0 Comments

26th
JAN

Engage

Posted by cgseo under Social Media

UPDATED I’m truly excited to share a bit of news with you… While this isn’t the formal launch of my new book, today represents a significant milestone for me. As of today, Engage is available for pre-order on Amazon.com , Barnes and Noble , Books a Million , and Borders , with shipments expected to arrive sometime in mid-to-late February. Other sites will go live soon. This post represents the first time that I’ve publicly released the title…Engage. And, I also join good friends Chris Brogan , Steve Garfield , David Meerman Scott , Marsha Collier , Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah as a fellow author at Wiley. This book also serves as a touchstone in its own right for me personally. If you notice, the branding and title of my blog has changed. I’ve done so to intentionally reflect the true positioning and value of this book. It’s written for champions and executives alike in business, marketing, branding, interactive, service, and communications. It’s designed to help bring everyone to the table. I’ll write more about it later…but in the meantime, I wanted to share the news… Connect with Brian Solis : Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Plaxo , or Facebook — Get the new iPhone app! — Click the image below to buy the book/poster : — Image Source: Shutterstock

695a433cafjj4d9s.jpg 99x150 Engage

Read more:
Engage

0 Comments

20th
JAN

Removing the Blindfold that Prevents True Engagement and Measurement in Social Media

Posted by cgseo under Social Media

MarketingProfs recently published a fantastic report on the equality of B2B and B2C adoption and practice of social media. In “ The State of Social Media Marketing ,” the 242-page report shared how over 5,000 marketers and business professionals use social media to create award winning campaigns, measure ROI, and reach audiences. Jay Baer offers an interesting analysis at Convince and Convert . More of my thoughts on the subject of B2B and B2C social media are shared in my post, “ The Business of Social Media .” One of the more interesting charts shared was a look at company policy as it relates to social media use during business hours.  On average, about 60% of companies polled maintain a “common sense” approach to at-work usage of social media. As MarketingProfs observes however, that an increasing number of companies are banning access to social networks in general. As Stowe Boyd recently observed: Management often responds to the adoption of social tools the way that public policy has responded to texting while driving: they make it illegal to be social while working. The far-sighted response will be to make it easier to gain the benefits of social business, and to rethink the organization and management of work around human nature instead to persisting in trying to ‘rise above’ what makes us people in the first place. Removing the Blindfold By all means, you will find the MarketingProfs report interesting. My area of focus, for this post specifically, is on the data shared in two charts specifically. The intent of the graphics was to share the distribution of attention and resources between B2B and B2C organizations across social media channels. The reality is that they also demonstrate a confined view of activity across the entire social web. As a result, most brands concentrate time, energy, and budget on identical social media strategies and tactics… 1. Facebook 2. Twitter 3. LinkedIn 4. YouTube In 2010, executives will measure ROI and the direct impact of social media marketing on the P&L. In order to do so, management will experience three phases. The first will reveal that measuring social media marketing, as practiced to date, is essentially meaningless.  Documenting the growth of friends, followers, and fans does not represent loyalty or advocacy. Increased pageviews and clickthroughs doesn’t equate to an increase in revenue, improvement of products and services, nor a reduction or elimination of outdated or inefficient processes. Second, management will grasp the true cost of social media. In 2010, social media will cease to be free. Twitter will offer commercial services , service vendors will offer more sophisticated sCRM ( SRM ) solutions that will adapt to the new internal infrastructures that will have to be built in order to scale, and there are very real costs associated with human and intellectual capital. Management will have the prowess in 2010 to measure the cost of a tweet and the expected return on targeted engagement. Third, as the entire organization socializes affected departments, strategists will embrace a holistic and informed approach to engagement. Audits will become standard in 2010, where each team analyzes relevant activity and conversations using the Conversation Prism or similar map as a guide to exploring all social networks and discussion forums. By documenting the frequency, volume, reach, impact, and state over a period of time, brands will amass the intelligence necessary to prioritize networks while also revealing the influential voices within each community. As a result, social media marketers will shred the cookie-cutter manual and expand the focus based on real world activity. This is social media marketing with a purpose. You ask who owns Social Media…your customers, prospects, and influencers define your markets, focus, and attention – where and when they congregate and communicate. Connect with Brian Solis : Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Plaxo , or Facebook — Get the new iPhone app! — Click the image below to buy the book/poster : — Image Source: Shutterstock

bc3e7c21e1tt82ix.jpg 150x108 Removing the Blindfold that Prevents True Engagement and Measurement in Social Media

More:
Removing the Blindfold that Prevents True Engagement and Measurement in Social Media

0 Comments

13th
JAN

The Socialization of Small Business

Posted by cgseo under Social Media

Social Media impacts every business, every brand, and in doing so, connects a network of distributed communities of influence, making the world a much smaller place in the process.  Small businesses are in fact at an advantage in Social Media Marketing as they can focus on hyper-local activity that can offer immediate rewards or at the very least, the real-time feedback or lack thereof says everything about next steps. A recent survey conducted by Citibank offers a contrary point of view, citing small business executives who believe social networks offer no benefit or promise to expanding their business. This isn’t all that uncommon however. The truth is that without knowledge or direct experience, it’s virtually impossible to envision the potential of something where they’re most likely absent as a consumer themselves. But, if a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it actually happen? Of course it did…and it continues – with or without you. The “I” in ROI does not stand for ignorance. It does however stand for investment and in cases where new media is “new,” it also stands for intelligence. We’re learning together and that’s both an opportunity and an impediment. We need guidance to better understand the promise and also how to reap its reward. Ad-ology published its “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010″ report that revealed that among the other benefits of social media, lead generation is the biggest benefit of online networking. Other benefits ranked as follows… Keeping up with the industry Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 55% Monitoring what is being said about your business Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 28% Not Beneficial: 55% Generating leads Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 34% Not Beneficial: 50% Competitive intelligence Very Beneficial: 14% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 57% Improving customer experience Very Beneficial: 12% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 59% Resolving problems Very Beneficial: 11% Somewhat: 22% Not Beneficial: 67% Finding vendors/suppliers/partners Very Beneficial: 10% Somewhat: 28% Not Beneficial: 62% Recruiting for new employees Very Beneficial: 8% Somewhat: 19% Not Beneficial: 73% Background checks – employees, suppliers, etc. Very Beneficial: 7% Somewhat: 20% Not Beneficial: 72% Among those surveyed, Facebook appeared as the most beneficial social network. Perhaps tied the reverberation of activity across social graphs. LinkedIn, while cited less often, ranked just below Facebook, but ahead of Twitter – for now at least. Facebook Very Beneficial: 10% Somewhat: 23% Not Beneficial: 14% Do not use: 53% LinkedIn Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 15% Not Beneficial: 13% Do not use: 67% MySpace Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 11% Not Beneficial: 15% Do not use: 68% Twitter Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 13% Not Beneficial: 12% Do not use: 69% YouTube Very Beneficial: 5% Somewhat: 10% Not Beneficial: 12% Do not use: 73% The study shows that education and awareness are needed among small businesses to better understand the promises, advantages and the commensurate commitments necessary to generate visibility and ultimately the activity necessary to sustain or at the very least, contribute to a lucrative and growing business. 31 percent of small businesses claimed that their primary hurdle was the perception that “our customers do not use social networks.” Equally, business owners complained that they do not have the time or resources necessary to run an effective social media marketing campaign. Sound familiar? While yes, it’s true, small business owners must focus on the core products, services, and values of their business. However, without visibility, customers do not possess the information necessary to connect the dots between their want or need and you. The Top 10 Ways to Monetize Real-Time Conversations in Social Media No story is complete without providing ideas to move forward and compete for the future. By competing for the future, we also cultivate a flourishing state of “now.” One of the primary advantages of social media for small businesses is the relatively low cost associated with uncovering relevant conversations within your geographic or service area. It’s how we can identify and personally connect with customers. It’s how we learn what they’re seeking. It reveals interests and cravings. For example, take a moment to run a real-time search activity search using Collecta to get a feel for the volume and velocity for relevant conversations online. Then, run a local search on Twitter (choose by geography) using a keyword related to your business, but not necessarily that of your business or product name. For example, Pizza, Coffee, and local yogurt shops are searching those words specifically to offer specials and free items to those within proximity to stop in and give it a try. Business owners report that while offers and freebies reflect a notable investment, they always increase clientele and business overall. To help entrepreneurs and small business owners capitalize on the “now” or real-time conversations populating social media, Web 2.0 investor extraordinaire Ron Conway offered his vision for the top 10 ways to monetize real-time conversations. 10. Lead generation 9. Coupons 8. Analytics, analyzing the data 7. Enterprise CRM 6. Payments 5. Commerce 4. User-authentication, verifying accounts 3. Syndication of new ads 2. Advertising – Context and display ads 1. Acquiring followers New mobile social networks such as FourSquare , Loopt , Gowalla are also emerging that connect people within local areas based on where they are and what they’re doing. These services require you to “check in” to a location or an establishment and as such, local businesses are encouraging patrons to do so by offering incentives, “check in here on FourSquare and get a free slice of pizza or a free beer.” Why? Each time someone checks in, their social graph follows the establishments they frequent and as such, brands the venue within a very trusted circle. There are also opportunities for paid sponsorships. Each time I check in to venues in Redwood City, a local wine shop and tasting room, Savvy Cellar , pops up with a “nearby special.” If I pop in and show my iPhone with the special, I receive 50% off any tasting. Brilliant. To learn more about specific examples for increasing awareness and revenue using Social Media, please read Forbes’ piece on 21 Top Twitter Tips ( Story | Through Pictures ) Connect with Brian Solis : Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Plaxo , or Facebook — Get the new iPhone app! — Click the image below to buy the book/poster : — Image Source: Shutterstock

9b2dd17c92mgxup9.jpg 150x110 The Socialization of Small Business

Go here to read the rest:
The Socialization of Small Business

Next Posts »

Production Blog Reviews