Category Archives: Advice on Social Media

Unleash Your Inner Guerrilla Marketer

Unleash Your Inner Guerrilla Marketer

Social media is the ultimate energy vs. money marketing tool–put it to work for your business.

By Barbara Findlay Schenck

From Entrepreneur.com

Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term “guerrilla marketing” in the 1980s, defining it as an approach for “achieving conventional goals, such as profits and joy, with unconventional methods, such as investing energy instead of money.”

With four words–energy instead of money–Levinson won the hearts and influenced themarketing plans of entrepreneurs everywhere. His concept fueled the sale of 14 million books, leveling the playing field between marketing-budget haves and have-nots and inspiring a long-standing preference among small-business leaders for innovative, low-cost, high-energy communications over textbook, big-dollar tactics.

Viewing Social Media as a Guerrilla Marketing Tool
Yet small businesses, the original guerrilla marketing advocates, have been hesitant about investing effort–which is about all that’s required–in the fastest-growing, most innovative and unconventional communication channel of the day.

“If a business can devote just an hour every other day it can achieve social media presence that nurtures leads and keeps people engaged,” says Peter Wylie, lead researcher for the Emerging Media Research Council of  Three Ships Media. “But small businesses have a wait-and-see attitude because they don’t understand what’s involved and they overestimate the commitment of time required.”

Social Media Deliver Online Presence and Customer Interaction
“University of Maryland research shows that only a quarter of small businesses have social media presence,” Wylie says, “and many don’t have websites at all. Yet U.S. adults spend increasingly more time online, with social media their No. 1 activity behind search.”

For the many companies that don’t have a site, social media offer a bargain-basement deal for achieving both online presence and social media participation.

Wylie recommends that businesses begin with two easy, practically cost-free steps. “A business can achieve online presence with nothing more than a WordPress blog and a Facebook business page,” he says. “The tools are so simple, so easy, and free.”

Social Media Success Tips
“For businesses with a large customer base, Facebook is the initial place to be,” Wylie says. “For consultative companies, a business blog written by real people in conversational language is a great vehicle. Either tool, or both combined, let businesses provide evergreen responses to customer questions while developing customer interest and interaction.”

Wylie offers these tips:

  • Be useful. Use social media to talk about more than just your business. Give local perspective, behind-the-scenes information, and advice outside the confines of your market niche. Provide long-term value and inspire repeat visits by adding links to places your customers would want to go for related information. Additionally, of course, provide a clear description of what your business does and how to contact you online and offline.
  • Deliver value. Incentives, discounts and promotions provide site-visitor benefits, prompt repeat visits, and allow you to track customer interactions. Also consider adding value with online surveys (free through sites like SurveyMonkey) that let people voice and view opinions.
  • Be consistent and conversational. Commit to keeping your social media sites routinely updated with short entries that are written as if you’re talking to someone over the counter. Entries don’t have to be perfect. They do have to be current and interesting to customers, otherwise people won’t bother to check back regularly. The Three Ships Media blog is a good example of how you can spread writing responsibility among members of your business team.
  • Be competitive. Do some online sleuthing to learn what competitors are up to in social media. Seeing that those you’re up against are already online, growing their awareness levels and deepening their interactions with customers, may give you just the incentive you need to get started.
  • Be relevant. As you build social media presence, Wylie says to continually ask yourself, “Why should people come to this site? What unique values and benefits separate us from competitors? Are we telling our story and demonstrating our distinction? Are we showing expertise in a non-salesy way? Are we delivering long-term value more than advertising messages?”

Answer yes to those last three questions and you have a formula for turning social media into the newest guerrilla marketing tool in your marketing arsenal.

Barbara Findlay Schenck is a small-business strategist, the author of SmallBusiness Marketing for Dummies and the co-author of Branding for Dummies, Selling Your Business for Dummies and Business Plans Kit for Dummies.

Companies Using Social Media Without Game Plan

Companies Using Social Media Without Game Plan

From MarketingProfs.com

Despite widespread adoption of social media marketing, most companies are still learning how to integrate those efforts into their overall corporate strategies: 78% of surveyed companies say they actively use social media, but just 41% say those efforts are part of a strategic game plan, according to a survey from Digital Brand Expressions (DBE).

Overall, Marketing is in charge of social media: 71% of companies that now work from a strategic plan say the marketing department has primary responsibility for creating and maintaining the firm’s social media presence; 29% cite communication departments, and 16% cite the executive team.

Below, other findings Social Media Without a Parachute, a DBE study based on a survey of 100 companies.

Although social media is now being applied throughout the enterprise, 94% of companies who work from a social media plan say they use the channel for marketing; 71% cite public relations, and 55% cite sales-related activities.

Just 26% of companies leverage social media for customer service, and only 16% say their human resources department uses it for activities such as recruiting, employee retention, and training and development.

Among the companies that work from a social media communications plan, most planning-related activities center around operational issues, such as allocating resources for ongoing social media efforts (90%) and registering branded usernames on key social media sites (77%).
Other social media plan-related activities:

  • Researching brand competitors’ and key stakeholders’ social media use: 74%
  • Setting up metrics/tracking methods to measure ROI: 71%
  • Specifying proper configurations of account settings on key social sites: 55%
  • Planning for ongoing monitoring of brand reputation in the social media environment: 52%
  • Developing protocols and policies for ongoing communications, including how to respond to positive/negative comments on social media websites: 45%
  • Distributing guidelines for employees regarding general use of social media for personal and professional use: 39%

Looking for real, hard data that can help you match social media tools and tactics to your marketing goals? The State of Social Media Marketing, a 240-page original research report from MarketingProfs, gives you the inside scoop on how 5,140 marketing pros are using social media to create winning campaigns, measure ROI, and reach audiences in new and exciting ways.


Companies’ priorities are different when asked what they want as part of their social media communications plans. Allocating resources for social media is still top of mind (76%), but developing protocols and policies is more of a concern (71%), compared with the 45% of companies that now focus on such activities as part of a plan.

Similarly, planning for ongoing monitoring of brand reputation is a key concern (71%), compared with the 52% of companies that now focus on it.

The most dramatic concern is in how social media use is spreading throughout the organization: 67% of companies cite a need for developing protocols and policies for social media use across departments (e.g., guidelines for Sales, Customer Service, and Human Resources), but just 39% of companies now focus on such activities as part of their plan.

Asked which department should have primary responsibility for social media, 74% of companies say social media should be marketing’s responsibility, but over one-half (51%) view the channel as a corporate communications function and 28% say it should be the responsibility of the executive team.

About the data: Findings are from a survey of 100 companies conducted by Digital Brand Expressions in May 2010.

MoneyWatch.com: Saving money through social media networking

Facebook and Beyond: Social Networks for Saving Money

By Farnoosh Torabi

From MoneyWatch.com.

Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn: Take your pick; social networking has become America’s new favorite pastime. These platforms help us find new jobs and long-lost high school loves, spy on our neighbors, post pictures, and fan Betty White. But did you know social networking can help save you money, too? Here’s the thing: We already share plenty of random news with friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers. Right now the status updates on my Facebook page announce the following:

  • Daniel is “in a open relationship.”
  • Inna is asking for donations for a friend whose house burned down.
  • Sarah is inviting us to join her at her Red Cross Blood Drive next Saturday.
  • Ajay “finally got to reserve an iPhone 4.”
  • Nick just had a baby boy!

So while we’re posting so much information, why not use our social networks to communicate our savings goals? Sharing and updating financial goals and putting them out there for all to see (either on your own page or by creating a new group dedicated to your goal) not only makes our ambitions more serious and real in our mind; it may spark help from our community of friends and family – in the form of advice, support and maybe even some donations. If relatives know you’re saving up to redo your deck and your goal is to save up $15,000, maybe they’ll get you Home Depot gift cards for birthdays and holidays instead of stuff you don’t really need. Perhaps your Uncle Tom will whisper a recommendation for a trustworthy contractor. And if you’re shopping around for a good savings rate, let it be known. Someone you know may have a great tip. Financial companies are also tapping into the social networking market to help customers boost savings. At Smartypig, for example, you can sign up for a savings account specific to your goal and invite friends and family to donate money. Once you’ve reached the finish line you can redeem your cash on either a debit card or various gift cards. At GreenNote, students saving for college can use the online service to create a college savings campaign and request donations from their social network. The FriendlyFavor site helps you ask friends and family members for favors – like donations, swaps or volunteer help. For example: “I’m moving out of my house on Friday, come one, come all. Free pizza in exchange for your time and upper-body strength.” At the end of the move, you’ve gotten all the needed help and saved a few hundred bucks in moving costs – all thanks to your social network.

About the author

From Newspaper Girl’s Blog: How @GuyKawasaki Tweets

Janet Meiners Thaeler, a.k.a. “Newspaper Girl: the Lois Lane of the world wide web” writes about Guy Kawasaki’s speech at the Cisco/Ragan Social Media Summit last week:

Here are 10 things Guy Kawasaki Taught Me About Twitter

  1. Guy Ignores the Twitter police
  2. The Twitter police don’t like how Guy tweets. How @GuyKawasaki tweets is how he tweets. He’s judged by what he calls the Twitter facists. They don’t like that he puts summaries and makes you go to his site to get a link to the original source and other things. He does test everything so he goes by the numbers not by the opinions of others.

    Lesson: There’s no right way to use Twitter.

  3. Guy doesn’t want your friendship – he just wants your clicks
  4. He’s not on Twitter to make friends (“I have enough friends – probably too many”). He’s after your click (“I don’t want to be your friend. I want your click.”) If you click to his web site he gets an impression on ads on that page i.e. he makes money.

    Lesson: Social media doesn’t have to be about relationships if you create enough value people will still come.

  5. Guy repeats his best tweets
  6. Using a tool called objectivemarketer he has really killer tweets go out 4x every 8 hours. Why? His stats (taken from objectivemarketer) say that he gets thousands of additional retweets when he does. Test this. He warns his new followers about this with a DM (withSocialToo).

    Lesson: Schedule out my best tweets to go out a few times at popular times a day.

  7. Guy has a team of researchers who tweet for him
  8. This is also something the Twitter police hate but he does have a team of people who tweet for him. Interesting enough he also lets some trusted brands like National Geographic tweet on his account too. I couldn’t see the number but it looks like at least 10 people work for him. They find interesting content or he flags interesting content so they can tweet the links & summary in his behalf. He says that the tweets from the team often do better than his own.

    Lesson: I wish I had a team of people who tweeted for me.

  9. Guy uses 3 main sites to get content for his tweets
  10. – StumbleUpon by topic or browse all sites (this surprised me!)
    – SmartBrief who curates articles by topic (a little tough to use – click on the news link).
    – Alltop which is Guy’s site that aggregates blog posts around a topic. You can easily scan many posts to find interesting ones just by mousing over the titles.

    He re-writes the titles too.

    Lesson: I’m not using StumbleUpon enough! [Click for another way to use it to get traffic to your web site.]

  11. Guy uses an offline blog editor to write blog posts
  12. Since Guy is into Macs he uses marsedit. Since I use PCs I asked him for the equvalent for PCs. This is what he said: Qumana and Ecto. Tools like typinator lets you create shortcuts to nicely tell people no when they ask you to do something ridiculous.

    Lesson: Stop using Notebook to compose blog posts – check out one of Guy’s suggestions so they can be formatted.

  13. Stats can get Guy in a bad mood
  14. Guy gets depressed when he sees fewer than 500 new followers a day when he checks his stats on Twittercounter. If only.

    Lesson: I suck at Twitter.

  15. Where Guy gets pictures
  16. Guy gets pictures on Fotolia and resizes them through (do you know what he uses to edit his pictures? I didn’t catch that part).

    Lesson: Use more pictures with my posts – in fact, I’m going to add one to this post as soon as I find one from the summit.

  17. How Guy power searches Twitter
  18. If you go to search.twitter.com you can search to find your target market or to track brand names and other useful things.  Want to find everyone that says they are a blogger in their bio? Then search like this intext:”bio” blogger site:twitter.com

    There are more examples on the page I reference below but I also found Tweepsearch to make this easy (but it was down).

    Lesson: Use this with new clients who are looking for people to follow.

  19. Guy does online background checks with Spokeo
  20. You put in an email address and you’ll get back all sorts of information about a person from Spokeo. Good way to check out that perspective employee or that “social media expert” you want to hire. I see that it thinks I’m in Keizer Oregon and my name is “No Name.” I have some work to do.

    Lesson: Check out people on Spokeo before deciding who to go listen to at a conference (and to see who I want to meet).

Note: I wish that SuperShuttle and airports would use Twitter to tell us how long the wait will be for our shuttle or how long the line at security is. I waited several hours to catch my shuttle after my plane got delayed.  I ended up taking a taxi instead — for $129!! Just like the Canadian border service Twitter account @CBSA_BWT tells you how long it will take to cross the border.

Who can argue with success? Guy has over 200k followers and despite his vocal detractors he’s rocking Twitter. He also rocked the keynote (my own presentation was not my best yet but I loved the conference and Guy was the best.)

More from Guy at:
http://holykaw.alltop.com/demo-of-social-media-sites-and-services

5 Ways to attract a following on Twitter

Over the past year I have essentially submerged myself in online activity and absorbed as much as I can. Social media, ezine marketing, widgets, blogs, video marketing, podcasts, ebooks! While Twittering one night I realized never before had I spent so much time learning something that was so much fun. After literally hours spent on Twitter I can still honestly say I still love it! It fascinates me and yet overwhelms my already overactive ADD mind. Yet, I just keep going back for more.
 
As many have said that do NOT yet understand and embrace its relationship building possibilities I have to wonder how many times those same words came from critics of our past and yet were proven abundantly wrong. I mean, who understood the value of the telephone or automobile or email at the time it was in gestation? Very Few!

I can literally remember answering machines becoming increasingly popular in the 80’s and certain voices around me admonishing its existence by calling it a fad. Funny how so many of us jump on the bandwagon with innovation when young and yet after a certain age retreat back into the minds of our Grandparents without even realizing its happening.

Just the other day I was riding along in a car listening with painful anguish as fellow passengers threw around the idea that Twitter and other social media venues were just ‘fads’ and that some radio show host had told them that very idea just the day before. The four agreed in unison that Twitter was something they didn’t understand nor were they ever going to take part in.
 
The sad part was that these were Real Estate professionals and were in the business of marketing for their clients. They made their money selling houses and marketing properly. And they were going to throw in the towel when it came to advancing their clients exposure online.

One of the reasons for this is the learning curve. Technology can be frustrating. Believe me, I get frustrated faster than anyone. I will say though that if we were to apply 5 simple concepts we already know about relationships to Twitter we wouldn’t find it so frustrating to learn. So, I have listed below a very simple and effective list of 5 things to do while tackling the Twitter learning curve. They work and just may put things into perspective for you.

1. People want to see a face. Not a logo. Ever consider walking into a cocktail party or networking meeting with a bag over your head? How do you think that would work for you? Logos are important but NOT when building relationships on Twitter. Think of Twitter as a networking event or cocktail party and put on your best smile. Upload those pearly whites onto that Twitter profile and do it today! Consider a professional photo even. It really is the best way to come across your best. If you don’t have a professional head shot, make an appointment next week to get one with a photographer.

2. Upload a URL into your profile. Whether it is a website, blog site or landing page, you need to put that in your profile. Consider this the door to your business. Would you put up an open sign on your business door and then lock your customers out? Get it up there immediately and if you don’t have a website you can get a blog site up literally in minutes. Go to Blogger.com, or WordPress.com and get that URL up and running.

3. Go get followers. Followers are your fans. The quickest way to get followers is basically the same concept we learned in school early on when making friends. Acknowledge others (retweet), connect with your followers, seem interested in them, be positive, say thank- you, and always, always mind your manners. See, it’s really not all that difficult so stop making it out to be. Remember, the fastest way to turn people off is to seem self-absorbed. Don’t talk about yourself too much. Make it about them. Oh, and follow lots of interesting people.

4. Allow people to see your personality. Don’t be afraid to be your genuine self. People really do like nice, approachable and genuine personalities. This is the fastest way to attract followers.
People like positive attitudes too, so quotes are very popular. If you want retweets and followers, post some of your favorite quotes several times a day. It works.

5.  Find content and fresh news at popurls.com. Unfortunately people won’t care too much about what YOU are doing if you post every mundane task you take part in all day. It may be difficult to hear but people really want good ‘stuff’. So give it to them. It is all over the web and easy to find and post it using tinyurl.com. because 140 characters forces you to get creative. You get what you give in life. Consider this when you start tweeting and you will see the difference right away. Be a giver first. Attract what you ultimately want.

Happy tweeting!

The Three C’s of building a Successful Business Blog

Mike Sansone of Converstations.com describes the key to a successful business blog.  He breaks it down into three steps or the three ‘C’s’:

  • Conversation
  • Community
  • Commerce

I find his philosophy valid and  his advice essential to anyone that is attempting to build a loyal client base.  Blogging may not be the fastest way to build a following…but it can be a a very solid foundation to build a community of loyal customers on.

Bored with 21st Century Skills? Get over It

By: Mike Sansone
Uks primary curriculum

Blogs and Social Media as Conversation Stations

I hear a lot of business people, teachers, educators — and some edubloggers — who are already tired of the term “21st Century Skills.”  Get over it!  The term is going to be around for a long, long time. The definition? Possibly ever-evolving.

I remember when the cry of “PR is Dead” or “Your Home Page Doesn’t Matter Anymore” started circling around a few years back. Folks were aghast. Arguments ensued. Egos bruised. Awareness followed.

Wait…what was that last one?  Awareness?  Yep.

Let’s not get caught up on 21st Century Skills being [about] using a computer, social network, or mobile device. Two decades ago, Twitter wasn’t a twinkle in our eye — now it’s everywhere.  At the end of this century, Twitter may not be a 21st Century Tool, let alone a 21st Century Skill.

I would argue that the skillset of this century — or at least this early portion of it — has little to do with tools and has more to do with mind and heart. Things we read in Tony Wagner’s Global Achievement Gap, Angela Maiers’ Classroom Habitudes, Sally Hogshead’s Radical Careering, and almost everything Karen Salmansohn writes.

– Imagination
– Curiosity
– Guts
– Listening (also a 8th, 12th, 19th, 20th century skill)
– Adaptability
– Patience
– Verve
– Collaborativity (the art of collaboration?)

If the term 21st Century Skills is a slap in the face, let’s wake up and see it for what it is and move forward.  Develop the skills of learning and discerning, of gleaning and teaming up, of breaking down the silos that hold us back — for by doing these things we will breakthrough the barriers holding us stuck in whatever decade or century we’re stuck in and be ready for the decades ahead.

Photo on Flickr from Cristobal Cobo Romani

Read more: http://www.converstations.com/#ixzz0SedNPjNS

Internet Law: What’s in a Name?

Internet Law

What’s in a Name?

by Brett Trout in Internet Law
September 13, 2009

IBM Global ServicesImage via Wikipedia

What is Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset?
If you said something other than your company’s name, you are doing it wrong. Your company’s name, or trademark, is your interface with your customers.  It is how you differentiate the quality of your goods and services from those of substandard competitors. Your name embodies all of the goodwill you have developed with your customers over the years. It is a promise to the customer of quality and value. Without a name, you company simply could not compete.

What is Your Trademark Worth?
Smart companies know the value of their trademarks. For companies like Coca-Cola and IBM, the value of their trademarks are measured in the tens of billions of dollars. For your company, it is measured in the value of your company above its tangible assets. The value of your trademark lies in your customer and vendor relationships, your credit history, your employees, the cost of putting it all together and ironing out the wrinkles. It is easy to see how the value of your company’s trademark can easily exceed the collective value of all of your company’s tangible assets combined.

Leaving Your Front Door Unlocked

You would never leave your company’s front door unlocked overnight. You would never trust a stranger to deliver your bank deposits. But that is what companies do when they fail to take the simple steps necessary to protect their most valuable assets. Many companies elect to stick their heads in the sand and wait until a problem arises. The problem is, by the time trademark problems arise, they have often snowballed to an unmanageable size.

The Ugly Side of Flying Blind
By the time your company receives a trademark cease and desist letter or has its trademark stolen, it may be too late. The problem could be so severe, you may have to forget about saving your trademark and focus all of your resources on just saving your company from bankruptcy. If you picked your company’s name without a trademark search, you may be infringing someone else’s trademark, without even knowing it. All the money your company has earned under that trademark may have to be turned over to the owner of the trademark.  If you continue to infringe a registered trademark after you become aware of a potential problem, you may have to pay the trademark owner triple damages plus all of the trademark owner’s attorney fees.

It Is Just As Easy to Do Things Right
Checking out the name of your company and/or the names of any new products is a relatively quick and painless process. Once you have vetted the name, you may wish to file for federal trademark registration. Unlike state registration, federal trademark registration affords national protection, triple damages, and attorney fees, as well as several other legal advantages. Probably the biggest advantage federal trademark registration provides is the increased likelihood that an infringer will back down, rather than force you into a lawsuit. Trademark attorneys typically provide a free initial consultation to explain their trademark vetting and protection services, along with the associated fees. Trademarks are your company’s most valuable asset. The sooner you protect them, the less likely you are to experience a catastrophic problem down the road.

Brett Trout

Facebook adds “Get More Fans with SMS” Feature

Facebook adds “Get more Fans with SMS” feature

by Nathan T. Wright in Web Strategy
September 2, 2009

Facebook_logo I was poking around Facebook’s Fan Page features the other day and came across something new that they just released. You’ll find it on the left-hand navigation of any Facebook Page that you administer, labeled Get more Fans with SMS.

First, definitions: SMS stands for Short Message Service. Basically, it’s a fancy term used to describe the standardized system for exchanging text messages between mobile devices.
Second, how does it work? When I clicked on the option, I got this message:

Tell people to text “fan lavarow” to 32665 (FBOOK) from their mobile phones, and they will be added as fans instantly. Standard charges may apply.

When you signed up for Facebook, chances are good that they asked you to enter your mobile phone as an account identifier in addition to your e-mail address. So, Facebook already knows your mobile number, meaning that if you send the text message “fan companyname” to 32665 (Facebook’s shortcode), they will associate the phone number with your account and automatically make you a fan of companyname.
One caveat: An organization’s Facebook Page must have a username (a.k.a. “vanity URL”) activated for this feature to work. For more information on usernames for Pages, click here.
Third, what does this all mean? The obvious, immediate benefit to companies with Facebook Pages is an easy, quick method for gaining more connections with an audience unchained from their desktops or laptops. It won’t be long before you see Text “FAN COKE” to 32665 (FBOOK) on the sides of Coca-Cola packaging.
Looking ahead even further, I won’t be surprised when Facebook offers out-bound SMS marketing features to companies with Fan Pages, meaning that an organization could “push” some form of messaging, offer or coupon to opted-in Fans via text message. Sending SMS messages isn’t free, so Facebook could potentially charge for this feature and monetize the service with some sort of set-up or maintenance fees.
The main takeaway here is that this move will add another powerful component to Facebook’s marketing toolbox for businesses.

Drowning in Social Media?

Photo by Flickr
Photo by Flickr

By Angela Maiers

Maiers Educational Services

Drowning in Social Media? – Just Breathe!
Tweets, wikis, blogs, Nings, links, networks, ahhhh! I sometimes feel like I could drown in social media! This was the topic of our discussion on a recent turn of Steve Hardagon’s Classroom 2.0 Live Show. Inspired by Merlin Man’s Inbox Zero, an action-based mantra for managing email overload, I created a mantra to address the overwhelming and ever-changing nature of the social web. (Check out our full presentation here!)

BREATHE is an acronym representing the Habitudes for creating, sustaining,and growing your personal learning networks. More importantly, BREATHE reminds us that social media is about people not tools. People breathe. Tools don’t!

Angela Maiers
Angela Maiers

Angela Maiers
Maiers Educational Svcs, Inc
Des Moines, IA
Ph:515-554-2004
Fx: 801-772-8257

www.angelamaiers.com