Business was so much easier during the Middle Ages. Establish your fiefdom, keep the serfs happy, collect taxes and fend off the occasional barbarian hoard or the jealous younger sibling. Oftentimes a monarch with a large domain to protect couldn’t afford a standing army or a well-stocked armory. Thus was born just-in-time defense and the invention of the “freelance”— knights expert in the art of war who would sell their battlefield prowess to any lord or baron with enough gold, precious stones or land to render payment. So what does this WayBack Machine story have to do with social media? …
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Plan?! We don’t need no stinkin’ planning! LOL. Three years ago when I made the decision to jump into the waters of social media, I did just that. I jumped in. I had no goals and no plan to reach those goals. I had been given a loaded gun, my finger had been placed on the trigger, and I had no idea as to which end of the device that the bullets would come out of. Bullets hurt. Let’s talk about goals first and then we will raise some important questions that you will need to answer in order to …
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It almost goes without saying that marketers must generate leads. Interactions in social media pose a challenge because their connection to lead nurture isn’t always easy to see. Marketing automation (MA) software can help marketers manage their lead generation efforts and leverage the power of social media. Why Marketing Automation Inspires Passion I’ve worked as a B2B marketing manager for a number of years. Like many in my field, I had always tracked the overall performance of key touchpoints, like events and the website. However, when I focused on reporting marcom’s contribution to the sales funnel specifically, I faced greater …
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Back to basics is a theme I’ve seen with many nonprofit organizations over the past couple of years. With the economy slow to rebound, many NPOs have found that investing money in new ideas and new platforms isn’t really the right move for right now. This also means that many NPOs have avoided jumping into social media or expanding on their use of it. The basics are good – it’s what put most large NPOs on the map. The problem is that in the ever changing landscape of business and technology, even the basics have to change a little. NPOs …
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As social networks and their potential value to business are becoming apparent, marketing professionals should have a solid knowledge of social media and more importantly social media marketing. Simply having a grasp on how to post on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or another platform is not sufficient. Marketing professionals need to understand how to integrate social into marketing strategies. The term “Social Media” should not be confused with “Social Media Marketing”, there is a distinction to be made between the two. Social media is an evolving and changing assortment of platforms and tools that enable businesses and consumers to share dialogue, …
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There is so much buzz lately surrounding the term “Relationship Marketing.” My friend and social media guru, Mari Smith’s newest book is titled “The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web.” In her book she outlines the ways in which people and brands can use social media to build a tribe of influencers and brand ambassadors to help them reach their core audience. As a lifelong networker and alliance marketer, I find that the fact that these ideas are now getting focus is a bit backward. Relationships should ALWAYS be the focus of …
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I recently changed my main Twitter client (more information on that below) and decided to create a new LinkedIn Poll for Groups in my Social Media Strategies for Business LinkedIn Group to find out what others use. I asked my 2,500 group members: What Twitter client do you use for business? Statistically speaking, the results can not represent the entire user base for those who tweet, and I only gave the poll readers a choice between 5 popular clients: Twitter.com, HootSuite, TweetDeck, CoTweet, and SproutSocial. The leading client in the poll as I write this blog? SproutSocial. Cibo, a digital agency based …
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While LinkedIn is at present the most popular social media network for professionals with approximately 135 million users, Facebook’s base of 800 million users seems to offer some potential competition for professional networking. There are already several networking-related applications on Facebook, but none seem to be as powerful as BranchOut for helping you expand your professional network building. I get asked a lot about BranchOut and whether or not it give LinkedIn any serious competition or not, so I thought this was a good time to introduce this to my readers as well as give my opinion for those of you that …
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For those of you who still don’t “get” StumbleUpon, let me put it to you simply: On multiple occasions I have become a new customer for different companies simply because I stumbled into them on SU and liked what I saw. So, if you haven’t heard of StumbleUpon, you could be missing out on one of the best and easiest opportunities to grow and promote your business online. As a primer, SU is what is called a “discovery engine”, a site that allows people to discover websites based on their personal tastes. It comes in a variety of formats from apps to …
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Although social media enthusiasts would be quick to encourage you to outsource social media as soon as possible, that type of investment doesn’t always fit within your organization’s budget. Like most marketing activities, timing the outsourcing of your social efforts just right will improve your results. Any of the following opportunities are perfect times to explore this outsourcing for your company. You’re just getting started with a social program. If your company has barely established a social presence or is just beginning to consider participating with your clients on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, time with a social media consultant can …
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Mine existing gold in the hills and strengthen PR value propositions for your partners and clients Many businesses working to become “social” devote resources in virtual isolation, trying to build their presence and figure out how to garner illusive followers, fans and “positive sentiment” conversations. Presumably the marketing strategy (if it’s actually been explored at the front end) is to augment profile and enhance reputation (“social capital“), with an objective to increase sales of products or services. Or in the case of not-for-profits, raise funds or attract volunteers, etc. In scenarios where companies have dedicated social media (community) managers, generally …
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So you’ve followed the sage advice of savvy social media experts like Neal Schaffer, telling you why you need to have your business on Google+, and you’ve created a business page for your brand. Now what? Obviously (I hope it’s obvious!) the worst thing you could do is just let your page sit idle. So let’s set some priorities and get to work making your page effective. The recent announcement by Google that G+ is now heavily integrated into Google search makes it all the more important that you optimize your page and start your involvement on Google+. G+ is …
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In the many public engagements that I’ve been invited to present at as a social media speaker, people often ask me to recommend which social media conferences and events they should go to, both for networking and educational purposes. I’ve observed that lately, more and more companies are staging and/or sponsoring social media events, and I attribute this phenomenal growth to the maturity of social media and it’s acceptance by major businesses as well as adoption by industry after industry. With that in mind, I’m glad to share with you what I believe are the best conferences and events social …
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Once you move beyond the generic “add connections” option that LinkedIn has, you might want to specifically search for and increase your connections with people aligned with whatever connection policy you might have. The challenge is that restrictions exist within LinkedIn that may prevent you from inviting others you don’t personally know. You are entitled to try to connect with people without knowing their email address, but once five people respond to your invitation to connect by nothing that they don’t know you, your ability to connect will be restricted. Once you’ve decided to connect with professionals that aren’t part …
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Social Media for Startups. It sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? After all, 74% of startup founders are under the age of 39, based on a LinkedIn study published on TechCrunch. (Of course, the way TechCrunch chose to report that same data was to say that 65% of startup founders are 30 and older. Because…TechCrunch.) We can slice and dice data lots of ways, but the fact is that tech startups are nearly all founded by Gen Y, and primarily by guys of that age group. Estimates range, but it’s generally stated that 94-98% of all VC funding goes to …
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