Social Media Funnies: Crystal Ball Predicts Future of Social Media

Martha and Hilda marvel as their crystal ball discovers social media for the first time.

Gypsy Tweet

Editor’s note: Be sure to check out more of Sean’s artwork here.

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8 Easy Ways to Network on Twitter

social media how toWouldn’t it be wonderful if you could develop a valuable business network online? Twitter’s real-time communication capability makes it a great business networking platform you can’t afford to ignore.

By honing your social networking skills and adapting them to this fast-paced environment, you can use Twitter as the starting point to build a strong business network.

There are two parts to networking on Twitter:

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How to Engage With Social Media (a Chris Garrett Interview)

social media expert interviewIn this video I interview Chris Garrett, co-author of the book ProBlogger. Here Chris provides great advice to helps businesses achieve value with social media.

Chris shares the best way to approach Twitter and how to avoid the biggest mistakes people make. He also highlights the importance of attraction, retention and conversion for your business blog.  Be sure to read the other takeaways listed below.

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5 Easy Steps to Creating Reusable Social Content

social media how toSure, social media takes a lot of time.  Merging Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media options can be challenging.  But what if you could cut that time down significantly by cross-leveraging content?

Too many companies are reinventing the content wheel for every social outpost they maintain. A better approach is to create a content ecosystem that allows you to repurpose and cascade your best information.

Instead of a series of self-contained initiatives, build yourself a content ladder.

Here are 5 steps to get there:

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7 Tips for Driving Targeted Traffic With Twitter

Social media has many uses—from making contacts to performing customer service—but driving quality traffic to your site is Twitter’s secret weapon.  The big question is this: How can we get more of that lovely attention we crave?

As my recent poll shows, generating incoming traffic is the number-one need that people have right now, and for good reason. Traffic translates into:

  • Attention, engagement, conversation and recognition
  • Spreading your message far and wide
  • Prospects and subscriber opt-ins
  • Customers, increased sales and leads
  • Media and interviews, which lead to more attention

… and last but not least, an ego boost.

In a previous article here I mentioned the many benefits of Twitter for your business. Now here are seven key points you need to know if you want to get more targeted traffic from Twitter:

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How Best Buy Manages 2100 Employees on Twitter (video)

social media expert interviewIn this video I interview John Bernier, Social Media Manager at Best Buy. John is best known as one of the brains behind Best Buy’s Twelpforce, an online customer service initiative on Twitter.

Watch this video to find out how Twelpforce manages 2,100 Best Buy employees as they answer thousands of customer questions on Twitter.

After you watch the video, be sure to read the takeaways below.

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5 Tips for Finding Time for Social Media

One of the major objections I hear about social media is about time.

Do any of these sound familiar? “Who has time?” “You expect me to do all this on top of my normal duties?” “How do you fit everything in?” … and so on.

I am not going to lie to you. Social media does take time. In fact, time is going to be one of your major hidden costs of doing business on the Internet.  And for some of us, that time could be wasted if we are not careful.

You need to watch where your time goes to ensure you’re spending it efficiently and with the desired impact.  Here are five tips to help you.

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It Pays to Listen: Avaya’s $250K Twitter Sale

social media case studiesAvaya can hear you. Maybe you just praised the communications giant online – or took its name in vain. Whatever you said, it’s on the company’s radar.

At a time when businesses are using social media to promote content and start discussions, Avaya has found that listening trumps talking.

“We’re listening to social media and responding,” said Paul Dunay, Avaya’s social media ringleader, who is global managing director of services and social media marketing.

There is no Tweet that goes unturned. No forum post that goes unturned where our name is mentioned.”

What began as a way to engage and support customers has evolved beyond even Avaya’s expectations. And if Avaya ever doubted its investment in social media, those concerns are now put to rest.

A recent quarter-million–dollar sale, which began on Twitter, soundly answered that question.

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