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 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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Almost six months ago I blogged that marketers would decide on the fate of Klout. However, with the continued buzz about Klout scores that I hear from new and potential social media consulting clients, as well as the continued presence of its main competitor PeerIndex and the emerging metric for influence Kred, the debate over how social influence is measured continues to rage on. In fact, as Google Trends suggests, we have had a pretty stable interest in the metric to measure social media influence for the last several months: Let’s take a step back and try to understand what …
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Let’s face it: Facebook is the new Farmer’s Market. Every business wants to be there because every consumer is there. There are amazing things you can do with Facebook applications, community development, and engagement to help better brand your company and increase your social following of present and potential customers. On the other hand, when I recently spoke on a panel on social media for the agricultural industry in Japan, there was a watermelon grower who sold one of his watermelons simply through a conversation on his Page’s wall. When we think of selling products or services to consumers on …
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As companies become media publishers as part of their social media marketing strategy, one topic that always confuses my clients is the topic of content curation, or sourcing information from 3rd party sources and then sharing them on your social media properties. Windmill Networking Content Marketing contributor Bob Geller wrote a great post yesterday on how content curation can help complement your content marketing and social media marketing efforts. If you’re still trying to get a grip on content curation, let me frame the topic the same way I do for my clients: There is a certain frequency at which …
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If you haven’t noticed this website underwent a facelift sometime ago. Like most others who blog or work in social media, putting a default “Follow Me!” widget with our social media icons or even Facebook and Twitter widgets showing our latest tweets or posts is a common practice. Often these elements are displayed in the prime areas of a website – top righthand corner and above the fold righthand sidebar. Let’s take a step back now. While we engage in social media to build community and communicate with our customers and prospects, we also use social media to attract social …
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I frequently get invited to speak on social media for professional associations, and when I do it often seems as if the clocks in the room have been turned back 10 years since before the advent of social media. Although there are always some savvy users of social media in the room when I present, the associations themselves are usually using the same antiquated medium to promote themselves, both internally and externally: a pre-historic website and email newsletter blasts. I always say that social media is about the convergence of information and communication. Isn’t this the mission of every professional …
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In the last few months of 2011 through the beginning of 2012, the social business landscape has proven to be as dynamically changing as ever. If your business thought you were all caught up because you were beginning to see engagement on your Facebook Page and were equipped with enterprise-grade social media monitoring software, some of these recent events should have you thinking again as to what potential you might be missing out on – or what trends are emerging that you should be paying more attention to: The rapid emergence and need for your business to be on Google …
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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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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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Social media has gone from being a pastime to a necessary component of any brand and business. To build up your stockpile of social media knowledge, you need to stay informed of the latest news and trends by reading the best blogs in the business. You already know about the “famous” social media blogs – but what about those logs that consistently publish good information but just haven’t been exposed to the same traffic? Similar to my list last year of top social media blogs to follow in 2011, I wanted to update that list with 10 more blogs who …
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, you’re undoubtedly familiar with Google+ and have hopefully opened an account on the newest social media platform. Even after trying out its interface, do you still find yourself asking what exactly it is or what you should be doing with it? Do you think that Google+ is one too many platforms to spend time on? Without a doubt it is the best social platform to launch in 2011, and it could just be what your business needs in 2012. This week’s announcement from Google unveiling their new Search …
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The New Year is a great time to either start a brand new blog or revamp your exiting website. One of the ways to improve your blog in 2012 is by using plugins that make it more social media optimized and SEO friendly. Having the right plugins can give you an edge over other blogs and can also assist you in gaining the extra functionality you need for your WordPress-powered site, especially if social media is an important part of your marketing strategy. Let’s have a look at the top plugins that I recommend you utilize in 2012. There’s a few …
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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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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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