6 Ways to Measure Your Social Media Results
How much time are you spending on social media? Can you tell if it’s helping sales?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a framework for measuring the impact of your social media efforts?
That’s where Susan Etlinger’s new research for the Altimeter Group comes into play. Susan did qualitative research with 60 social media marketers and vendors to understand how businesses currently measure their social media performance.
Her goal: to develop a framework for tying social media performance to business goals.
NOTE: Because Susan’s original research targeted enterprise-level companies, I interviewed her to add some small business insights. The following comments combine results of the research and that interview. 
9 Facebook Marketing Success Stories You Should Model
Are you curious what other companies are doing to achieve success with Facebook marketing? You’ve come to the right place.
This article highlights nine companies (big and small) that have transformed their Facebook presence by implementing innovative Facebook marketing practices.
You’re guaranteed to find inspiration for your Facebook marketing efforts here.
These tactics will work for just about any business—large or small, B2B or B2C. So let’s dig in!
#1: Cheese & Burger Society
The Cheese & Burger Society is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. This page is an innovative way to promote Wisconsin cheese by talking about something many people love—burgers and grilling.
Win Free Tickets to Facebook Success Summit 2011
**UPDATE: We have announced our two winners. The winner of the comment/blog portion of the contest, receiving two tickets to the Facebook Success Summit is Theodore Sturos, read his comment here. The winner of the Twitter contest is Kim Isles. Thanks to everyone who participated in the event. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks!**
Want to win a free ticket to the largest online Facebook marketing event of the year?
Social Media Examiner has worked hard to bring you our second-annual Facebook Success Summit. It’s even better than last year! And we’ve come up with a fun way to get you involved.
First, what is this event?
Facebook Success Summit 2011 is an online conference dedicated to helping businesses master Facebook marketing. More than 900 businesses have already signed up, including Sony, CNN, Hewlett-Packard, Smucker’s, Zealand, Virginia State Parks, Hampton Inn and hundreds of smaller businesses.
Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages: 2011 Winners!
Small businesses can stand out in a big way with Facebook. If you’re looking for some creative examples of Facebook pages from the small guys, look no further!
More than 1400 nominations came in from our contest.
Our panel of Facebook experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing their landing pages, engagement, reader involvement and creative use of promotions (among other things).
None of these businesses have huge budgets, yet they have all achieved amazing success. The following are the winners of Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages for 2011:
9 Reasons Why Your Content Is Not Shared on Social Networks: New Research
Do you wonder how to get your content seen amidst a sea of information?
What if you could understand why your audience shares some information and not other? That would make your content stand out from the competition.
The Science of Sharing
30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month, including blog posts, links, news stories and photo albums.
HubSpot’s Dan Zarrella has found that three things must happen to get your content shared.
First, people must be exposed to your content (be a fan on Facebook or follow you on Twitter). Second, they must be aware of your content (meaning they actually see it). Finally, they must be motivated by something in your content to share it.
Many articles have been written on how to increase your audience size and make people aware of your content, including these by Mari Smith and Denise Wakeman. This article will focus on the motivations for sharing.
How to Grow Social Media Leads: New Research
Have you wondered, “How often should I post articles on my blog?” or “How does my social media reach impact lead generation and traffic?”
Two brand-new studies by HubSpot and Edison Research provide fresh insights on these important questions. Consider these five findings as you enhance your social media and blogging strategies.
#1: More frequent blog posts bring greater traffic and leads
C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley like to say that starting a blog is like having a baby. You can’t put it back and you have to keep feeding it. The question is how often do you need to feed your blog to get real results?
HubSpot found in their 2011 State of Inbound Marketing report that a vast majority of bloggers post once per week, with a significant 29% only posting monthly or less.
9 Reasons Your Company Should Use Brand Advocates: New Research
What would you say if you could add 5, 10, 100 or 1000 marketing reps to your team? For free?
What if these marketing reps would freely write about your brand and tell their friends and all they expect in return is recognition and access to insider information?
Who are these free marketers? Brand advocates. BzzAgent has recently released a new research study giving us the skinny on the habitat, behaviors and motivations behind brand advocates.
Who are brand advocates and what motivates them?
This careful study identifies many attributes of brand advocates. I’d like to discuss nine of them that will help you think through how to effectively engage advocates for your business.
Want to Grow a Loyal Fan Base? Four Experts Tell You How
Are you looking for new strategies to build a loyal fan base? Wondering how to engage with readers and experts?
Social Media Examiner will host a free online broadcast Monday, June 6.
You’ll be able interact live with four marketing experts over three hours of free online video broadcasts.
Join Michael Stelzner (author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Joe Pulizzi (co-author, Get Content Get Customers) and Jay Baer (co-author, The Now Revolution) for three hours of FREE live instruction. You can ask all of your content, relationship and social media marketing questions live.
Social Media Spending Habits Rise, New Research Reveals
Are you wondering how other businesses are allocating their social media activities in relation to other marketing tasks?
This article reveals the findings of a few new research studies. What they found might surprise you.
Small Business Focusing Big Time on Social Media and Blogging
Small businesses are spending three times more on social media and blogs than larger businesses.
In HubSpot’s 2011 State of Inbound Marketing Report, researchers discovered that small businesses plan to spend 29% of their lead generation budget on social media and blogs. Asked the same question, medium to large businesses only plan to spend 9% on the same categories.
Small Businesses Benefit Most From Social Media, Study Reveals
Do you wonder if you have what it takes to compete in the social media marketplace? Who, after all, has the time or the budget to mimic Disney or Starbucks? Certainly not a small business!
Well, maybe that’s the wrong set of questions.
In fact, the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report has some good news for small business marketers. Small business owners are seeing the greatest results from social media marketing.
