St Louis Web Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

You’ve done your research and you know that it’s time for you to integrate social media into your marketing campaign. You’ve got your whole team on board and excited for the new changes, except for that one person. That person is probably a little old fashioned, probably one of those that claimed the internet is just a fad. That person is probably very passionate about their job and doesn’t feel comfortable taking a risk like social media without some proof that it will benefit the company. That person may have some questions that you don’t have the answers to. Here are the answers to some common questions and concerns that an anti-social media employee may have.
How are we even going to get followers?
Adding links from your webpage and to your email template, asking your viewers to “Follow us on Twitter”, “Become a Fan on Facebook”, and “Subscribe to our Blog” is an easy way to let the people that you are already in contact with know they can keep in touch on a more casual level by adding you to their social network.  This will not only increase your number of fans, but it will increase the quality of fans. Also, Facebook’s news feed feature allows friends of followers to see that your company has a  fan page. The more friends your followers have, the more people that are being exposed to your fan page.

Being a part social networking communities increases your brand’s exposure through each outlet. Someone may first come across your blog, which directs them to your site, where they can become a friend on Facebook, and they can then receive a coupon to use in store.

What if someone posts something negative about our company?
Negativity can be out there whether or not you take part in social media. However, by supplying the outlet for negative comments, you are providing a secure and manageable space. You are able to respond to a negative remark and turn it to a positive. It has been proven that negative publicity that has not been addressed tends to remain negative and spread like wildfire. Negative comments that are addressed and mended quickly are appreciated and make for great publicity. Here is a great example of a negative comment turned into a positive.

Without social media, this great publicity would have never been seen and maybe the Zappos would have never been able to address this person complaint in the first place.
There are more questions and concerns that “that person” may have. Check back for Part 2 as I discuss how to quantify exposure and how to create your campaign if you have a brick and mortar store rather than online purchases.

Businesses are shifting their budgets and strategies from traditional advertising and jumping on the Social Media bandwagon. Can you blame them? This is where the industry is headed and where money is being made. However, just because it is the trend, it doesn’t mean that you are prepared to jump on quite yet. Here is a checklist to help you decide if you are ready to be participating in social media:

• Do you know what you want from social media? Are you looking for more leads, traffic, conversions, or brand awareness?  Are you trying to build a better relationship with current customers or reach a new market? The sooner you understand what you want to achieve from using social media, the sooner you will be able to build a better social media strategy.  Just like your mother said “if everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you jump too”?  You should know your reasons and goals for social media before you “jump off the bridge”.
• What kind of social media do you have in mind? People just assume that social media is Facebook and Twitter. Those are two great social media sites that can help out your business, but don’t forget about blog rolls, media sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr, and directory sites. Social media is a large pond, so you must be prepared to jump all in and not just wet your toes.
• How will you encourage participation? Talking to a wall isn’t exactly entertaining or useful whatsoever. If you are using social media, but do not have a strategy for encouraging participation, that is basically what you are doing. The wonderful thing about social media is that it allows interactions and a casual interface for conversation about your brand. You must embrace this gift or social media is pretty pointless for your business.
• Do you have the resources to maintain your accounts? Social media can be very time consuming and will absorb many of your resources. You should have a person, team, or company designated to maintain your social media accounts.  They should be there to post real time updates and interact with your followers.  With out the proper resources you may find yourself overwhelmed or dragging behind in your campaign.

So you are ready to jump on the band wagon as well and begin your social media campaign. Check out The Net Impact for assistance in your social media efforts.

Facebook has got it all and it is no surprise that users spent an average of five hours and 12 minutes on Facebook in July, 2009. With all of the applications, friends, fans, and photos, there is still one thing missing from Facebook that even Twitter has.

And it is as easy @ b c…

Soon enough, that will not be a problem. Facebook just introduced the ability to tag your friends in your status update. Much like Twitter’s @mention, you will be able to direct a message through your status to any of your contacts. Not only can you tag your friends to your status, but you will able to tag groups, events, applications, and pages.

Capturing one of Twitter’s best features, Facebook is making it even easier to have a public conversation. Fans are sure to love the new feature and it could mean good news for businesses as well. Brands that have created pages, but are having a hard time getting noticed can reach out to their fans in a more direct way. On top of that, fans will be able to tag their favorite pages as well. Soon we will be seeing status updates that read Joe Shmoe: is eating McDonalds and drinking a Coke.  With easy linking to fan pages, this new element is going to be driving so much traffic to sites that users may have not stumbled upon otherwise.

While users and brands should be ecstatic about Facebook’s new feature, Twitter is probably pouting in the corner. This move takes away the need of Twitter for some people and gives them everything they could need on Facebook. If Twitter plans to continue to compete with Facebook it will need some new features, and soon.

More updates on Facebook and other Social Media soon…