Social Media events are a great way for hotels and restaurants to gain exposure. Though offering up freebies to a large audience could initially feel like a loss rather than a gain, the potential ROI of doing so in this context is uniquely unprecedented. It may seem counter-productive to invite locals into your hotel, as hotel business relies on over-night visitors and, obviously, people who live in the city where the hotel resides aren’t going to be staying over there. But many hotels also require business in other fashions, like renting out their meeting and conference space, and drawing customers …
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There’s been much buzz recently about the use of images in social media marketing. More and more platforms are visual (think Pinterest, Instagram, SlideShare and Tumblr). Facebook’s Timeline is all about pretty pictures. And it seems that every other tweet references an infographic. We love images because they offer a nice diversion in a busy social media environment, and, let’s face it; viewing can be more fun than reading. Savvy marketers are jumping on board and exploring ways to incorporate imagery into the marketing mix. It is about winning and keeping attention. The right image can bypass our filters, trigger …
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With Facebook’s recent implementation of Timeline for Pages, we are quickly reminded that we have no control over what direction Facebook might take with their platform. Regardless if you are a fan or not of Facebook, however, there is still no better way to reach out and engage with both present and potential consumers in social media than through a robust Facebook Page. The problem is: Are you truly maximizing your Facebook presence to reach your marketing objectives? Many businesses that I meet are not. Maximizing your business presence on Facebook begins with truly maximizing all of the functionality that …
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When it comes to social media presences for companies, Facebook is still the king. Even though upstart Pinterest is clearly giving Facebook a run for its money, the Facebook page is still the anchor for most companies’ social media strategy. Compared to other social media channels, Facebook is where the eyeballs are and that puts it at the center of the social media universe. For example, Coca-Cola’s Facebook page has 41,679,113 “Likes”, but their Twitter handle has 533,194 followers. Odds are good that your experience mirrors this. The great thing about this is that it makes it easy for social …
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Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a VP of Marketing about converting emails into two-way conversations. We were reviewing my proposal for email nurture streams designed to move prospects from the top to the middle of the lead funnel. We found it easy to visualize the emails themselves. What required more thought on our part were the “engagement triggers” – incentives designed to turn one-way emails into trust-building conversations between the recipients and the staff. Many of you are having the same discussion. Both demand generation marketers and marketing automation vendors are grappling with the question, “How do we …
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Just when you thought it was safe to fire up your company blog and reap the highly touted social business dividends, the marketplace seems to be sending mixed signals. Recent posts by social media influencers have challenged a University of Massachusetts study showing a decline in corporate blogging by rhetorically asking whether it’s possibly time to rethink your company’s blogging strategy, or even forget about it altogether. The marketing industry and businesses with a vested interest in the growth and success of the blogosphere have naturally assumed a bit of defensive posturing concerning the long-term outlook for blogging as a marketing …
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Whether we admit it or not, the opinions of other people matter. Whether it’s about simple things such as which brand of laundry detergent to buy, or bigger decisions such as who to consult with on critical business matters, we’ve always taken into account the points of view of those we deem important in order to get the information we need to make the best judgement calls. This is exactly how we can define word of mouth from a marketing perspective: the passing of information, hopefully beneficial to our brand, from one to another via oral communication. The potential influential …
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If you follow the tech conference circuit as closely as we do, you’ll notice that seemingly every year the likes of South by South West (SXSW) and the Mobile World Congress (MWC) bring us a host of new social media startups. From Twitter to FourSquare to Gowalla to Highlight, new ways to connect with each other are flooding the market like a Yankee Candle Store on Mothers Day. With so many new social media outlets popping up all over the web each year it would seem that getting your social media presence to soar would be simple. Yet as many …
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Selling has always been about relationships. Particularly in B2B sales, people buy first from individuals and then from their companies. Social Media presents us with an outstanding opportunity to … Discover potential new relationships Create rapport Establish relationships Maintain, nurture, and expand those relationships You now have, and quite literally at your fingertips, more arrows in your quiver than any of those B2B salespeople who have gone for generations before you! Don’t squander these opportunities. Make the most of these B2B sales tips! Keep your eyes open – And also your ears while keeping your mouth firmly in the clamped …
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Social media has brought the idea of personal branding for executives more into the forefront today than in years past. The TV show “Undercover Boss” is a perfect example of personal branding. For those who haven’t seen the show, here’s the gist: An executive, usually the CEO, works for a day or so in a variety of positions within his own company. The executive is disguised, so employees don’t know who he or she is until the end of the show when the big reveal takes place. During the first five minutes of the show, the executives are introduced to …
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Undoubtedly, social media (SM) experts and enthusiasts are quick to understand acronyms like SEO, VLOG, RSS, and PM. Similarly, lawyers, particularly employment lawyers, are fluent in another set of acronyms including EEOC, DOJ, FCRA, and DOL. Some of these legal acronyms have a more obvious connection with SM than others (and I discussed some in my prior monthly post about employers using social media in hiring decisions). Two less obvious acronyms, however, should be on every employer’s and SM expert’s radar, and they both start with the same three letters: NLR. Why You Should Care About The NLRA: Generally, the …
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If you are a follower of this blog and the Social Media MBA series, you will recall that last month we discussed social media platforms and their potential uses for businesses and consumers. This month, I want you to be thinking about the technology that is enabling social media and how it drives new business. Social media has changed the way people use the Internet and it has shaped the technology used to deliver it. It has created new ways to drive business and it has changed the way brands market products and services. While enabling social interaction and the creation …
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Disclaimer: This blog post is in no way condoning the gaming of, or attempts to “buy,” a higher Klout score. This post is also in no way stating or inferring that any given user of the platforms mentioned below, regardless of their metrics or “prices” on the respective platforms, has ever utilized the method I am about to explain. The purpose of this post is only to suggest the potential for activity which might increase your Klout score in order to expose potential shortcomings of a human algorithm attempting to calculate online influence in order to suggest ways to improve …
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Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) around the world strive to tell their story to potential donors and volunteers every day. We strive to come up with that powerful message that will move people to action. Video is one of the most vibrant ways to paint that picture and create a lasting impact. In the past, NPOs avoided using video because it was expensive to create and challenging to broadcast. New technology and the onset of social media have changed all that. Creating video has never been easier. Just about every cell phone comes equipped with a video camera these days and free …
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In this digital era, I’m often surprised how conventional wisdom continues to emphasize journalists (and now bloggers) as an organization’s primary stakeholders or publics for “earned media.” This is underscored and bolded by the majority of industry publications, plus many PR and marketing practitioners, particularly those with a primarily promotional focus and an over-reliance on news releases as the main salvo in their toolkits. Conversely, I’m saddened by how little understanding or appreciation there is about one of the most enduring and important publics found at the company’s nucleus: employees. In particular, the lack of value attached to organizationally knowledgeable, seasoned (i.e., older) …
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