Strategic Social Networking - Archive

Motorcycle Journalist Offers Some Great Social Media Tips

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in branding | how to | News - (0 Comments)

Journalist Neil Johnston offers some great social media tips in the post ”Canadian Motorcycle Industry and Social Media.” Johnston uses Twitter and YouTube as a “roving motorcycle journalist,” uploading videos and tweeting on the go, engaging with his fans in real time. For any company, making the time to use social media is paramount: converse with your followers, respond to @mentions, etc. “Following back” on Twitter is important, as is posting content of value. “Make sure your tweets or Facebook posts have relevance to your audience,” writes Johnston, with an example of a picture accompanying a Twitter post (using TwitPic, of course!). Transparency, or “keeping it real,” is crucial: answer questions honestly and professionally engage with your clientele on social networks. Use social media to announce “tweetups” and connect a real-world demo with its digital counterpart. Utilize the social media around you to stay in the conversation and monitor the trends.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 24, 2010

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We Social Networked Long Before Computers

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in networking | News - (0 Comments)

Well, hello! We’ve all been social networking long before computers, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the like. We just didn’t know it as such. Enter the app.

Remember The Lion King and the Circle of Life? Mother Nature doesn’t rule the tech world but many times, what comes around goes around. As paper publishers strive to meet the social networking challenges, they sometimes fail to recognize that they have been taking baby steps (by today’s standards) every time they answer a consumer’s phone call. And as consumers, the telephone, (now today’s smart phone) is and has long been, our first practical social networking tool.

Now here’s the funny part. As the old media strives to catch up, the aggressors have discovered phone apps as a really new and popular step forward. Traditional paper-publishing contemporaries Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USAToday, Esquire and Popular Mechanics have oft-downloaded apps. Not surprising, social networking giants Facebook, My Space, and Twitter have looked backward. They have apps too. I guess you can say, that is the old media and the new meeting each other halfway.

Jerry Constantino, Feb. 24, 2010

Jerry Constantino was President and Publisher of PJS Publications, a group of 20 special interest magazines owned by VS&A Venture Capital and later, Primedia. He now writes fiction and blogs irrelevantly at itsnutsoutthere.blogspot.com.

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The Way Books Are Bought: A Wake-up Call

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in case study | Features - (0 Comments)

Seattle is perhaps one of the most ‘tech-savvy’ cities in the U.S. Laredo, Texas on the other hand, probably isn’t.

That said, last Christmas Day, Seattle-based Amazon sold more e-books for its Kindle than books printed on paper. I’m sure part of the reason is because many folks received Kindles as gifts and wanted content now! Only on Christmas, or really any day, can a consumer want a book and receive, within minutes, instant gratification, without shipping charges no less. (And yes, I know that orders came from all over, so Seattle only gets partial credit.)

Then there is Laredo… poor Laredo. This city of 230,000-plus recently closed its last book store, earning it the least-desired title of the largest metropolis to be without a place to buy books that you can actually hold in your hand. Residents now have to drive 120 miles to buy a book… or, there is always Amazon. But wouldn’t you miss the chance to browse, text and have a cappuccino once in a while?

According to Roger Darnton, an author on the subject, “It is misguided to think that one medium displaces another. The history of communication is that new technologies reinforce rather than displace the old.” Well, maybe overall and in time. But tell that to all those who live in Laredo today.

Mr/Ms publisher, are your market bases covered?

Jerry Constantino, Feb. 24, 2010

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Social Media Important, But Confusing to Businesses

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in branding | marketing | News | prospecting - (0 Comments)

A UTalk Martketing article, “Marketers not sure into which category social media falls” talks about a new study from the Internet Advertising Bureau that says 88% of brands rated social media as “important” and plan to allocate more of their budget to it in the coming year. But whose responsibility is it to handle this new, social tool? Many respondents said marketing, but a few added PR, research, customer service, and even IT. It seems a wise choice would be creating several social media teams, spanning departments, and giving the best overview of this new landscape. Companies can no longer avoid it: social media should play an integral part in new product campaigns, particularly on sites like Twitter and Facebook, which were rated among the top by advertisers using social media. The challenge is allocating resources appropriately and using the social interaction to gain customers, ensuring a ROI, all while holding a professional, accountable presence.

Wrap-up: Discuss social media usage with all your departments, forming a plan of action to ensure a wise online strategy.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 24, 2010

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Cligs: URL Shortening With Analytics and More

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in News - (0 Comments)

There’s no shortage of URL-shortening services out there, from the classic bit.ly to tr.im. But Cli.gs has entered the market with “analytics, social media monitoring, and geotargetting” all designed to help you gather data about your online presence. Cligs’ “Right Clig” feature allows specific re-directs depending on country, and all forwarding is done via Google-recommend 301 (permanent) forwarding. Cligs’ “referrer statistics” and “real-time analytics” are probably its best selling point: it shows referral URLs, including Facebook shares, re-tweets, and most major social media platforms, complete with hit count and time stamps. Still more? Cligs also features a bookmarklet, Gmail/iGoogle plugins, a Firefox extension, and its own free API for customized developer use. Whether you’re looking for a solid URL-shortening service, or more specific analytics, Cligs could be your new best friend.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 24, 2010

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Social Media for Business Not Uncommon

February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in News - (0 Comments)

As technology attempts to increase workflow at businesses across the U.S., don’t undersell the value of social media. This channelinsider article, ”Facebook for Business? Most Workers Use Social Networking for Jobs,” highlights a survey of U.S. workers: 57 percent of them using social media for business purposes at least once a week. It makes sense – the tech-savvy workers of the 21^st century already use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for networking and keeping in touch, so the natural extension is to communicate about business as well. Productivity issues aside, the article cautions about increased server load and security issues, but this in itself presents a new challenge (and payout) for IT departments. The interactive, helpful communities that many employees and customers use need to be embraced and understood by the businesses of the future. This technology is here to stay, “along with all its problems and opportunities.”

Sam Hartman, Feb. 24, 2010

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Socialness Seems To Be the Winning Factor in Google Buzz

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in Buzz | News - (0 Comments)

Despite a rocky start with privacy issues, Google’s latest attempt in capturing the social media audience with their launch of Buzz seems to be winning the hearts, or at least the hands of the users. Mashable.com recently reported on this impressive achievement in their article, “Google Buzz Has Completely Changed the Game: Here’s How.” It seems that the ease of set-up – because basically there is none since it is wired directly into Gmail – is the biggest selling feature of the product. With this phenomenal success, the author ponders what Google’s success means to other social sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Though they project the impact will not literally put the others out of play, it certainly will impact the advertisers’ decisions on where the dollars are spent. However, since Buzz is new and changes are being made almost daily, it would be sensible of them to keep a watchful eye on the user response to those changes.

Melody K. Smith, Feb. 23, 2010

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Quality, Not Quantity Applies in Social Networking

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in News | Twitter - (0 Comments)

The article “Want to Spread News on Twitter? It’s Who You Know, Not How Many” profiles a recent study at Boston University making the rounds through RSS feeds highlights a cool fact: “the most influential spreaders of news aren’t necessarily those with the greatest number of online friends or followers.” It’s counterintuitive – the more friends you have, the more people see your posts, updates, tweets, and so on, right? Not necessarily, because it has more to do with where you and your friends are placed within the network. By measuring the statistics of various people within a network, researchers discovered it often isn’t how greatly connected (in terms of quantity) you are, but how well (i.e. quality). What’s the upshot here? Having a lot of followers is great, but spend some time getting quality re-tweeters, or people who are connected in the right places. If their influence is strong, your message will get out that much faster.

Wrap-up: Try this good tip on gaining followers detailed in the article “Want More Twitter Followers? Stop Talking About Yourself.”

Sam Hartman, Feb. 23, 2010

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Social Media to Ear X-Tacy’s Rescue

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in Features | marketing - (0 Comments)

If there’s one thing social media is good at, it’s garnering support for something quickly, and this recent episode of social media influence illustrates that perfectly. Ear X-Tacy, Louisville’s premier independent record store, held a much-anticipated press conference on Feb. 12 previewed in the Courier-Journal article “Owner of ear X-tacy voices concern for future of store”. Owner John Timmons voiced “concerns for survival” due to sales, high rent, and economic woes. The store, which opened in 1985, has been an iconic shop in Louisville for local music, national acts, and the community of artists in Louisville as a whole and often draws tourists.

But even before the press conference, when a press release hinting at trouble was released, local music supporter Becca Barhost started the Facebook Fan Page “SAVE EAR X-TACY!!” to gather support for the store. The plea: “The Louisville we all know and love would NEVER BE THE SAME without Ear X-Tacy.”

The result is immense: in a little over a week the page has more than 30,000 fans. In contrast, the store’s own Facebook has only a little over 3,100 fans. Sean Bailey, a manager and employee of Ear X-Tacy said in an e-mail that the campaign was done independently of anyone working at the store. He added that while Barhost’s sister campaign, “Ear X-Tacy Blitz Week,” is technically scheduled for March 1-5, sales have already risen dramatically in addition to an outpouring of support for the store.

“Blitz Week” is the real-life version of a viral social media event. The call for support: “This is not just a matter of loving the store anymore, it’s a matter of shopping locally and keeping our independent businesses and economy alive. Don’t let chains take over!” Its event page has over 2,800 confirmed “guests,” with supportive posts discussing what each person plans to buy to help out the store. To those who can’t attend? A clever link to buy product online from Ear X-Tacy is displayed on the page.

Reader comments in the Courier-Journal article “Owner of ear X-tacy voices concern for future of store” reflect the belief that Ear X-tacy should have started making marketing changes sooner in light of giants Amazon.com and iTunes crashing onto the music scene and doing their best to make brick and mortar retail music stores obsolete.

While Ear X-tacy is no stranger to the online world, its presence doesn’t seem to reach too far. Bailey said the store doesn’t have an official policy on social media but uses Facebook and MySpace to promote new releases, in-store concerts, and sales. The store’s MySpace page is detailed, offering its 19,000-plus friends a great way to interact with the store digitally through blog posts and dynamic content. The Facebook page is also up-to-date and busy.

While the future of Ear X-Tacy is still uncertain, a part of the Louisville community–and beyond–has voiced support, both digitally and monetarily, for the store. With causes spreading quickly through social networks, this record store could reap the benefit of the new social age in which we live if it continues to ride the wave and reinvent itself through social networking.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 23, 2010

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Social Media in Marketing Is More Than Just Access

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in marketing | News - (0 Comments)

There is still resistance in the marketing world to fully utilizing social media. What will it take to convince businesses of just how pervasive it is? As American’s economy continues to struggle, the plan to keep customers coming back is crucial. Developing a social media marketing plan, as discussed in “How Important is Social Media in a Marketing Plan?,” can be challenging, but ultimately necessary to capture the “paradigm shift” from a traditional, mechanical marketing structure to a “new and evolving organic model.” A similar article, “Why Many Small Businesses are Still Struggling,” highlights this model with some key points: consumer exposure through social networks, “soft sells” through indirect messaging, and relationship-building, conversation-starting communities about the products and services your company offers. This open engagement can’t be stressed enough, and must be executed through social avenues like Twitter and Facebook. Do some research to see the power of Web 2.0 marketing and how social media can benefit your business.

Wrap-up: Still don’t believe social media is important? Watch this YouTube video.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 23, 2010

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