Is it just me or are people finally starting to realize that social media is here to stay? Are they recognizing that communication is changing again forever and they need to embrace it?
Of course living here in Indianapolis, Indiana it’s impossible to really see first-hand what is going on in other parts of the world. You have to rely on outside sources to keep you updated. But still I get the feeling that people and businesses are finally starting to get it. I can definitely say that I have seen a huge shift in my connections toward people becoming less resistant. More are really starting to embrace this powerful tool we call social media.
I see people posting a new Facebook status every day that I never thought would be wanting to share updates with the rest of the world. Why? Because these are the same people that I was working with a year ago that ran for the hills when anyone mentioned Facebook. I, of course, did my best to explain the value but for a lot of people it’s really just a matter of time. Now they are making new connections every day and many share with me their surprise that it’s actually beneficial.
I see businesses every single day joining Twitter to find out what their customers are really saying and keep up with the latest news. Some are even running contests to grow their following and expand their network. They realize that this will later benefit them when those people are making purchasing decisions.
I see people creating events and promoting them through social media. They realize that it’s one of the best tools to increase awareness and attendance. Most seem to even realize that the people they meet at these events will eventually be their best friends and business partners.
Being in the Internet marketing/social media industry, I understand that not everyone will understand the full potential and that everyone will use it differently. I also realize that my small sampling of people is not reflective of “everyone.” Nonetheless I am still seeing a significant trend. The points above were not made to show great case studies, but to illustrate that people of all backgrounds are finally starting to come around. Posting a status on Facebook definitely does not mean you are gaining any type of value from your post, but it does show that plenty of people are finally there and more are becoming active users.
If you read blogs from anyone discussing social media, you will no doubt find posts all about convincing people who resist social media that it’s here to stay. You will see things like, “your business needs to change now, otherwise you won’t be in business much longer.” So let me ask you this – are people finally starting to catch on?
Next time you have a bad day just Blame Drew’s Cancer.
Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer on May 20th, 2009. Instead of giving up like many would, he has turned to social media to help increase awareness in an attempt to raise money for Livestrong. The basic idea is that when something goes wrong just pause for a moment and take that energy to write a tweet using the hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. The idea is to have sponsors that will donate $1 for every participant.
One of the biggest stories in social media this week was Facebook’s plan to roll out @Mentions in status updates over the next few weeks. This is another update from Facebook that appears to be a page from the Twitter playbook of success. Nevertheless it will be very interesting to see how Facebook users adopt this new feature.
I have talked with many Facebook users that are not Twitter users. They seemed to be a little confused on exactly what the @Mention allows you to do and how it will benefit them. Will many Facebook users even care about this update? Let’s not forget how users have reacted in the past anytime Facebook makes a change. While this update will be nothing as drastic as a new design, the initial reaction to Facebook changes have historically been negative. At first glance, the same group of people who think Twitter is for stalkers are likely to think now Facebook is even further supporting Twitter’s stalker habits. Now not only can I tell you that I am have coffee with someone else – I can link directly to his/her profile from my status update.
My guess is that it will take awhile for native Facebook users to being adopting this new functionality. But once people within your network begin to use @Mentions as a part of their status updates on a regular basis, their friends will likely follow. The hope is that this will allow Facebook users to continue to connect to others within their network to share more meaningful information. Let’s see if this holds true.
I do think this will go a long way in helping the business brands on Facebook. It is now going to be much easier to share that you are going to eat @(restaurant) and link directly to their fan page. This will also encourage more incentives to be offered for customers as sharing becomes easier. I will continue to update my blog as this is rolled out to analyze the trends.
But in the meantime, what is your take on it?
Below is the breakdown on exactly how it will work from Facebook engineer Tom Occhino:
Now, when you are writing a status update and want to add a friend’s name to something you are posting, just include the “@” symbol beforehand. As you type the name of what you would like to reference, a drop-down menu will appear that allows you to choose from your list of friends and other connections, including groups, events, applications and Pages. Soon, you’ll be able to tag friends from applications as well. The “@” symbol will not be displayed in the published status update or post after you’ve added your tags.
Friends you tag in your status updates will receive a notification and a Wall post linking them to your post. They also will have the option to remove tags of themselves from your posts. We hope that tagging your status updates and others posts from the Publisher will enable you to share in a more meaningful and engaging way, and connect with even more people. We’re rolling this feature out over the course of the next few weeks, so you may not see the new feature just yet.
Following up with my blog post topic from yesterday about online reviews and the impact these have on consumer purchasing decisions, today I would like to share a case study on how to promote and sell your book online. Kyle Lacy, CEO of Brandswag, recently finished his book, Twitter Marketing for Dummies. With a tight timeline this was not a task he could complete alone so he called in fellow social media practitioner Erik Deckers, who has been published in nine weekly newspapers through Indiana.
After a lot of hard work, last week Kyle announced that the book was available for order on Amazon.com. This is a huge accomplishment for Kyle and Erik. I know many people involved in the Indianapolis social media scene are very happy to see this success. Both Kyle and Erik are always looking to reach out to help others and this book is right up there with sites like SmallerIndiana.com as far as efforts that are really putting Indiana and more specifically Indianapolis on the map when it comes to big ideas/social media marketing. Ironically enough, social media marketing tools like Twitter have played and will play a big role in the success of this book. Kyle has done a great job of promoting this book and today I would like to take a closer look on how he is doing it:
First off, the lead with Wiley Publishing to be considered as an author of the book came from a participant in a social media class about using tools like Facebook and Twitter. A class which was promoted using social media among other things.
Kyle frequently posted Twitter, Blog and Facebook updates about his progress asking for feedback and suggestions in some cases.
He even posted a blog entitled Help with Twitter Marketing for Dummies Book where he gave everyone that read his post and tweets an opportunity to get published in the book by submitting Twitter marketing thoughts in 140 characters or less. Simply put, this was a chance to have your Twitter thought and username go out to everyone that will be reading this book.
Now that the book is available for purchase he is doing something that I think is huge – offering 100 free copies of the new book in exchange for a commitment to publish a review. The 100 copies will be split between people with a good network, or large following on social media, the Internet or their community and reviewers in magazines/newspapers. This is the perfect way to potentially have 100 different people (assuming everyone follows through) telling all of their friends, followers, business partners, etc. about your book. This has viral marketing written all over it.
Kyle has consistently reached out to help me in getting me personal blog started. He has also contributed in helping to promote Fusework Studios on Twitter and other social media tools. His reputation and eagerness to help make me sure that this book will be a success. I know I am looking forward to receiving my copy! Please join me in congratulating Kyle and Erik on this great accomplishment!
It was just a matter of time. The microblogging tool, Twitter, needed some “competition.” Enter Woofer. Woofer is being deemed the “Anti-Twitter.” Why? Because Twitter limits your tweets to 140 characters and some people find this to be a problem. With Woofer’s macroblogging you now must post a minimum of 1,400 characters. But does this really solve the problem? I don’t think so.
Here’s why:
While 140 characters is not always enough to get your message out, it forces you to be creative and not ramble. It is much easier for me to remember 140 characters than 1,400 and making Tweets memorable is key.
140 character Tweets are much easier to sort through and digest than 1,400 character novels. Organization and navigation must be easy.
Twitter was first and has already been adopted. Second never wins on the web unless you are better and Woofer is not better.
Woofer is creative. I will give it that. And it may or may not serve as a good way to draw attention to Shuffletime, the other venture from the people that brought you Woofer. But the Woofs will soon fade to Yelps and then back to Tweets again…
Dick’s Sporting Goods is in the midst of a Dick’s Sporting Goods $100 Gift Card Twitter Giveawayand it looks like they are getting the hang of social media strategies for business. For me, it is always refreshing to see large brands rewarding customers through social media campaigns that will go far beyond the gift cards they are giving away. Here is the idea:
Twitter users are required to post a tweet (or many tweets) in an @ reply to @dickssportcmo telling the twitosphere what they would do with the $100 Gift Card and why
They will be automatically entered into the drawing by doing so and each day the previous days winner will be announced. From that time they have 48 hours to DM Dick’s their mailing address to receive the gift card.
The idea is great. People sharing what they like at Dick’s Sporting Goods all over Twitter. This will result in more followers, increased brand awareness online and offline, as well as giving people ideas on things to buy at Dick’s. Sure they are giving some money away, but the overall amount money that will be taken in through this campaign will go on for a long time after it’s through. Don’t you agree?
I have posted a few times about pro sports stars using social media. It’s always good to see more people catch on and begin to use these wonderful communication tools. But I recently had a mini-debate on Facebook with a couple of friends about the NFL banning/cracking down on Twitter usage which brought up some good points. Today, I would like to get your opinion – Are social media tools such as Twitter helping or hurting sports?
Consider a few points below:
Social media tools allow pro sports players to connect with their fans like never before. This helps build a connection between the fans and their favorite players/team. And let’s face it - without the fans the teams wouldn’t exist.
Many pro athletes could be labeled as ego-centric and use these tools in a way that could harm the team and/or player. This may result in fines and other penalities.
But the ultimate question is, “should what athletes do off the field/court matter?” This is the age old topic that has been the source of many debates. Social media allows fans to see what that sports star is really all about – for better or for worse.
Communication is changing forever. Limiting access is only putting a band aid on the real problem. If you are so worried about how a player may truly feel or what they might say that would harm the team – then should they be on the team anyway? Let them learn for themselves. The fans deserve it.
Social media tools have allowed NBA fans to follow the NBA Finals like never before. Twitter, Facebook and Blogging bring a new perspective to the games that is sure to make any NBA fan highly satisfied. Below are just a few examples on how social media tools have become a big part of the NBA Finals experience:
Dwight Howard’s Blog See Dwight connect with fans and read about his thoughts on missing critical free throws during the game. It’s all here.
Follow Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Twitter The NBA’s all-time leading scorer and Laker great was tweeting during the games with his perspective on the action. I bet he is happy the Lakers won!
Check Out the NBA’s Facebook Page Stay up to date with all of the action as the Lakers and Magic battle it out. Insider information, vote for player of the game, and create your own amazing NBA moments.
So, this blog post has now been published. Should I post a link to it on Facebook? Should I post a link to it on Twitter? Or should I do both at the same time?
As each social media giant continues to grow, so do the number of ways to manage both at the same time. Some allow for options to post to just one or both with each update. Others post to both by default.
Today is Day #3 of ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. The task for today is to promote the list blog post that we published yesterday. I typically promote each blog post that I write using Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic. Yesterday’s post was no different. In fact, within 5 minutes of posting the link on Twitter I had already received 19 click-thrus on the link. I also have my blog set up to feed into several other social networking sites on which I am present – such as Smaller Indiana and LinkedIn. These have been relatively effective in increasing traffic, but I am always looking for other avenues to explore.
ProBlogger has listed some additional ways to promote your blog within this task a few of which include:
Asking another blogger with relevant content to your post to include a link back over to your blog – it may take some time to develop these relationships before you are comfortable asking
Including your blog URL in your email signature – don’t forget your blog is a part of your contact information
Email marketing – this is a great way to see an immediate, significant impact
Post comments on other blogs – a great way to develop reciprocal linking relationships
Followup posts that build off of previous posts within your blog to increase momentum - this was my personal favorite and one I will immediately implement
So…I am in interested in your feedback. What have you found to be an effective way to promote your blog? Do you promote individual posts or your blog as a whole? Please share in the comments.
I am very much a novice to the world of free internet music radio. I generally just listen to my iPod and CD collection. With Pandora users continuing to overwhelm me at our Fusework Studios office, I finally decided to check out my online music options. This ultimately created a Twitter brand experience for me that I wanted to share. It’s funny how everything ties together.
Pandora is part of The Music Genome Project and I have included an excerpt from their site which pretty much sums up the mission statment:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or “genes” into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song – everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It’s not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records – it’s about what each individual song sounds like.
Overall, I like Pandora’s ability to create a playlist of songs that I like by identifying similar qualities within each song. I am not crazy, however, about the ability to browse through songs - it seems somewhat limited.
Following a post on Facebook about Pandora, I was turned on to Grooveshark by a friend. I decided to check it out for a few days to compare. After listening for a few days I tweeted asking my followers if they had a preference between Grooveshark and Pandora. @Grooveshark quickly responded by following me on Twitter and replying with a very unbiased opinion that Grooveshark was indeed better:). Still being relatively new to both Pandora and Grooveshark I asked the @Grooveshark Twitter user to explain why. I have included a screen shot of the replies in this post.
Overall, this interaction was very impressive and is a perfect example on how a brand can use Twitter as a powerful tool. Here is how it went down:
Grooveshark found me on Twitter
Grooveshark sent me a Tweet using a bit of humor to show some personality
Grooveshark went on to answer my question about what separates them from Pandora
I was then able to retweet their answer to help in increasing brand awareness and also told everyone at the office about it
Grooveshark also offered personal assistance with any of my questions/suggestions – very cool.
I am still undecided on which service is better, but Grooveshark has definitely created a better brand experience for me thus far. The ability Twitter has given a brand to directly connect with their end user is amazing.
Below are a few online reading favorites I would like to share. Simply click on a headline to read the full article. Hope you enjoy!
Facebook Overtakes MySpace (Again)
We all knew it was just a matter of time. At the close of 2008, Facebook was breathing down MySpace’s neck in terms of social media popularity in the U.S. Well, now it is official- Facebook is finally number one. A co-worker of mine logged into MySpace just for the heck of it the other day… and logged out about 2 seconds later. Still a mess. Thank you, Facebook.
Debunking Six Social Media Myths
I found this one via Kyle Lacy on Twitter and highly recommend that you check this BusinessWeek article out. If you or your business hasn’t jumped head first into social media yet, I am sure you have heard all of the myths. Find out what is true and what is not. And even if you are already actively involved, there are some great links in this article you don’t want to miss.
How to Get ReTweeted
Tweets are great. But ReTweets…those are just awesome! ReTweets are the hottest thing on Twitter and the key to making your tweets as viral as they can be. Find out the secret recipe for scoring more ReTweets.
Below are some of my online reading favorites this week. Click on a headline to read the full article. Hope you enjoy!
Top 20 Social Networks of 2008
Twitter is growing like crazy (I’m sure you already knew that). Facebook is about to catch MySpace. Classmates and Ning are doing surprisingly well? Very interesting report by Mashable.
Marketers Promise Hope
I love this Seth Godin Blog Post. A perfect reminder that marketing isn’t always about a product or service, but about the feeling it creates. The feeling of hope.
Below are a few articles that I felt were worth sharing this week. Just click on a headline for the full article. Enjoy!
Steve Jobs Steps Down on Medical Leave- What Will Happen to Apple?
I had to start with this article. Nothing was bigger last week in the technology industry than the news of Steve Jobs stepping down until the end of June for health reasons. Twitter was absolutely insane with people posting links to different articles about Steve Jobs and how this change would impact Apple. Instantly people began to question Apple and if the brand would continue to live on. While the answers are yet to be determined, I am hopeful that the Apple brand is stronger than one person.
Tips for Building Your Social Media Resume
Following up with my reading suggestions from last week, this post provides some quality insight into creating an effective social media profile. My personal favorite is the concept of setting up a video resume with answers to FAQs. It is definitely interesting to see how social media is changing the interviewing process.
SocialScope is an application for the Blackberry that combines Twitterberry and the standard Facebook app into one. SocialScope is currently in Alpha review, so I am unable to include a video with screen shots of it actually working live on my phone at this time. I have been in communication with a representative at SocialScope and will be notified when permission is granted to post a full-blown video review. The SocialScope representative also wanted me to make a note that the Blackberry Storm is receiving limited support because they currently do not have a Storm to test it on.
Overall, SocialScope is a great application for any Blackberry user. I am particularly impressed with its performance considering it is still in Alpha. Twitterberry is going to have some catching up to do. Even in the Alpha review the Twitter side of things is seamless and very user friendly. The Facebook side of things leaves a bit to be desired, but I hear they are working hard on that. Watch the video review above for more information.
Below are some links and brief summaries to articles/posts that I found worth sharing this week. Click on a headline to view the full article. I hope you enjoy!
Get A Free Whopper by Deleting 10 Facebook Friends
Burger King has created an application for Facebook called the Whopper Sacrifice. The theme is “what are you willing to sacrifice for a Whopper?” 10 Facebook friends? Over 177,500 friends have been sacrificed so far. Many of us do have “fair-weather web friendships” and I guess 10 friends isn’t too bad for that flame broiled taste. This Burger King marketing campaign definitely breaks through the clutter.
SocialScope: Twitter and Facebook for Your Blackberry
SocialScope is an application for the Blackberry that is currently in Alpha testing. They have released 200 invitations to try this application. I was lucky enough to catch a tweet in time from @aaronaiken with a link to the invite. I currently have SocialScope running on my Blackberry Storm. It is awesome! Twitterberry and Facebook applications combined into one with near real time updates. I am in the process of working with the SocialScope developers to get permission to do a video review. I have been approved to do a review without video and screen shots. Look for that in depth review to come this week.
Blogging and Social Media Changing the Job Search Blogs and other social media tools are impacting the way people find jobs. More employers than ever are now looking at social media profiles of potential job candidates during the hiring process. People are reporting success from using their online network to lead to a job opportunity. Creating and utilizing such social media tools can demonstrate a level of skill and comprehensiveness that can help separate you from the competition. It is starting to look like the traditional resume may soon become a thing of the past.
I always try to respond to any comment or question that I get through my blog and other social media profiles. Recently, I had a friend from High School that I had not talked to in awhile tell me that she had watched my video blogs and wanted to know if she should get setup on Twitter.
I responded with the reasons that I am on Twitter and gave her a final “answer” that she probably didn’t want to hear. It depends. It depends on what you are trying to do and what Twitter would allow your to accomplish. Setting up a Twitter account merely to say that you are on Twitter would not be advisable.
Here is what Twitter has allowed me to accomplish since joining:
Gain instant access to a ton of valuable resources Every single day people in my Twittersphere are posting numerous links to articles about recent news that pertains to exactly what I do and what I am wanting to learn more about. This is the most beneficial use of Twitter in my opinion. It is like a buffet of valuable links waiting for you to pick and choose what you are hungry to learn more about that day. If you are like me, I am sure you like buffets especially one that will make you smarter and not fatter.
Increase my brand awareness and develop loyal followers
Twitter allows newcomers to get their name out to the masses quickly and effectively. Twitter is great at helping to promote your blog or other online presence. Not only have my page views gone up drastically since joining Twitter, but so have my blog subscribers. I have been able to expose my name and my company name to more people, more effectively in a short amount of time.
Ability to “broadcast” updates many places Twitter is compatible. It can be a nightmare to try to update all of your social media profiles and other online presences. Twitter works with nearly every social media platform. This means when you update your Twitter status all at once all of your other profiles are updated and your interactivity begins to increase. This gets your status updates out quickly and to a large audience.
Online networking and relationship building
Through my short time of being on Twitter, I have developed a small “conversation group.” These are Twitter users that I follow the closest as they have responded to one of my tweets, retweeted one of my tweets or sent me a direct message. I have in turn done the same for them. This is the group I have started to build a relationship with and will continue to network with. In a couple of instances, this has led to some business being passed and could continue to do so in the future.
So now that I have told you why I use Twitter, I am curious to know- Why do YOU use Twitter?
Below are some additional links about the benefits Twitter can offer YOU:
Why did you start a blog? Why should I start a blog?
I have been getting these two questions a lot lately as my blog continues to develop. There are a lot of valid reasons why you should start a blog, but just remember a blog should be something that you WANT to do. It may take a little convincing from some friends or co-workers to finally quit talking about it and actually do it. A blog is not for everyone and it should not be something that is FORCED or something that you are not ready to make a commitment to. Having said that, If you do decide to start a blog I believe you will find it to be a very rewarding experience.
Watch the video above to see why I started a blog and read more on some of the reasons on why you may want to think about creating your own blog. There are many more than I could list…trust me.
Through blogging you learn about new things
Learning can be a great experience and a blog enables you to learn a lot about not only the online community, but other topics you might be blogging about. It is natural to want to make your blog the best it can be which forces you to learn about things you do not know and more about things you may already know. It is also very fun learning. Why? Because you get to share something you learned with the rest of your online community. And then the best part- you begin getting feedback. Mostly positive, though you will have a few negative posts as well. You will also have posts of other people talking about similar topics that interest you. Time to go check out those posts and learn even more. All at once you have this cycle developing and you are learning new things every day while having fun doing it.
Blogging is low cost and helps create YOUR brand
What better way to get your name and expertise out to a large amount of people than blogging? Blogging is a great way to help you not only strengthen your company’s brand- but YOUR brand. It enables you to establish yourself in the online community as someone who is knowledgeable about a particular topic or topics. Suddenly you become an expert in your own niche. Then people began to trust you and the next thing you know you have developed followers or a Tribe or even Sneezers (as Seth Godin would say). This allows you to spread your name while developing contacts and quality relationships with those followers. Just like the traditional definition of networking, this can lead to great business opportunities as well as person opportunities.
All of this great exposure and endless potential opportunities and how much money does it cost you – not much at all. In fact, you can create a WordPress blog for free right now. It will take you about 5 minutes to get started.
Blogging enables you to quickly produce content resulting in SEO and ROI Content is king on the web. Search engines are all about fresh, changing relevant content. A blog delivers that content that search engines are after. It makes Google happy. This means your site gets more traffic. Not just traffic, but qualified traffic. With qualified traffic leads are generated. With leads come sales. Sales=money. Money = good = you stay in business. You don’t have to take my word for it. Check out some of the benefits of blogging according to Compendium Blogware.
Blogging helps people This is by far the most surprising and rewarding aspect of my blogging experience so far. I can tell through comments and other interaction that I have been able to help people. Even if it is something as small as telling them why they should or should not buy a particular cell phone, go see a certain movie; or even if it is something as trivial as helping them customize their Facebook or Twitter experience. In some way, I know that I have helped them. I don’t care who you are- helping people (even if it is someone you barely know) is one of the most rewarding experiences in life.
Final Reason: Blogging is fun. Try it. I think you will agree.
In an effort to diversify my blog posts and keep things fresh, I decided to do a post with several links to some very interesting and valuable articles I found online this week. Simply click on a headline to read the full article. If you have any comments or other links you would like to share, please post below.
Mashable’s 10 Ways Twitter Will Change Blog Design in 2009
Twitter has made it’s mark and is here to stay. As of now the focus as been how integrate Twitter with your blog or social media in presence. In 2009 it might look more like how do I integrate my blog with Twitter- meaning Twitter will become more of the platform of choice and other tools will integrate in. This article covers everything from Tweetbacks and Tweetstats to TwitterRolls and blogs influenced by Twitter themes with WordPress widgets like My Favorite Tweets. I don’t know about you but I cannot wait to add more Twitter-based words to my vocabulary.
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