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Be Wary Of Social Media ‘Expert’ Advice

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

Using Twitter to promote your business or reach out to potential clients? Then tread carefully, says Glenn Latham of GISuser.com. In a recent article, “Social Media Tip – 5 Things that Social Media “experts” shouldn’t do,” he notes five “tips” of action (or lack thereof) that some of the so-called social media experts probably shouldn’t be doing. Diversity is the main theme here, meaning: 1) tweet about a variety of topics, 2) don’t re-tweet the same celebrities or power-users every week, 3) use those “@mentions” to respond to a multitude of questions and answers that people tweet and re-tweet your way. However, this doesn’t mean you should start responding and tweeting indiscriminately, trying to cover everything and everyone. Use Twitter and accompanying social media sites to interact with people on a casual yet informative level while still maintaining a standard of professionalism.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 23, 2010

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Even Accountants Can Build Business with Social Media

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

People don’t normally associate accountants with being on the cutting edge of anything, but an Examiner.com article, “Indiana CPA uses social networking and Internet to expand business,” profiled a CPA firm doing just that. In a lesson that can be learned not just by those in the accounting field, but practically any business, the subject of this article, The Hillary CPA Group, expects its business to rise twenty-five percent in the next year thanks to social media. By building a community on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, the company has not only made itself more readily available for customer service, but also spread the word of its business.  “The biggest benefit for us having an online presence is that it dramatically expands our pool of potential clients,” the company president said. Clearly, accountants aren’t the only ones who could benefit. It seems every day someone is improving their business through social media and now it’s your turn.

Patrick Roland, Feb. 23, 2010

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Is A Blog The Best Online Marketing Tool For Businesses?

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in blog | News - (0 Comments)

“Building A Blog For Corporate SEO“ would have you believe so. Not only that, but an SEO blog, using in-house SEO, hosted on WordPress – with little variance from that mold. The case made is solid: by extending your web site to hundreds or thousands of indexed pages, search results, and the chances of users finding relevant information are increased. Downplayed by the author are the “other” social media tools, such as Facebook or YouTube. Sorely lacking is a statement on content, and this applies to any medium. A blog is great, sure, but without great content, it will be skimmed over as quickly as a boring Facebook page. The new social paradigm online demands quick, relevant content for users to glean and then hopefully interact with. Even if your company’s blog comes up first on a search, if there’s nothing worth reading, it might as well be last.

Wrap-up: Investigate all forms of social media, from blogs to social networks, making sure you have interesting content for your customers.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 22, 2010

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‘Auntie’ BBC Knows Best

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in branding | News - (0 Comments)

Older fans of the BBC may remember that one of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s nicknames was “Auntie,” as in the aunt who always thinks she knows what is best for everyone else. Several years into the social media revolution, Auntie BBC has decided that Facebook, Twitter, et al, are good news-gathering implements. David Allen reports in Techwatch article “BBC staff ordered to grasp social media“ that Peter Horrocks, the new BBC Global News director, “wants the editorial staff to make better use of social networking sites… to help with establishing the background behind the news.” Such an order is a dramatic turnaround for an organization that has barely mentioned social media use in its editorial guidelines, but does not provide a strategy for its use. And in the meantime, the revolution is being broadcast—by the social media.

John Sniffen, Feb. 22, 2010

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Customer Service Always Worth the Investment

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in marketing | News - (0 Comments)

Difficult to measure does not necessarily mean difficult to achieve. In thenextweb.com’s recent article ”Rethinking the Value of Social Media to Online Shopping,” they propose that retailers using social media to attract new customers have yet to see positive results. They believe the only incentive to “follow” a particular retailer for customers is for advanced notice of sales and incentives; not any different than being on an e-mail list. For what it’s worth, I disagree. Engaging customers in any method, social media or otherwise, is a positive step towards initial or continued business from that customer. Can you always measure it on a spreadsheet or give it an ROI value? Possibly not, but since when is customer service – and that is what we’re talking about – not a good investment?

Melody K. Smith, Feb. 22, 2010

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Buzzing for Real-Time Search: The Defaults Don’t Fly

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in Buzz | case study | Features - (0 Comments)

With the release of Buzz flapping everyone’s wings over the last Internet halflife, it’s time to consider some practical application for Buzz. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land has laid the groundwork in the article “How to Search Google Buzz.”

For the record, the “type it in the box and trust the search results” isn’t enough with this service from Google. Searching Buzz, a social media tool that gets food from Twitter, Google Reader, Friend Feed, and SMS, retrieves results from a typical box search that are surprisingly old in the real-time scheme of things.

Perhaps it’s the law librarian in me that makes the lack of specific date and time on the search result for Buzz particularly discouraging. The truth is, even Buzz will find its way into the courtroom somehow, someway.

I tried out Mr. Sullivan’s tip on advanced searching for Buzz with “has:link” This search confirmed that the search engine company synonymous with finding information is actually behind Buzz. The author and commenter search seems to work too.

Here are my key take-outs for Buzz searching.

  • For accurate “updates” results per Sullivan use Google’s real-time search
  • Advanced features for author, commenter, link/image/video work well.
  • A fatal flaw is the date/time display. I’d rather have the results offered up with a true date and time than hours, minutes, seconds.
  • Relevance vs. chronological sorting is not apparent. Neither seems to be the default. Pick one and make it so.
  • “Googling” Buzz at this point in time does not mean users will “find” the answer.

I’m sure some will say that the whole point of Buzzing is the real-time nature of social media. I would answer that with: a) don’t provide search if updates are all that’s important and b) real-time obviously puts a premium on time, so fix the date of origin.

Read a more in-depth analysis at Beyond Search.

Constance Ard, Answer Maven, Feb. 22, 2010

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What’s the Buzz on the Streets?

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in Buzz | News - (0 Comments)

Sometimes nothing speaks louder than what your customer is saying to everyone else. Wired.com recently asked the question “What Buzzeth You About Google Buzz?” to its readers and Buzz users. The answers range from ambivalence to sheer panic over the perceived privacy violations and the impending doom they felt it would bring. In reading through the comments, one trend I noticed in the many comments was a feeling that Google really didn’t understand their customer base if they honestly felt people wanted social networking integrated into their email usage. That is an interesting observation, if true. Does Google really understand what their users want and need? And the difference between the two? More importantly, will their customers newly inherited lack of trust in the Internet giant now affect their next move(s)?

Melody K. Smith, Feb. 22, 2010

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Data Collection Made Simple: Daytum

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in News - (0 Comments)

Daytum bills itself as a tool to help you “collect, categorize, and communicate your everyday data.” It’s large-print, user-friendly interface is available for free with a limited number of options, and is virtually unlimited with its “plus” features for $4/month. Data can be entered online, or via mobile app (including Twitter!) and entered into categories, different pages, and with a vast array of colorful, easy-to-read charts. Use the data to track job leads, percentages of people responding to certain posts, or even sales. The data, hosted on Amazon’s enterprise servers, is secure and can be downloaded to a CSV file whenever you like. Direct linking is available for each “display” (data collection) or “statement” (blog-type post), and all content is aggregated on your Daytum homepage. You can open a free account and make some fun graphs to see if Daytum is right for you. See cool examples here and here.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 22, 2010

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Can You Sell Yourself?

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by admin in News - (3 Comments)

The moral of the story in ”Sales is not Magic: Understanding the Discipline of a Sales Connoisseur – Part 1“ is that you have to have the confidence to sell yourself, regardless of your product. Gary Whitehill points out that he entered the game with no sales experience, actually little experience at anything except school, and succeeded beyond his wildest imagination. Why? Beyond the numbers game that the sales arena ultimately depends on, it is the belief in your skills. My advisor in college told me you either “know what to do or pretend you know until you figure it out.” If this is true, then when looking for jobs – even if it is out of your normal scope of work and education – have the confidence in your own abilities to succeed, and who knows? You just might. The best way to build your confidence is to view yourself as a brand. Then promote that brand with social media. We know this works.

Melody K. Smith, Feb. 22, 2010

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Working Out the Bugs in Buzz

February 21st, 2010 | Posted by Jessica Bratcher in Buzz | News | security - (0 Comments)

How many times has someone advised you not to buy revolutionary new software or hardware when it first hits the market? “Let them work out the bugs first,” goes this conventional wisdom. A bit of pest eradication is what Google is now doing with Buzz, the new social networking feature built into Gmail. Google took some hits because the initial release of Buzz made it difficult for users to protect information they want kept private. Google reacted quickly, says Darren Allan in Techwatch in “Google responds to Buzz privacy criticisms,” by making alterations and defending its product: “We designed Buzz to make it easy to connect with others and have conversations … It’s still early and we have a long list of improvements on the way.”

Don’t wait for next year’s model to try Buzz, but start slowly. If you come across a feature you don’t like, tell Google. They can add it to their long list.

John Sniffen, Feb. 21, 2010

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