It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my review of the best social media books of 2010, a list that included only 15 selections. Time flies so fast and 2012 is just around the corner, so it’s time to reveal my picks for best books of 2011. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for you, I had a hard time narrowing down the list to 15 so I have increased the number to 25 books. There were simply too many great additions to literature that exists on social in 2011 to be limiting. This is certainly a reflection of …
read more![Facebook Settles with FTC on Privacy Issue: What Does This Bode for Social Media Users and Businesses? [Analysis]](http://windmillnetworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Facebook-Privacy-FTC-Settlement-150x150.jpg)
Facebook has probably realized what the adage on great power coming with great responsibility really means with what it has gone through over the past year. The social media giant has had to deal with widespread outrage from hundreds of millions of users and a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on its allegedly deceptive privacy practices. But finally putting an end to the saga and perhaps effectively avoiding any onerous sanctions, Facebook reached a settlement with the FTC last week. The social network essentially agreed to the FTC’s terms of practicing transparency in implementing its privacy policies in …
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I had the chance this summer to speak in rural Japan (Kumamoto, Kyushu for those of you who might have been there to see Mount Aso) at a workshop on social media for the agricultural industry. Whenever I speak, I always mention how social media truly transcends industry (as well as discipline) and always ask someone to challenge me in finding an industry that can’t find a use for social media. The agricultural industry is ripe (pun intended) for using social media because it really does represent what the farmer’s market used to be. Farmer’s markets don’t just sell agricultural …
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Whether you plan to use LinkedIn as an individual, or to represent a business, you will be interacting with and be seen by others without having a chance to meet them. And, while corporate websites give us complete control over how we depict our brands, products, and personnel, LinkedIn levels the playing field by stripping away the design elements and simply presenting every user in basically the same way. Additionally, others may make decisions on whether or not they want to do business with you based on how you’ve utilized your LinkedIn profile. This is exactly why social media, including …
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Last month we established the focus of this column as being Social Media for B2B Sales. Perhaps, before we go further, it might be best to define B2B. Simply put, B2B is “business to business” and, as much as anything, it defines a company or an individual’s target market. In other words, I am a business and I sell to businesses. Therefore, a company that is B2C (business to consumer) is a business that targets consumers. For example, retail. My efforts have been solely B2B sales for the last 34 years but, prior to that, I spent approximately 7 years …
read more![Google+ Evolves: Multi-Admin Feature for Brand Pages Coming Soon [Analysis]](http://windmillnetworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Google-Plus-Icon-Logo.jpg){kind=icon}
With a lot of fanfare, Google released Google+ just six months ago, and less than one month later, it unofficially became the fastest-growing social network with close to 10 million members. The new kid on the block quickly made its presence felt, with disruptions being felt across Facebook and Twitter. Still, Google+ is still way behind the Big Two social networking sites when it comes to membership. But that didn’t stop members from jumping on the newest bandwagon in town. Of course, it was just a matter of time before businesses join in, and Google+ regularly rolls out new features …
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Annual appeals are a staple for nonprofit organizations. We count on them to beef up our bottom line come December and use them as an avenue to stay in touch with the donors we know we can count on year after year. Unfortunately, many NPOs have become too reliant on the low lying fruit of donors and are no longer producing an annual campaign that is appealing to anyone. NPOs need an annual appeal makeover and taking your campaign online is a great place to start. Social media is one way to breathe some new life into annual campaigns. I’m …
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As someone who has traditionally worked with companies consulting with them on their social strategy, I realize that for many of them they are interested in creating a strategy as part of a social media audit to see what they can do to better maximize social media or what is possible. The problem, however, is best indicated by the question I always get: “Do I have to hire someone to do this?” Social media requires an investment in time, resources, and education among over things. I recently wrote about why this can be counter-intuitive to small businesses who want immediate …
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Brings Content from King to Ka-ching “Content is King.” The words are stated so often that few people question them. Yet, kings can be both fickle and demanding sorts. And, let’s face it; for those who work in social media, and areas like marketing, content is not just king, but can be a royal pain, too; after all, it can be a real challenge to generate the quantities of high quality content needed to stay ahead of the proverbial pack. Bringing social media together with marketing via content marketing can address this concern and offers other benefits. It can provide …
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As consumer brands try to establish themselves as social brands, one of the missions they have in social media is to have their message go viral or spread by the so-called “influencers” that presumably exist in social media. This blog post is not intended to be about the debate as to how you determine who might be an influential friend for your brand to have in social media (hint: it goes beyond a single metric like a Klout score). Based on my own experience in social media as being selected as an “influencer” by consumer brands, I wanted to share …
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