How to Supercharge Your Social Media Presence With Online Surveys

social media how toHow well do you really know your audience? Do you know their likes, dislikes, needs, fears, wants, and challenges? Getting to know and understand your customers and prospects is the key to growing your business.

With the rise of social media, the importance of knowing your audience has taken center stage. When you listen to your audience, your one-on-one engagement on social sites becomes effortless and ultimately you are able to deliver exactly what they want, when they want it.  The real-time element of social media makes this possible.  With simple online surveys you can take your social media program to an entirely new level.

View Comments

 
 

12 Ways to Market Your Event With Social Media

social media how toWhether you’re planning a real-world event (like a conference, tweetup or political gathering) or a virtual event (like a webinar or teleclass), social media can be an inexpensive, cost-effective way to build buzz, fill seats, and turn a one-off gathering into a recurring event.

The trick is to know which social media tools to use and when to use them.  This article contains 12 useful social media tips designed to help your events shine.

View Comments

 
 

Top 6 Social Media Mistakes And How to Fix Them

social media how toWhile there are many success stories of people using social media for personal and business reasons, there are also plenty of people who may feel their efforts are not paying off.

Whether you use social media to market your business, increase sales, promote your blog, or raise awareness for a non-profit organization, here are six reasons social media might not be working for you—along with ways to overcome these problems.

View Comments

 
 

3 Steps to Ethical Social Media Marketing

social media viewpointsMarketers know the most effective advertising is word of mouth marketing. The smartest marketers know word of mouth works best when it’s credible.

Unfortunately, trust is on the decline.   The percentage of people who view their friends as credible sources of information about a brand has fallen from 45% in 2008 to 25% in 2010, according to Edelman’s 2010 Trust Barometer study.

That’s an alarming statistic for marketers wanting to tap into the power of word of mouth through social media marketing.  This article will provide three simple steps you can take to ethically market with social media.

What’s The Problem

Some marketers have cited this decline in credibility as a result of “friends” becoming defined more loosely because of social media. Sure, we’re Facebook friends with someone and we’re Twitter followers of someone, but are we really friends with them? Do we trust the word of mouth recommendations of people we’re Facebook friends with and Twitter followers of?

View Comments

 
 

4 Reasons You Should Avoid Social Media

social media viewpointsCan ANY company or organization afford NOT to be involved in social media? It’s a fair question and one may argue that it’s a CRITICAL question!

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Buzz, Foursquare, and others that have just joined the game—and the list goes on and on ad nauseam!

“We already have a website and we get email. Isn’t that enough?”

The words invading our vocabulary are legion… and silly at times: blogs, fans, tweets, diggs, etc. Is this trip really necessary?

PERHAPS NOT. Let’s start by exploring why NOT to participate in social media:

View Comments

 
 

Socialnomics: It’s a People-Driven Economy

social media book reviewsAn Illinois senator who was virtually unknown in 2004 defeated Hillary Clinton in 2008 to win the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination.

And he used social media to do it.

His YouTube videos got 110 million views, estimated to be 14.5 million hours of viewing. Mass media advertising to reach that many viewers would have cost $47 million.

A famous rapper made a promotional video that gave him even more free publicity.

At the time of the election, he had five million fans on Facebook — over four million more than his opponent. On MySpace, the numbers were approximately 800,000 and 200,000, respectively. On Twitter, he had over 100,000 followers and his opponent had about 5,000.

And he rode that social media train all the way to the White House.

View Comments

 
 

7 Social Media Truths You Can Ignore and Still be Successful

social media how toThere are a lot of social media experts out there—including the ones who claim there’s no such thing as a “social media expert”—and they’re telling us how social media works, how it doesn’t work, and how we all must behave in the social media arena.

Much of this advice is framed as “universal truths” that every business must follow. Unfortunately, a lot of it is based on the expert’s personal experience.  And that may not be appropriate for you. Even the most well-intended advice is often off the mark when it comes to your business.

View Comments

 
 

How the U.S. Navy Uses Social Media

social media expert interviewIn this video I interview Scott McIlnay, commander in the US Navy and Director of Emerging Media Integration. Scott shares how the US Navy uses social media at the enterprise level.

You’ll hear how they grew their Facebook page rapidly to over 70,000 fans. And Scott also highlights how the US Navy uses each of their social media platforms for a different purpose. Be sure to check out the other takeaways below.

View Comments

 
 

10 Ways to Cut Through the Social Media Noise and Be Heard

social media how to

Once you find time for social media and move from social chatter to using social media for a purpose, you’ll see firsthand how difficult it can be to get noticed.

You might be using social media for marketing, campaigning or bringing attention to a worthy cause, but you’ll be battling against every other person who has the same intention or is just there for a fun time.

How do you cut through all the social media noise and get people to notice what you have to say?

Fact is, it’s not always easy.  To help you, here are 10 ways to make your message more likely to get noticed

View Comments

 
 

Study Shows Time Pays With Social Media Marketing

social media researchHave you asked this question: Is the time I invest with social media really worth it?  Whether you’re new or an old hat with social media, chances are you’ve wondered if the time commitment is really worth the return on investment (ROI).

Make no mistake about it:  a true investment of time and resources is necessary to see significant social media marketing success.

But the real question is, “Just HOW MUCH time is needed to see solid success?”

This question was recently answered in the new study, 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, authored by Michael Stelzner.  Based on the report findings, ROI is top of mind for most marketers using social media.

View Comments