How the U.S. Army Is Using Bloggers
In this video I interview Greg Swan, VP of Digital Strategy at Weber Shandwick, one of whose clients is the U.S. Army.
Greg shares how the U.S. Army encourages soldiers to blog, develop authentic connections and participate in the conversations about joining the army. You’ll find out what blogger outreach can mean to your business and pick up useful insights to successfully connect with influential bloggers.
Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.
How Microsoft Leveraged Bloggers for a Successful Product Launch
Software giant Microsoft launches dozens of products and services every year.
The company typically relies heavily on advertising and PR to get the word out.
But for its Office 365 product, the team took a different approach.
Using partnerships and social media, Microsoft connected specifically with women business owners – a key audience group.
Rather than directing promotional messages toward them, Microsoft involved them in the process from start to finish.
“It’s definitely innovation within a large matrix organization like Microsoft that hasn’t really done this in the past,” said Penny Delgadillo, senior product manager at Microsoft.
In just a two-month period, the entirely social Office 365 “Your Office, Your Terms” campaign garnered 5.8 million overall campaign impressions and four times more traffic from social sharing than the typical Microsoft campaign.
9 Ways to Use Social Media to Launch a Book
Wondering how to get people excited about your book? Do you want people actively sharing your book with their friends?
In this article I’ll reveal some of the social media techniques I used to get thousands of people excited enough about my new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition that they shared it with friends and peers.
By the way, you don’t need to have a book to benefit from these tactics.
Why Social Media for Books?
Back in the old days, book promotion heavily relied on the traditional press. I remember the challenge of promoting my first book (Writing White Papers) back in 2006. I had to work with journals and print magazines—and their long editorial cycles. I also needed to speak at physical events and perform many other time-consuming tasks.
Startup Company Eliminates the Cold Call With Twitter
Many salespeople swear by cold calling. But the inherent problem with it? Interrupting people when they’re otherwise engaged. The person might be amenable – or might be turned off.
“We spent a lot of time cold calling or direct emailing,” said Craig Robertson, co-founder and CEO of ecycler.com. “We would catch people when they were busy and they didn’t want to talk to us.”
ecycler.com, founded in 2009, is an Internet-age twist on the cash-for-cans concept. Rooted in the belief that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, the site connects recycling discarders with collectors for mutual benefit.
3 Rewards and 3 Risks of Making Customers Brand Ambassadors
Are you prepared to put your customers in charge of your brand… literally?
What would happen if you gave your customers the keys to your corporate social media channels? This article reviews the rewards and the risks marketers face as they decide how much brand control they’re willing to give up.
Marketers are just coming to terms with how to deal with customers having free rein to either praise or bash their companies, but I think there may be a new trend on the horizon—the customer brand ambassador.
You have customers who love your brand and rave about it. But their reach only extends so far. Why not give them a platform to amplify their reach and spread the word? Think about it… It really could be a beautiful partnership.
How to Use Blog Commenting as a Networking Superweapon
When it comes to driving awareness through social media channels, most marketers think about using tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos to reach key audiences.
But very few think of leaving a comment on a blog as a strategy to driving awareness—and potentially, down the road, garnering leads.
Wait, how can leaving a comment on a blog drive awareness (or leads) for your brand? You might be surprised at how effective this strategy can be, given the right circumstances. B2B organizations, for example, are often positioned well to capitalize on this approach based on their need to establish themselves as thought leaders on various topics.
But, before we get to the “how,” let’s talk a bit more about the “why.”
