Archive for January, 2010

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Social Media Marketing Blog: Buzz.com from AT&T

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Here we go again…..another new platform for us to play on: www.buzz.com by AT&T. Buzz.com allows people to find out the best local businesses using recommendations from friends and family.

David Krantz, president and chief executive of AT&T Interactive, says that "through Yellow Pages, AT&T already had a wealth of information about local businesses and a large local advertising business.But the company realized it could attract more visitors and more advertisers if it could make its local business searches "deeper and more relevant."

So on buzz.com, a user looking for a carpet cleaner or xyz product company in Orlando could poll friends and family on the site to find the best option.  Buzz.com will also be able to suggest experts on that topic based on user "favorites" and comments. 

Boy is the data from buzz.com going to be completely skewed or what? I mean, this will not be "neutral" data; it'll be emotional based on personal preferences and uses. And "expert" recommendations? Come on, everyone's an expert these days!

Buzz.com is currently in "alpha" testing phase with about 500 AT&T employees testing buzz.com. Buzz.com will go public in a few months and then we'll be playing on that platform too, for you.

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Posted in Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments »

Social Media Blog: Alterian Study Found Businesses Looking to Invest More in Social Media Marketing in 2010

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Alterian company's 7th annual survey in which 1,068 marketing professionals around the world were surveyed, found that two-thirds are planning a social media marketing investment within the next 12 months.

Over 67% of those surveyed identified Social Media as either "critical to success" or "increasingly important" and about  40% said they would spend about 1/5th of their traditional direct marketing budget for social media activities.

This makes a lot of sense right?

Social media provides direct, instant, global access to hundreds of thousands of people. So it makes me wonder when I hear people tell me that they are still relying on the yellow pages for their leads or when people give me "we're a local company" as their reason for not engaging in social networks.

Come on folks. Lets get real here.. Social media marketing is not just important to the viability and long-term success of your company, it is becoming IMPERATIVE.

Stay in front of your customers and prospects and remain in business or else……(you fill in the blanks).

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Posted in facebook, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Listen to the Pope! Pope2you.net

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Damn! Errr, I mean Wow!!!

I normally won't touch religious or political stories to blog about but man this I gotta share.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for the 44th World Day of Communications told his priests to become more web and social network savvy. He said "The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts…." The theme of the upcoming May 16th event is "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word".

Doesn't that sound totally like a business conference that you may have attended?

His Holiness goes on to say ""Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word."

Man! Not only that, the Vatican recently launched the "Pope2you" portal, offering a Facebook app, iPhone app, YouTube channel, and Papal videos.

So your boss not quite on the Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogging bandwagon? Ask him or her to read what THE POPE has to say. I'm sure he'll / she'll come around quickly.

Listen to the Pope, not just for world peace messages but also for increasing your reach and spreading your message using social networks!

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Posted in facebook, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Blog: Are you Twittered Out?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

So has Twitter reached its peak? I don't think so.

I agree that Twitter can be intrusive and I also know that some posts can be quite annoying. However, in my opinion too many people tweet without really engaging people. That's where they are missing the boat in terms of leveraging real-time networking opportunities in Twitter.

Twitter and Facebook have different usage criteria. I know that if I were to post a message on my Facebook status 10 times an hour, I'd be out of friends quickly. So in the video when it was mentioned that "Facebook is better" again, I felt that the perspective shared was not really business-focused.

For businesses, really Twitter is about creating "curiosity" through tweets and an interesting bio which can lead to a discussion, an investigation, a contact, and eventually a business transaction.

Remember the equation: Quality + Quantity

Quality means posting tweets that are insightful and engage readers where possible. 70% of these tweets should be focused on sharing business information and expertise in your field. 30% of the tweets can be exchanging personal messages, commenting on topics that may not necessarily be exactly in your field of expertise, and in general, just networking online to build a network of well-wishers.

Quantity means building "influence" through the followers that you build. These followers are the folks who will engage with you off and on to create extended visibility for you and your brand.

So what Twitter does better than Facebook is providing that "volume" influence which on Facebook is a bit more time-consuming and a bit limiting unless you are a brand like Starbucks or Pepsi / Coke.

So tweet away with heartfelt dedication cause tweeting ain't dead yet!

Posted in Social Media Marketing, twitter | 1 Comment »

Social Media Marketing Blog: What NOT to say on Twitter or any online networks

Monday, January 18th, 2010

I am not sympathetic towards Paul Chambers one bit. You'd think EVERYONE would know that bombing is NO joking matter anywhere, anymore, anyhow. Not that we'd ever forget 911 but after the recent almost-bombing of an airline on way to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, you'd think people would know better than to say "bomb" and "airport" in the same breath in public, never mind on a worldwide platform like Twitter.

Here's what happened.  Paul Chambers tweeted his frustrations about his England to Ireland flight potentially getting canceled due to snow, by posting something to the effect of "Robin Hood airport is closed, you've got a week to get your act together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high".

What the heck was he thinking posting something SO inflammatory?  I read some blogs where people thought the punishment netted out to Paul was excessive. Paul has been suspended from his job indefinitely, he is banned from Robin Hood airport for life, and his phone, computer, etc. were taken away after he was arrested for conspiracy to create a bomb hoax.

Come on people, let's get real here! A bomb threat is a bomb threat is a bomb threat. After what we're going through across the globe as we fight terrorism, everyone is sensitive to anything that remotely makes us suspicious. And frankly if I had been at Robin Hood airport and had read the tweet myself, I'd be calling 911 and reporting Paul Chambers for sure.

And this reiterates what I always tell my clients and anyone who'll listen to me: THINK before you post something online for the world to read. IF it can lead to jail, unemployment, or trouble with your family, zip it right up errr take a break from your online writing.

Posted in Branding | 1 Comment »

Social Media Marketing Blog: January 19th Seminar in Downtown Orlando on “Unleashing the Power of New Media”

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

What are you doing on January 19th 2010 from 12 pm to 2 pm EST?

My team and I will be presenting a seminar on UNLEASHING THE POWER OF NEW MEDIA at the Orlando Science Center (www.osc.org).

The entire discussion will be around Businesses finding ROE and ROI from Social Media Marketing. I'm pretty sure you know what ROI stands for but not sure what ROE stands for? Ah, you're gonna have to be there OR you'll have to call us after the workshop so that we can clue you in.

By the way, the Seminar is at NO-COST and we'll even buy you lunch. Good deal? Well, so if you aren't doing anything exciting, come on down. What do you have to lose?

P.S. We currently have 80 confirmed participants so it's going to be a FUN, FUN, afternoon.See you there???

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Posted in Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing Blog: Try Atomkeep & Shareaholic

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Is your life seriously getting busy tweeting this, Facebooking that, blogging here, linking there? Well, besides the fact that we want you to call us so that we can streamline and create efficiency, here are two tools that I really liked on first and second look.
 
Content sharing is important right? I mean isn't that what we all do when we say, "Please RT" or "Hey friend "xyz", may I share your link with my friends?" But content sharing is a whole another job in itself because lets face it, there IS a lot of content to share with everyone. I know how many times a day I pass on emails to friends just cause I got something that I thought was absolutely hilarious or worthwhile sharing with my close friends. On Facebook and Twitter, you can pretty much end up spending four hours just reading, responding, and retweeting or sharing stuff that people have shared/posted.

So if you are into content sharing, check out www.shareaholic.com – their tagline being "The Better Way to Share Across Twitter, Facebook, E-mail, and More". Basically, using this browser plugin, you can share links, videos, blogs, and images with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Gmail, Yahoo, and more. Best part, no need to sign up for yet another new service.

And who doesn't face challenges remembering which email address was used on which site or what username was created for one site versus another? I mean you'd think by now, EVERYONE would have jumped on the bandwagon of "username = valid email address". Right? Wrong!!!! But I digress.

So if you want to sync and merge profile data from various networks like Twitter, Facebook, et. all, use www.atomkeep.com. However, atomkeep.com appears to be facing growing pains as it doesn't seem to be accepting new accounts quite as readily. Didn't ANYONE teach them that a new idea is only as good as the execution of it?  Sheesh!

But oh well, such is life in the fast lane on the super information highway. I'll be posting more tools that I've discovered or liked in the past few weeks of scouring the web so stay tuned…..

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Posted in facebook, Linkedin, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Internet Marketing: Direct Mail Making a Comeback?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) talked about companies who cut back on direct mail finding out that their clients are also dropping off as a result of that cut-back and regaining them when the company went back to their direct mail marketing strategy.

Now I found that article very, very surprising because I'm a total online media geek. Give me a phone and a computer and I am in heaven with text messaging, skying, facebooking, tweeting, and emailing. You get the point, I'm a total new media addict. I also do email marketing, direct mail, cold calling, etc. along with my team members to get myself out there in front of customers. But if I had a choice, I'd stick to doing all business through the Internet.

I never thought I'd say this but perhaps it's time to step back and take a look at direct mail campaigns again more comprehensively. If a company can spend $4000 and win $270K in business (according to the WSJ article I reference above), I can certainly spend some money to get a lot of business!

Ok so all of you who are so used to receiving dozens of texts and emails from me, look out! A direct mail postcard may be in your physical mailbox sometime soon!

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Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing Consulting, Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments »

Social Media Marketing Blog: Gartner 2010 and Beyond

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Gartner's "2010 and Beyond…" predictions for Information technology organizations and users has a whole section on Facebook. Sheesh, and I thought Twitter was the favorite new kid on the block but read along and see why Facebook dominated Gartner's report.

Key Findings

  • Facebook continues to dominate as the most popular social network community, with over 350 million active users as of November 2009. If Facebook continues growing as it has, more than one billion users will be on Facebook by 2011 and about 70% of users are from outside the USA. 
     

    • My two cents on "The Opportunity": Businesses seeking a global audience should focus on Facebook as their primary marketing strategy. Strategies to promote their products and services using culturally relevant messaging to that country's audience will give them a huge advantage of their competition.
       
  • 65 million people access Facebook using their mobile devices. Mobile careers are working to provide facebook apps that will appeal to these mobile users.
     

    • My two cents on "The Opportunity": Companies need to create mobile friendly websites. Inclusion of links to company websites won't do any good if mobile users cannot read the information displayed in their mobile devices. So 2010 strategy for businesses should be to create a mobile marketing strategy, first step of which is to make a mobile compatible website. 

Some other interesting facts shared by Gartner analysis include:    

  • Facebook may face potential competition from Orkut in India and Brazil, V Kontakte in Russia, Mixi in Japan or QQ in China.

    Me thinks that since the chance of the Chinese portal QQ becoming available internationally appears slim to none (given China's politics), Facebook should only be concerned with the other three. Now I don't know about you, but I don't know how many companies are actively selling anything in Russia so that leaves Orkut and Mixi as real potential customers. (More musings on these three sites sometime soon in 2010.)

Since Gartner devoted a whole section on just Facebook, I'll jump on that bandwagon and summarize this:

Facebook is important folks. Whether you want to communicate to your stakeholders and prospects or whether you want to launch a new product or create a customer service support strategy, do it through Facebook.
 
Don't just create a fan page. Your strategy shold include tasks such as joining various groups and forums, offering discounts and coupons, advertising specials & promotions and basically building your fan base using quality messaging that engages and converts fans into customers.

As always, don't just get started with a fan page because you can or want to do it yourself. Think of a long-term strategy and also think of measurement criteria to measure performance. Last but not the least, think about the resources required to make Facebook Marketing successful.

Here's to your Facebook success in 2010….

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Posted in Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing Blog: What did we learn about Social Media Marketing in 2009?

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

2009 was a big big big year for Social Networking sites being leveraged for businesses. So I think that 2009 can be named the year that wasn't any good in any other except for the popularity of social media marketing.

We learned in 2009 that:

Gaining visibility through Tweeting and Facebook is actually fun. It’s also the most cost-effective way of enhancing brand image and keeping in touch with prospects and customers. You may find that most of your downstream constituents would be suitably impressed when you demonstrated you ability to post quality messages and build a good follower or fan base.

Social network messaging is far reaching and seems to carry more influence. People are happy to retweet, share, and generally recommend friends and followers to you. Social relationships go well beyond the one to one connections formed on networking sites. By sharing similar interests and experiences different unconnected users interact and form a community that results in local or traveling tweet-ups and or offline meetings that continue to grow beyond the online relationship.
 
Re-tweeting on twitter helps amplifying messages about your brand. In 2009 Harvard Business Research has found that 90% of tweets were done by 10% of twitter users! So if you want to be an influencer, re-tweeting  messages will help you extend your reach to more users.

Research has also shown that social ads are particularly useful for increasing buying intent, on-line ad awareness, and favor-ability. All of these activities must now be measured and weighed along with traditional marketing metrics and must be on the marketer’s dashboard in 2010.

So 2009 was bad in pretty much every other way except for the the growing popularity of social networks. Small businesses extend reach and helped large businesses touch and feel their constituents or rather I should vice versa; the constituents were able to touch and feel big corporate types which would have been unheard of before Twitter and Facebook.

Let's see what 2010 has in store for all of us. Here's to more tweeting and more facebook fan promotion!

 

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Posted in facebook, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

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