Archive for February, 2010

Creating a Cause with Social Media

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

By Karen Miller

Facebook has a fan page for “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!” that currently has over 450,000 fans. Saving a television show or promoting an event or cause used to require letter writing, phone calls and creating petitions to get noticed. Now all you need to do is create a fan page, tweet or put something on YouTube and viola you are out there.

The letter writing campaigns of the past have now become the e-mail campaigns of today. Can you even remember the last time you wrote a letter? Social media can get the message out in the blink of an eye. The Betty White fan page is a great example. The number of fans swelled to the current number in a matter of weeks and from what I understand the two sides are now talking about having Betty White on SNL.

@social_dynamics

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Posted in Articles, Facebook, Social Media and Social Networking | No Comments »

Employees Using Social Media to Reconnect

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

By Karen Miller

Whatever happened to good old ‘whats-her-name?’  She was such a good friend and a good person – I wonder what she’s doing now. How often have you asked that question? Social media is a terrific way to keep up with the past. LinkedIn, FaceBook and MySpace are great places to catch up with those you used to know.

We spend an awful lot of time at work each week. For the most part, we know these people well – they know our story and we know theirs. We keep in touch for a while, but then life happens and we lose touch.

If you are interested in finding your former business colleagues, there isn’t a better place than FaceBook. There are “alumni” groups galore where you can reconnect with your former co-workers, find out where they are and what they are doing. You can pass along industry news assuming you are still in the same field and have other discussions about the business you are in.

You can post any current openings you may have or help a friend get connected with someone else who may have an opening. These are people you have worked with and know their work ethic and their capabilities – what better way to fill empty slots in your current company.

@social_dynamics

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Posted in Facebook, LinkedIn, Recruitment, Social Media and Social Networking | 1 Comment »

Retailers Using Social Media to Reach Moms

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

By Karen Miller

The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) conducted a study through BIGresearch on women with children. Their conclusion is those retailers not using social media are missing the boat when it comes to this group.

Women with children (WWC) at home rely on social media more than the average person. This makes sense – if you are home taking care of your children and keeping the household running, you don’t have a lot of extra time to meet up with your friends for lunch or coffee. So, you turn to social media. Specifically WWC use Facebook, MySpace and Twitter most often and many of them have their own blogs.

WWC search the web for coupons, either on the manufacturer’s website or the retailer’s website. Women also rely on each other for recommendations on products and services and they get them on social media.

All of these reasons point to the need for retailers to have an active social media presence. WWC are big consumers and they are actively using social media.

@social_dynamics

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Posted in Articles, Blogging, Facebook, Social Media and Social Networking, Twitter | No Comments »

Social Media: Don’t Lose Sight of the Goal

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

By Jan Carroza

I can remember vividly a conversation about not getting so wrapped up in the sexy new world of social media and losing sight of the importance of face-to-face contact.

Herewith, the results of a study justifying what we knew in our hearts to be true. Social media will never replace the ability to grow a relationship from nuances, rapport, brainstorming and trust.

Executive and business travelers estimate that 40% of their prospective customers are converted to new customers with an in-person meeting compared to 16% without such a meeting. 1

I can believe this from my own first-hand experience. For 10 years, we enjoyed all our new business from referrals. We started working for these companies before we had our first face-to-face. Over time, we met many of our clients at tradeshows or in their offices. These meetings strengthened our connections, developed new initiatives, and increased our mutual bond of loyalty.

To that end, I keep in mind these 3 steps:

1) Communicate
2) Connect
3) Contact

Ask questions. How many communications does it take to get a connection? How many connections does it take to get a contact?

Do you look for your first benchmark and measure your progress against it? If it takes 100 communications to make 10 connections that yield one contact/meeting/result, then analyze what the communications were and what the connections were. Where can you go to expand and improve those results?

Keep your eye on the social media ball, but focus on the goal to make personal contact.

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1 “The Return on Investment of U. S. Business Travel” study from September 2009

@social_dynamics

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Posted in Articles, Social Media and Social Networking | No Comments »

Salesforce: Going for World Domination?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

By Jan Carroza

In the course of 3 phone calls in 3 hours, my jawed dropped on the realization that Salesforce wasn’t just interested in having a “sticky” site. And not just one that is compelling, but one that no company with a sales force, marketing department or customer service desk can live without.

What impressed me that afternoon? My first call was ExactTarget, at the time of this writing the only “push” email service in a Salesforce app completed integrated with Salesforce to manage a list, push email campaigns out and with proper suppression list maintenance.

Next, my call with Dun & Bradstreet. Oh, yes, they have an app for that! Not only that, my D&B rep called me through the Salesforce phone bridge!

Finally, WebEx. Another app! And a discussion about the encouragement and freedom to develop and sell these apps that have been woven into this giant web of world domination.

So I’m in awe. Let’s see: all the lists I buy connected to all the webinars I give connected to every lead and sale I have connected to every email I send. The hipbone connected to the thigh bone; the thigh bone connected to the knee bone; the knee bone connected to the ankle bone…

The stars – or apps – all seem to be aligning. I have to admire when a plan comes together.

@social_dynamics

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Posted in Apps, Articles, Email, Local business, Technology, Video | 1 Comment »

Super Bowl Ads – Missed Social Media Opportunity

Monday, February 8th, 2010

By Karen Miller

In the interest of full disclosure – I am not much of football fan and really didn’t plan on watching the Super Bowl.   I am glad that New Orleans won.

Like most everyone else, I do care about the commercials. According to Nielsen, 2 months before the Super Bowl (ending January 30th), the buzz was all about 2 advertisers – Focus on the Family and Pepsi. The Focus on the Family ad though was referred to as the Tim Tebow ad and not linked back to Focus on the Family. 42% of the pre-bowl buzz was about this ad – that’s a lot of buzz. And, where was most of this buzzing – social media! Some of the discussions centered on whether this was an appropriate ad for the Super Bowl and how would parents protect children from the ad. Of course, no one had seen the ad, but the discussion went on any way. And, what were people looking for when the commercials started running – that Tim Tebow ad.

According to Nielsen none of the Super Bowl advertisers mentioned their social media presence. Can you believe that? Reports say this was one of the most viewed Super Bowls – what a missed opportunity.

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Posted in Articles, Blogging, Email, Facebook, Social Media and Social Networking, Twitter | No Comments »