The phone was designed for two-way communication and since social media marketing is a two-way dialogue, it’s a natural extension to have mobile cell phone applications for social media programs that allow you to view and post to various social media sites.
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Posts Tagged ‘Social Networking’
Building A Cast For Mobile Social Media With Your Company
Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Business Growth, Business Marketing, Business Strategy, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, guidelines for social media, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0. 1 Comment »
The Compelling Reasons To Go Mobile With Social Media Marketing
If your company is using social media marketing but has not yet gone mobile with it, you must do so as soon as possible. Here’s are some compelling reasons why:
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Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Business Growth, Business Marketing, Business Strategy, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, Future, Future Tech, Future Technology, guidelines for social media, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking. 1 Comment »
The Driving Forces of Mobile Social Media Marketing
As more people realize and embrace the fact that social media marketing is a real time experience rather than a “wait till I get to my computer” experience, they’re taking advantage of the processing power today’s mobile phones have to offer.
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Posted in Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Sales, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Business Growth, Business Marketing, Business Strategy, Communication, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, guidelines for social media, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Technology, Technology-driven change, Web 2.0. 3 Comments »
Social Media Guidelines For Your Organization
The new frontier of Web 2.0 is not just about informing your customers; it’s about communicating with them. Today’s Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the many other social media options, are all about customer engagement. When you send your prospects or clients an email, a mailer, or a newsletter, or when you place a TV, radio, or print ad, you’re informing your readers about something.
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Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, New Tools, Planning, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, guidelines for social media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking. 1 Comment »
Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid (Part II)
Last month, I shared a few common social media marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. This month, I would like to share some additional common oversights and ways to combat them.
Realize that there’s more to social media marketing and social media networking than Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Many industries are creating their own social media networks that you can utilize. A few examples include www.medicalmingle.com for healthcare, www.classroom20.com for teaching, and www.afsinc.org/facebook for manufacturing.
ALL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING DIALOGUE IS TWO-WAY
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Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Planning, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Burrus, Consistency, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Mistakes, Social Networking. No Comments »
Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
As social media marketing and social media networking become more and more prevalent, the many errors people make with these new mediums often create new and unexpected problems. Why so many mistakes? Because these are new business tools that people often confuse for other things. In fact, many people think social media marketing and social media networking are the same thing. They’re not. And when you know the difference, you can use each more effectively to grow your business.
Marketing and networking are two completely different things. Marketing is about branding and positioning yourself while networking is about making connections. When you’re marketing, you’re putting out messages that define your company; when you’re networking, you’re engaging in a two-way dialogue where both parties gain benefit.
In the business world, networking takes on a different look and feel than when you’re networking for personal reasons. In business networking you’re not talking about your son’s baseball game or your weekend getaway. You’re focusing on answering client questions, passing on information to prospects, and gaining knowledge about your pressing business questions.
Before you embark upon using social media marketing and social media networking for the first time, or continue utilizing your existing accounts, be aware of the following common mistakes and how to avoid them.
SEPARATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING ACCOUNTS.
Most people don’t see the difference between the various social marketing and networking sites, much less the need to have separate business and personal accounts. In fact, some people even think they are only allowed one account per site. In reality, you can create a personal and corporate account for each site. You would then use your personal account for updating your friends and family on how the kids are doing and what you’re planning for the weekend, while you’d use your business account to connect with clients and brand yourself. The last thing you want to do is use one account for both, essentially mixing messages about the kids with your marketing efforts.
INTEGRATE ALL OF YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFORTS.
Many people view Facebook, Twitter, their blog, and all the other social media as separate entities. However, it’s the integration of all the social media into your web strategy that matters. If every account is its own separate thing – if your Facebook is not connected to your web site, to your Twitter account, to your blog, etc. – then all of the traffic and everything that’s happening on one site isn’t counting toward your main web site’s ranking. In other words, when they’re all disconnected, your ranking does not reflect your total online activity. But if they’re all connected and tagged together, your ranking will go up and reflect all of your activity.
HAVE A CONSISTENT IMAGE.
Just like your traditional marketing has a branded image, you want your business social media marketing efforts to have a consistent look and feel too. That means you should design your Facebook theme to match your brand, and at the same time ensure it looks like it belongs on Facebook. The same would be true for your Twitter theme and your blog theme, etc. For example, the actual look of a McDonald’s restaurant can vary quite a bit, yet the brand image and theme remain the same. When all of your social media sites, as well as your primary web site, have a similar look and feel, you put out a consistent brand that prospects and clients remember.
As technology continually evolves, the world of marketing will rapidly change. In order to get the best results with the least amount of effort, you need to be aware of the various pitfalls and take proactive action to avoid them. Next month, I will share three more common mistakes to be aware of so you can take proactive action and avoid the common mistakes.
Posted in Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Burrus, Consistency, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Mistakes, Social Networking. 2 Comments »
Social Networks That Boost Your Business (Part II)
The business use of Web 2.0 represents a new trend called “Business 2.0.” Aside from being the name of a defunct magazine, Business 2.0 is about using the new web-based social networking applications (many of which were originally created for personal use) in a way that fosters teamwork, customer touches, and internal and external collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
Last month I shared a few personal Business 2.0 tools with business applicability. This month I will share two more personal tools along with some purely Business 2.0 tools that will help create collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
TWITTER
Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short, quick answers using no more that 140 characters per message. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or co-workers. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website or other social networking sites such as Facebook. Young people use Twitter for answering the question: What are you doing? Business 2.0 use: Business users could change that question to: What problem are you trying to solve? Several companies have used this as a fast way to solve problems. Hotels, airlines, and airports are using Twitter to pitch services, travel updates, and respond to travelers needs.
Ask yourself: Could we use Twitter to solve problems faster with our organization or our customers?
DELICIOUS
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing and discovering web bookmarks. It uses a non-hierarchical classification system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms. Business 2.0 use: Business users can share their most useful websites with co-workers or business partners. If a customer purchases a product, sellers could share relevant bookmarks that keep the customer coming back for more information and hopefully more products.
Ask yourself: Could we use Delicious to share important new websites faster within our organization or with our customers?
PURELY BUSINESS 2.0 TOOLS
WIKI
A Wiki is a collaborative web page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone to create a quick web page that allows visitors to search the Wiki’s content and edit the content in real time, as well as view updates since their last visit. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. On a moderated Wiki, Wiki owners can review comments before additions to the main body of the topic. Additional features include calendar sharing, live AV conferencing, RSS feeds, and more.
Ask yourself: Could we use Wikis to enhance internal and external collaboration?
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn is a business-oriented professional networking website for exchanging information, ideas, and opportunities. There are over 35 million registered users spanning 170 industries actively networking with each other. For example, large insurance companies use LinkedIn to foster networking with their independent sales representatives. HR professionals from all over the world could use LinkedIn to share best practices.
Ask yourself: Could we use LinkedIn to expand our organizational network for enhanced knowledge sharing?
CLOUD COMPUTING & SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE
In Cloud Computing, some or all of the storage, software, IT Processes, and data center facilities you use can exist on your provider’s server, which is maintained and cared for by your provider, giving you 24/7 access from any device anywhere. The cost of upgrading hardware and software, maintenance, and associated IT labor costs can be dramatically reduced or eliminated. Currently, the ideal organization would be any size company that’s facing big investments in computing and communications infrastructure. For example, Amazon.com can give you an entire e-commerce back end. Software as a Service (SaaS) such as SalesForce.com has a CRM package, SciQuest has a spend management package, and Google, Microsoft and others have a suite of offerings.
Ask yourself: Could we use Cloud Computing & Software as a Service to streamline our IT needs?
GAIN A NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
By reframing the use of social networking technology, companies can increase communication, collaboration, problem solving, and competitive advantage with little cost. Remember, many of these tools are free or nearly free, making them accessible to even the smallest of business. Therefore, the sooner you embrace Business 2.0 and put it to work for you, the faster you can penetrate new markets and win the lion’s share of business.
Posted in Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Planning, Sales, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Business Social Networking, Cloud Computing, Delicious, LinkedIn, Social Networking, Software as a Service, Twitter, Web 2.0, Wiki. No Comments »
Social Networks That Boost Your Business (Part I)
Most people are familiar with the term “Web 2.0,” which refers to a second generation of web development and design that focuses on fostering social networking via the web. Innovative companies are beginning to embrace Web 2.0 as a way to enhance communication, information sharing, and collaboration, thereby allowing them to work smarter rather than harder.
Unfortunately, many businesses feel that Web 2.0 and social networking are for the younger generation and a waste of time when used by employees. However, once you understand the power of these applications and how to use them in your company, you’ll quickly find that they can be invaluable tools to boost your bottom line. Following is an overview of some of the best Business 2.0 tools that are personal tools with business applicability.
FACEBOOK
Facebook enables you to connect and share with the people in your life. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with others. People can add friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Business 2.0 use: Large organizations can connect all of their employees, or members, with Facebook. Some are finding an added advantage of using an internal, secure version of Facebook. This has helped organizations to dramatically increase their internal networking and collaboration. Ask yourself: Could we use Facebook, or our own internal version, to get people to collaborate at a higher level?
WIKIPEDIA
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can use to find information on virtually any topic. Anyone can edit the content as well. Business 2.0 use: A large manufacturing company with engineers in locations around the world increased problem solving and collaboration by creating an internal, secure version of Wikipedia for sharing information on parts and service offerings as well as repair and maintenance instructions. Retailers and suppliers could create a version of Wikipedia to foster education and training as well as enhanced information sharing. Ask yourself: Could we create an internal version of Wikipedia to foster better information and knowledge sharing?
YOUTUBE
YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. YouTube displays a wide variety of user-generated video content as well as movie clips, product demonstrations, and commercials. Unregistered users can watch the videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos. Business 2.0 use: Businesses are posting humorous commercial videos to generate interest in their products with great success. The more entertaining it is, the more people watch it. Business partners could create a YouTube like channel for the purpose of educating and training. Ask Yourself: Could we enhance our marketing efforts as well as general communication by using YouTube?
DIGG
Digg is a social news web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting and accessing links and stories. Voting stories thumbs up or a thumb down is the site’s cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Business 2.0 use: Many organizations have found this to be a good way to track the most interesting advances in technology or the most useful business news. Large organizations can create their own internal version for sharing what employees consider to be the most useful information. Ask yourself: Could we use Digg, or our own internal version, to get people to share their most interesting and valuable web-based information with each other?
Next month, I will share two more personal tools along with some purely business 2.0 tools that will help create collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
Posted in Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Burrus, Business Social Networking, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, Digg, Facebook, Social Networking, Social Networking for Business, Social Networks, Web 2.0, Wikipedia, YouTube. 3 Comments »
