3 New Studies Show Value of Social Media & Businesses Slow Response
There are some interesting studies surfacing lately in the world of social media. Here’s a summary of three recent research findings covering the benefits of social media marketing, how forums help brands and how businesses are employing social media marketing.
#1: 50% of Small Businesses Say Lead Generation is Biggest Benefit of Social Networking
According to the “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010” from Ad-ology, lead generation is the biggest benefit of social networking for U.S. small businesses. 
7 Essential Design Elements for Great Business Blogs
When people hear the word design, they sometimes think only of making something look good, using colors and graphics to add interest. But on the web, and especially on a blog, design has a purpose: to grab readers when they arrive, make it easy for them to get what they want, and create trust through a consistent and professional look.
A well-designed business blog:
- Uses visual interest to make posts easy to read
- Brands your business in a consistent way
- Places useful information in places where it is easy to find
- Isn’t cluttered with things that aren’t helping you promote your business
- Makes it easy for readers to do what you want them to do
Is Real-Time Search Good for Businesses?
Real-time search is bringing social media to search engines. And that means a whole new dynamic for businesses using the social web.
With Twitter and Facebook updates appearing in Google search results, many businesses are trying to figure if this is good or bad—and what to do next. Ziff Davis featured this blog post a while back. It got me thinking about the implications of the real-time web and how businesses can navigate through these rough waters.
How MarketingProfs Manages Its Brand on Twitter (an Ann Handley Interview)
In this video I interview Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer for the 358,000 member organization MarketingProfs.
Ann talks about how she manages being the public face on Twitter for her organization. She also shares how her own Twitter strategy has evolved over the last 2 years.
In this video Ann also discusses the challenges of having employees represent your brands on social media and how to approach social media policies.
Facebook Marketing: Everything You Need to Know
I’m guessing many of you are still sitting on the fence when it comes to putting your business on Facebook.
“Let me get this straight,” you may say. “You want me to use Facebook to market my business? Are you crazy?”
Not if you provide products or services to postmenopausal women. Women over the age of 55 make up the fastest-growing Facebook segment, according to Paul Dunay and Richard Krueger, authors of Facebook Marketing for Dummies.
Would your product or service appeal to anyone over 35? “The fastest-growing demographic is the 35- to 54-year-olds… the next fastest-growing demographic is the over-55 crowd.”
Top 5 Social Media Articles from 2009
The year is coming to a close and there’s been lots of great social media content developed.
Here are our top five articles (in order of popularity) from this year…
#1: Five Must Read Social Media Marketing Studies
Here’s a quick overview of the this article:
Study 1: By 2010, 26 Million (1 in 7) U.S. Adults Will Use Twitter Monthly
The study by eMarketer found the following: “In 2009, there will be 18 million U.S. adults who access Twitter on any platform at least monthly. That represents a 200% increase over 2008 levels. Usage will reach 26 million U.S. adults in 2010, a further 44.4% climb.“
Five Facebook-Only Strategies For Business Success
It’s hard to find a business participating in social media that isn’t doing something on Facebook. In fact, “I want a Facebook fan page,” has replaced, “I want a company blog,” as the single most heard request from clients in the social media world these days. With 350 million accounts and growing, it’s no wonder.
Facebook is one of my favorite places to recommend for businesses for a lot of reasons. The primary one is that Facebook offers almost of all the various social media tools that companies can apply to their brand.
Facebook allows you to participate without having to spend time or money on your own website. Still, few companies are using Facebook well. One example of a business doing it right is Ernst & Young Human Resources effort (brilliant). But for every good Facebook presence there’s a brand page we like to call a “campground.” Not because lots of people hang out there, but because all you hear when you visit is crickets.
To give you a leg up on getting smart with Facebook, here are five facebook-only strategies for business success.
7 Ways Posterous Improves Your Social Media Presence
Posterous is a social media platform where it’s very easy to post just about anything—photos, videos and words. You can set up your account and publish content simply by sending an email. Yes it’s that simple!
Posterous is known as the most “social” networking place of social media. It’s also the ideal solution for sharing content that’s too long for a tweet and too short for a blog post.
There are many different reasons and motivations to create a free Posterous account. Let’s have a look at the 7 most common reasons for businesses to use Posterous.
Outsourcing Social Media: Good or Bad Idea?
One of the big concerns about using social media for business and marketing is time. Social media activities do pose a risk of drawing you in and taking up a huge amount of your day just interacting with people.
Add that the technology is changing all the time. It can seem impossible to keep up with all the tools, software, techniques, etiquette, and social media best practices.
It’s hardly surprising that people are looking to social media consultants, agencies and contractors to take on their social media activity. But should you? Let’s explore this.
6 Social Media Predictions for 2010
With 2010 fast approaching, there’s lots of talk about the social media predictions for the coming year. Although we don’t have a crystal ball here at SocialMediaExaminer.com, we do have recent social media studies to support some very likely trends.
David Armano recently published his social media predictions for 2010 on the Harvard Business Blog. Here’s a detailed analysis on whether his predictions will likely come true.
