating a sense of authenticity
4. Facebook Events
Facebook Events is a free application that enables you to promote marketing events. These events could include sponsored parties, product launches, or even fundraisers.
Events get their own pages, like groups, that include:
- A “wall” attendees can post comments on
- Discussion
- Photos
- Videos
- Links
All friends invited receive a personal notification requesting their RSVP. Facebook events are quick and easy way to promote events to hundreds of people, monitor who will be attending, and gauge the anticipation of attendees.
These 4 basic Facebook tools provide marketers with the ability to reach their audiences at a much more personal and involved level. It allows for an audience member to feel like they are a part of their brand and share their association with other friends.
The blogging movement has grown tremedously since businesses begin to realize the benefits of blogging. Business blogs are sweeping the business community. Blogs are an excellent method to share a company’s expertise, build additional web traffic, and connect with potential customers. Discover what a business blog can do for you company:
What is a Blog?
A blog (web log) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.
The boom of weblogs happened in 1999 when several companies & developers made easy blogging software and tools. Since 1999, the number of blogs on the Internet has exploded from a few thousand to over 100 million.
In addition to 2 major categories (personal and business), there are different types of blogs, such as:
- Artblog
- Photoblog
- Mini blo
- Video blog
- Audio blog (commonly known as podcasting).
Although there a number of blogging platforms available such as TypePad, WordPress, BlogSmith etc., not all offering features to compliment your social media efforts.
IntelBuilder Social Media Platform offers a Blog that is not only part of your website (unlike WordPress), but also offers unique features such as social bookmarks, comments, tiny URLs, PDF generation and syndication feeds. Do your research before you choose a blogging platform to operate your business blog.
10 Strategic Benefits of Blogging
Blog can easily become one of the most powerful marketing weapons you will have in your arsenal. Google, MSN and Yahoo give more weight to well-linked blogs. A business blog has the ability to inform your customers of any changes, new products, latest offers, reviews and reports in the timeliest matter. This, in turn, can lead to direct sales. If you haven’t started a business blog yet, perhaps this list from Toolbox for IT will motivate you:
- Search Engine Marketing.
- Direct Communications.
- Brand Building.
- Competitive Differentiation.
- Relational Marketing.
- Exploit the Niches.
- Media & Public Relations.
- Position You as an Expert.
- Reputation Management.
- Low cost.
Everyone is online these days but not everyone is online for the right reasons. There is a new marriage wrecker today – it’s called “e-cheating.” Although e-cheating started with students buying their homework on the Internet (there is even an e-cheat website, it has now become the word-of-the-day when someone in a relationship is cheating on the Internet. It has grown bigger with social media networks like Facebook and it is causing the breakup of many marriages. How can you tell if your spouse is having an online affair? Sometimes a marriage is in trouble even before e-cheating begins but here are five good clues:
1. Obsessive or Compulsive Behavior
Your spouse or partner spends too much time on the Internet. It has become an addiction. Computers are excellent tools for paying bills, buying products and staying in touch with family and friends. We can not live without our modern technological tools. But look at the way kids behave with their text messaging. They will go without dinner just to keep up with their friends. Does your spouse act this way around his or her laptop? If so, find out why the need is so great before it’s too late.
2. Defensive Behavior
Your spouse or partner acts defensive when he or she is asked to stop. “When are you coming to bed?” “Can’t you do that later?” “Why are you taking so long?” Have you ever asked these kind of questions? What kind of answers do you get? Does they sound like lies? “I have to finish my business proposal.” “I need to pay another bill.” An evasive or defensive pattern of behavior is another good warning sign. You need to find out why.
3. Secretive Behavior
Your partner abruptly shuts off the computer or closes a window when you get too close. He or she clears away all internet history after chat sessions or installs software to automatically get rid of evidence. This is abnormal behavior and it is an obvious warning sign. Your spouse may be e-cheating. Maybe your spouse is looking at pornography and that is the reason for panic. Pornography is another issue altogether and it has been discussed in many good articles.
4. Double Life
Does your spouse need his or her “personal space” on the computer? Is he or she leading a double life? Are passwords, instant messages, friend lists and emails being concealed from you? Is there a reluctance to a share password? Why all the secrecy and lack of trust? These are good questions and they need to be answered. The act of hiding information is deceptive by nature and could be another indication that your spouse or partner is e-cheating.
5. Night Owl Syndrome
Your spouse or partner uses the computer after you have gone to bed. When you wake up in the middle of the night is your spouse by your side or is he or she in front of the computer? If this becomes a pattern, you need to be concerned. While work demands a degree of commitment, working late into the night, night-after-night, is a sure sign that your partner or spouse is e-cheating.
These are a few of the signs of “e-cheating.” We wrote about some of the ways you can prevent this problem and save your marriage or relationship in an earlier article:
There are many good reasons why restaurants, taverns and bars should be using social media marketing. It is a great way to interact with new customers and keep up with existing ones. It drives traffic to your website. It is much less expensive than traditional advertising mediums like television, radio and print.
Stacey Kane, Director of Marketing for California Tortilla, says: “For smaller restaurant chains like us, social media is an easy and inexpensive way to reach our customers. It is a way to reach people instantaneously. There is no big backup on producing artwork or a radio spot. You have the idea and you can send it out.”
Here is a recipe for social media success:
Build Your Community
Building a good community is like preparing a good meal. You start with the right ingredients. Open a Facebook account – the world’s largest site for social media marketing. Facebook has become a digital calling card for many restaurants. It allows you to network and stay in touch with your current customers and make new ones.
Twitter is the other good social media site for restaurants. It asks the question, “What are you doing?” Write short one-liners announcing new services, specials and menu features. Start conversations. Be an authentic voice of your restaurant. Try to blend humor with your message. Don’t over do it. Go with a natural flow and you will fit right in.
Pay Attention to What People Are Saying
Now that you have a community, listen to what your fans and friends say. What is their favorite food? What was their favorite restaurant experience? Who is their favorite waiter or waitress? When you participate with your fans on social media platforms, you make them feel wanted and you make them feel at home.
Pay Attention to Your Competition
Keep an eye on what your competition is doing. Where are they listed? Who are their fans on Facebook? What kind of promotions do they offer? If your competitor has a website, check inbound links for their business directories and then add yourself to the same directories. Make sure your restaurant is on Google Maps, too. You can do this by signing up at Google’s Local Business Center.
Promotions and Contests
Nothing beats a promotion or contest. Create promotions regularly and then give them an event name. When you tie-in Facebook Events for your promotions, they are automatically promoted on your Facebook Page. Post lunch or dinner specials for your restaurant. Promote monthly wine tastings if you own a wine shop. If you own a bar, create a Facebook event each week for happy hour. California Tortilla has an exciting contest called “Secret Password Day” – a password is released on a specific day and people use the password for free food and items:
Discounts are a great way to endear yourself with your social community. When you give them special coupons, you are not only telling them you are a good restaurant, but you are a good person, too.
Building a community around your restaurant by leveraging these social media tools takes time and dedication. If you are able to participate and add value for the members of your community, you will succeed in social media marketing and fill up your tables as well. Bon appetit!
As millions of people flock to social networks like Facebook and Twitter to chat, share and connect and reconnect with friends, businesses have the chance to tune in to billions of digital conversations. The phenomenal popularity of social media presents a tantalizing opportunity for companies big and small. They can pitch a product, listen to customer feedback and ask for ideas. If they work it right, customers might even produce companies’ advertising for them and promote products or services with friends for free.
With these vast opportunities come risks. Employees who are encouraged to tap into social networking sites can fritter away hours or give away company secrets. Even worse, with one misstep or poorly written comment, a business can quickly find themselves victims of the forces they were trying to master. Thousands of bloggers attacked Johnson & Johnson’s Motrin last year because of an ad they found demeaning to mothers. Recently, Nestle found themselves on the defense for something they said on Facebook.
Toyota Backfires
Toyota had a disastrous social media promotion for their Matrix vehicle last year. Their social media team created a campaign based on the pranks of the MTV show Punk’d. The idea: a prospective buyer of a Matrix would single out a friend to be the target of a prank. The promise: a bit of fear, lots of laughs, and maybe a groundswell of free social media marketing.
Amber Duick, one of the targets of the campaign, received a series of emails from a fictitious British soccer ruffian named Sebastian Bowler. He said he was coming to visit her along with his pit bull. He had a MySpace page where he bragged about “drinking alcohol to excess” and participating in riots. One email Duick received was a fake bill for damage to a hotel room wrecked by Bowler. Duick filed a $10 million lawsuit in October and said she slept with a machete by her bed to protect herself from the hooligan.
Social Media Snake Oil Salesmen
Have you been offered some social media snake oil yet? Over the past five years, an entire industry of consultants has grown to help companies navigate the world of social media. Hordes of marketing “experts” are promoting the value of social networks. Many of these self-proclaimed gurus are refugees from the real estate bust. They produce best-selling books and give out advice for thousands of dollars a day. These consultants preach the power of social media and cast themselves as triumphant case studies of successful networking and self-branding.
The problem is that many of these would-be experts are leading clients astray. Consultants often use “buzz” as their dominant currency and success is defined more often by numbers of followers, fans or YouTube hits rather than traditional measures like return on investment. This approach could sour companies on social media and the opportunities it represents. Critics complain that many of the new experts have adopted an orthodoxy that provides little flexibility for differing situations—or outcomes. They follow a rigid gospel: be transparent, engage with your customers, break down silos. But these inflexible guidelines don’t always make business sense.
How Do You Measure Results?
“There is this default assumption that return on investment is the correct measure for everything,” says Susan Etlinger, senior vice-president at Horn Group, a San Francisco consultancy. “Everything needs to monetize within 12 weeks, so we can understand that we’re successful. But frequently the thing they’re measuring is misleading.”
Think back to the dot-com boom a decade ago. Soaring valuations were based initially on promise and hype. In early 2000, when investors started focusing on scarce profits, the market collapsed. But many companies came to the wrong conclusions. Believing the fall of a hyped market was a sign of the failed promise of the Internet, they drew back on their investments. This happened just as the technology was on the verge of living up to much of its promise, dominating global communications, transforming entire industries—and spawning social media.
As with any new form of communication, there are going to be mistakes and missteps. Be wary of snake oil salesmen. Be transparent but don’t give away company secrets. Don’t ignore the harder-to-quantify dividends of social media like trust and commitment. And don’t back away from social media just because you can’t see results in the first 12 weeks. This is a brand new frontier where the saying “patience is a virtue” is more important than ever.
You can read all of Stephen Baker’s excellent article by going here.
Social media and email marketing have worked together before. It used to be called viral marketing and people were asked to forward emails to their friends and colleagues. That didn’t last long. It was very one-sided. It didn’t start any conversations. And people don’t like to be told what to do.
Things are different today. Email combined with social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is a powerful marketing tool. The two channels help each other and offer an opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections and meaningful conversations. Btobonline created a list of good ways you can integrate social media with your email marketing:
Use your ESP’s Social Marketing Capabilities.
Today, most major ESP’s (email service providers) and e-mail software providers make it easy to send your e-mails directly to social media sites. Plus, when you link e-mail messaging with social media messaging, you multiply the sharing opportunities.
Create Your Own Social Network.
IBM has nearly 45 community sites that are available from the IBM home page. Site visitors can discuss IBM products and industry topics. These discussions create good fodder for e-newsletters, and they are also good seeding grounds for specific articles from new e-mail newsletters, both of which can create new opt-in sign-ups.
Add opt-in links to all marketing efforts.
For example, if you post a new video on your Facebook page, make sure that video contains a link at the end so viewers can opt-in. Once it’s shared across a virtual network, you will be reaching hundreds if not thousands of prospective new customers. Give them a way to ask for more information.
Use your status to publicize your e-mail newsletter.
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter all give users the option to publish information. Once you know what you’re writing, you can start talking about it on your social networking sites. Publish a status update the day before you send your newsletter out to remind people it’s coming, and get them excited about it.
Change Your Layout.
If you are sending people to your website from a social media site, opt-in links must be extremely visible. You can’t bury the link at the bottom anymore. If someone cares enough to check something out, you need to give them a very obvious way to stay engaged.
Use the Search Functions.
You are already following your company and product names with Google email alerts. You can do the same on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to gain market knowledge and good ammunition for e-mail marketing. Twitter search, for example, allows you to follow everything that is mentioned about your company. You are hearing things you would never have access to. You can take the good and the bad that’s being said and respond to that in your e-mail marketing.
Email marketing was a powerful marketing tool for many years. Now, social media can make it powerful again. You can read the complete btobonline article by clicking here.
The rise of social media has changed the way consumers receive financial information. It has dramatically impacted how individuals interrelate and how businesses relate directly with customers in the finance and investing sector. Online trading platforms and communities are enormously popular and many believe that social networking leads to greater trading volume. Datamonitor – the respected Internet research firm – says that over 50% of consumers are using online tools to make their financial decisions today.
These online tools include social news sites and social networking sites where ordinary investors pick stocks and advise other investors. Online investment communities are another valuable social networking tool. Online investment communities combine news and networking while bridging financial markets and investment communities.
Here are some of the best financial social networks today:
Stockpickr – This is one of the first sites to combine social networking with stock investment ideas. It provides members an opportunity to see the stock picks of other community members as well as professional investors. Users can compare their stock portfolios to Wall Street pros like Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett and George Soros.
FeedTheBull — This is a user-driven, social content site where people submit, comment and vote on financial news articles. It provides a way for investors to share information about companies, industries and the market – and it allows users to manage the content on the website. All members are allowed to submit articles, blogs and news on a stock, a company, the market, or the economy.
Bulls On Wall Street - This is a popular trading and market education community. Top traders make up the community and are considered among the best on Twitter. They do not promote or condone promotion of any stock on their website.
StockTwits – An open, community powered, investment idea and information platform. It uses the power of Twitter to offer real-time commentary on stocks. All you need is a Twitter account and an interest in at least one stock.
SocialPicks – This is a social community where stock investors exchange ideas and track performance of financial bloggers. Users can share investment ideas and track a peers’ investment performance. Once members establish a stock investor identity, they are able to view or join select investor groups.
Motley Fool CAPS – This is an aggregator of information about stock picks from Motley Fool employees and readers. It is free to join and to make picks of your own. Anyone can browse the ratings and blog postings of the CAPS users. Motley Fool CAPS is part of the subscription-based Motley Fool – the financial services company that began in 1993.
World Market Media – This is perhaps the most “global” financial social site of all. This online investment community includes a comprehensive directory of securities exchanges and regulatory bodies from all over the world – over 180 securities exchanges in over 160 countries. It gives users increased power to share and make the world’s financial communities more connected and accessible.
There is a lot of debate these days about whether social media is good for relationships or whether it hurts and devalues them. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Umair Haque argued that the ‘social media bubble’ has devalued relationships through ‘inflation.’ In economics, the more money there is in circulation, the less value (i.e. buying power) it has because increased circulation causes prices to rise. Umair Haque maintains that this is what social media has done to relationships.
Interesting Theory
For this idea to work, you have to assume that we have a limited amount of attention to devote to relationships, and that every new relationship we participate in somehow degrades the value of our other relationships. Lance Concannon from businessblogging.co.uk offers another opinion:
People do not invest any less effort in their important relationships just because they have a large number of less important connections on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. If anything, social media enhances relationships and provides an additional conversation channel between friends and family that can be used to connect when they are apart.
Facebook enables us to maintain a constant, low level of conversation with people close to us throughout our working week. We don’t have time to write emails or have IM conversations with all of our friends and family over the course of a week, but with a few status updates here and there we are are able to communicate casually.
Facebook also makes it easier to stay in contact with people who might otherwise have drifted away – like colleagues from old jobs, friends and relatives who move far away and people you struggle to stay in touch with because of the practicalities of everyday life.
The relationships with those people may be weak, but at least the connection is maintained rather than being completely severed. And the same is true of channels like Twitter and LinkedIn. The relationships on those platforms are mostly with colleagues, professional acquaintances or simply people who share similar interests. These relationships are mostly low value, but it takes very little effort to maintain them, and the level of effort required does not significantly increase when the number of relationships rises.
Low Value Relationships are Fine as Long as They Come at a Low Cost
The reason social media enables us to vastly increase the number of weak relationships is because tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn significantly reduce the level of effort involved in maintaining those relationships.
Most of those relationships are of low value, but under the right circumstances any of them could evolve into a much more valuable relationship. They might be able to help you with a problem, give you a great idea, or lead to a solid business opportunity. The ‘opportunity cost’ (i.e. the time and effort maintaining them) is so low as that it makes it more than worthwhile.
Lance Concannon concludes that just because it is hard to monetize something, it can still have value.
