• 26Feb

  Effective Online Networking with Social Media

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Alexandra Levit on Mashable.com notes the importance of “establishing relationships” through networking. She says that you can get “valuable feedback” from contacts and “make educated decisions” for the future based on what you learn. This advice is critical for businesses engaging in social media marketing, as social media takes networking beyond the physical realm, which creates more potential for connection. The main goal of networking in social media should be to gain information, increase your brand’s visibility, and establish personal connections.

  When using social media, keep in mind that using only one social networking site is limiting. Instead, work to broaden your field of influence. Engage in more than one network and work to become a truly valued community member there. This makes your communities little hubs of support for your company.

  Don’t be shy about asking for help. When you have become a valued member of your social network, be bold about asking for recommendations and favors. Having already gained a good reputation, your fans will be glad to advocate for your brand. Also give back to those who have helped you; reciprocation will increase your likeability factor.

  Get more personal with your fans as you get to know them individually. Taking the time to become liked will backfire unless you can connect on a personal level with others, as well. Remember that contrary to traditional marketing, those one-on-one connections are vital to your campaigns.

  Follow up occasionally with your contacts. Don’t constantly berate them with comments, but don’t be a stranger either. Once you have gotten more personal with your advocates, you can come up with a timeframe for checking in with each of them.

  These strategies for integrating networking with social media marketing will keep you well on your way to seeing results from your campaigns. Remember to stay engaged! Do not go dormant or your fan base will diminish rapidly.

  What other ideas have helped with your online networking? How has becoming engaged through social media increased your company’s overall success?

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• 26Feb

  The Value of Social Media

  SociaLNK No Comments

  As social media use among businesses becomes more and more popular, the question remains: what is the value of social media? Some companies may say it is indispensable for their marketing strategy while others are barely taking the first step into social media marketing, still wary of the implications—or lack of return on investment (ROI). These are both understandable positions. Many an online marketing agency will tell you that the research is there and the results are measurable. They are a different kind of measurement than used in traditional marketing, however. Because the value of social media is more variable, and harder to measure, many times the initial investment will be less expensive.

  

  http://www.closingbigger.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/engagement-300x300.jpg

  The definite benefits of social media are to engage consumers and become part of ongoing conversations with them. Many sources tell us that in the past few years, customers have been relying more on peer recommendations and less on traditional advertising. When your company is part of the online buzz, you can monitor what is being said and add to the conversation, keeping the info about your own business current and fresh in people’s minds. Also, your customers will appreciate the one-on-one interactions you are able to have with them via social networking. It adds a personal touch and they will feel like you care.

  How you use social media is as important as using it. Your main goal should be connecting to consumers, not necessarily using social media in the traditional advertising style. Uploading a video on YouTube, for example, could be effective as long as the video is not a traditional advertisement, but a more thought-out campaign to connect with the consumer/advocate.

  How are your interactions with customers through social media affecting your overall goals for marketing? What can you do differently within your social media strategy?

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• 25Feb

  China’s QZone Network: Bigger Than Facebook?

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Social Media has taken the world by storm. But when those of us in the West talk about social networks, we generally refer to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. There may be one or two other big names like LinkedIn, but for the most part everyone knows the most popular site as Facebook.

  What could be bigger than Facebook? Apparently, it is China’s social networking site QZone. According to CrunchBase, “QZone is a virtual world and social networking application for self-expression and content sharing.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This is exactly what Facebook is used for every day.

  Trying to find current information on QZone has been difficult, mainly because the site itself is written strictly in a Chinese dialect—I can’t even tell you if it’s Mandarin or Cantonese, much less read the information. The most current English-language info I could find states that QZone is indeed more popular than Facebook. According to TechCrunch, research from Tencent—the company who runs QZone—says that more than 200 million people were using QZone as of January 31, 2009. Another source reports on Tencent’s findings that 150 million of the accounts have posted text through the service, while more than 4 million users have uploaded photos daily. Also, QZone averages 60 million photos uploaded and 9.5 million blog entries added daily. These results are current as of January 2009, but Socialnomics data revealed that by July 2009, QZone reported over 300 million users.

  

  http://globalcc.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/qzone0224091.png?w=450&h=233

  Is this more users than Facebook can boast? Not according to recent Facebook statistics. As of this month, Facebook reports 400 million active users, and about 70 percent of them are outside the United States. However, the data must be compared to more recent QZone stats before one can be described as truly bigger than the other.

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• 25Feb

  What is Cloud Computing?

  SociaLNK No Comments

  The term “cloud computing” has become another of the buzz words surrounding marketing and social media; however, to some it has become nothing more than marketing hype. So, what is cloud computing and how can it help your social media strategy?

  

  http://markusklems.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/merill-in-the-cloud-1.png

  The basic definition of cloud computing is simply using an application without having to understand or figure out server uptime, patches, routing configurations, backups, power, ISPs and the like. In other words, while you can use the application, you don’t have to know anything about upkeep of it. Cloud computing, according to Wikipedia, is “a way of computing… that broadly shares computer resources instead of using software or storage on a local computer.”

  Websites like Wordpress.com, for example, are examples of cloud computing. At the site, you can start a blog and update it, choose a template and tweak it, and not have to worry about anything other than how many blog posts you wish to write.

  New research has found that more small and medium businesses are venturing into the realm of social media marketing, and with this emergence, they need something to guide them through. One option is cloud computing. They can have access to all the internet has to offer, without having to structure everything themselves or start from scratch. Also, a social media agency or consultant may prove helpful to these businesses as well.

  How has your company been dabbling in social media marketing, and what next steps can you take?

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• 24Feb

  Social Media in Action: Technology in School

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Just in case you need more proof that social media has infiltrated every part of our lives, Frontline’s “Digital Nation” series has made it clear. The series documents how social media impacts the lives of Americans, and how more people are using multi-tasking in their everyday lives.

  One school in the Bronx was featured on the program, because of their mass integration of technology for students. The administration felt that student access to technology was a necessity, so they have provided each classroom with enough laptop computers for each student. The teachers agree that school seems to make more sense to the students, now that technology is being used in each classroom.

  

  http://www.nirmaltv.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dv6114laptop2.jpg

  Before the use of technology was integrated fully, students were apathetic about school performance and were not achieving good test grades. However, after the integration, teachers found that the students have both an increased independence to do their work and more focus, even while multi-tasking. The students might check their MySpace profile while working on a blog for a reading assignment. Although the school has blocked access to most social networking websites, the kids have found ways around it. Most teachers feel that as long as the students finish their work on time, the multi-tasking is fine. They feel that they as adults would have trouble working on an assignment without distractions, so why should they make the kids do that?

  The bottom line is that the way this school has integrated technology has truly proven to be a change with the times. The use of social media in school gives the children real-world skills they will need; they blog, use Google Docs, and know how to create original content. The use of the laptops in classrooms gives the teachers access to innovative ways of teaching. The changes this school has successfully implemented show that social media is such a part of the world we now live in. Giving the students abilities to operate within the world of technology is giving them access to their futures.

  How does your company keep up with the demands of changing technology and social media? Would you consider unorthodox changes to internal infrastructure, as this Bronx school system did?

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• 23Feb

  The Social Media Revolution

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Social Media is not just a passing fad; it is a revolution in how we communicate. The past few years have shown not only increasing usage of social networking sites, but also increased use in mobile devices versus desktop computer (internet) use. Therefore, more people are connected in more ways than ever before. The impact of this ever-increasing connectedness on businesses is to try and harness the power of social media to be used in marketing.

  According to research from Socialnomics in July of 2009, 80 percent of Twitter access is from mobile devices. Users can tweet and follow from anywhere and at any time with this technology. In order to reign in that amazing accessibility, a company must be interacting within that social space–to monitor what is being said–and working to improve on any bad customer experiences. While word of mouth (negative or positive) has always been strong to influence others, that same influence is now mobile and live, everywhere. That is why businesses must be more aware now of what people are saying about their company, brand, and products.

  

  The world is more connected than ever. (Image at: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avxIZ5dQn28/RiUxQG8hM-I/AAAAAAAAAeo/_iwdkWMsa3c/s400/wom.jpg)

  Younger generations are now considering email to be a dead form of communication. With Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and MySpace, some simply find no need for “regular” email. The members of Generations Y and Z tend toward mobile texting when they need to communicate something. They also start conversations on Facebook or Twitter, eliminating email conversations while communicating with a much broader audience on the networks and communities.

  Word of mouth now has the ability to be worldwide. Socialnomics estimated that 34 percent of blog content was opinions about brands. With that amount of talk and the easy accessibility mentioned above, can you afford not to be a part of the conversation? Peer recommendations are considered much more trustworthy than advertisements—over 50 percent more trustworthy. Your business must become a part of that conversation in order to guide content and manage misinformation.

  The Socialnomics researchers conclude that social media is not just hype, but a fundamental shift in the way we live our lives. We no longer search for news or products; instead, we wait for them to find us through social media.

  What are people saying about your brand? How can you become part of the conversation?

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• 22Feb

  Social Media Impact of Last Week’s Wordpress.com Outage

  SociaLNK No Comments

  It’s just one blogging website, and it was only down for about two hours. What’s the big deal? What impact did the Wordpress.com outage of last week have on bloggers—and social media—everywhere? Wordpress estimates that over 10 million blogs were affected by the downtime, and that this resulted in 5.5 million lost pageviews. All that in just a few short hours? What does this say about how much blogging really affects us today, and how does this relate to social media in general?

  What Happened

  According to Wordpress.com founder Matt Mullenweg, the problem was an “unscheduled change to a core router.” Although this doesn’t exactly satisfy the curiosity of the millions of Wordpress users who were affected, it does give some explanation. The problem was not Wordpress itself, but one of the servers for the company. That malfunction could reflect poorly on Wordpress as a company.

  The Response from Users

  Comments on Wordpress’s blog were overwhelmingly positive. People seemed to appreciate the honesty and transparency of the company, regardless of the problem. Wordpress.com admitted to not knowing exactly what went wrong, and they apologized for the inconvenience. This is a great example of social media in action! Instead of ignoring or shying away from the problem—and it was a big problem for Wordpress and its users—Wordpress owned up to it, fixed it as soon as they could, and apologized. For that, blog owners showered them with praise.

  Takeaway for Social Media

  What Wordpress did wrong is anyone’s guess, really. What the company did right, however, is obvious. They reached out to Wordpress users—many of whom simply use the free blogging service provided and have not upgraded—and connected with them. The founder, Mullenweg, sincerely apologized. This was greatly appreciated; honesty and transparency in social media are important in order to connect with the community, even during the most unpleasant of events.

  How did you react to the Wordpress outage? How would you respond in a similar situation as a business?

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• 19Feb

  Social Media Relationships: The Three F’s

  SociaLNK No Comments

  If you are utilizing social media tools, your social media relationships can be broken down into three categories: Friends, Followers (or Fans), and Federations (for lack of a more accurate description beginning with an “F”). Each category should be approached differently. It is important not only to engage with all of your relationships online, but also to remember how to relate to each group. This tactic is similar to real-life social conventions we use every day. One may not approach the local priest in the same way he relates to a close friend; even if both relationships are valid, they have substantial differences. So it is with social media.

  Friends are the one-to-one connections that are made in the realm of social networks. Obviously this includes personal friends, but on the professional level, it is also important to engage the individual and maintain a connection as a “friend,” even if you’ve never eaten pizza together. These relationships are important in the spread of word of mouth about your company. The more personalization you can give each friend, the more they will want to advocate for your business.

  

  http://www.designedlearning.com/images/AsGoesTheFollower.JPG

  Followers (or Fans) in social media are those you can influence, without having to connect specifically with each one. These can be your followers on Twitter or people who read your blog. You can reply when they leave you comments, but the main goal here is to reach as many people as you can at one time. You don’t have to personally know each subscriber for your words or actions to impact them. Some people will want to follow or “lurk” just to see what you will post. In this way you are influencing them without keeping a strict one-on-one relationship going.

  Federations are your online communities. This could be, for example, a group of people on Ning who blog about books they’ve read, or political pundits on a specific website forum. Whatever the genre, everyone is there for that purpose only. Friends and followers may stem from these online meetups, but more often the group itself is there simply to be what it is, nothing more. On a community level, you might join a social media group or forum in order to discuss upcoming trends.

  Are you engaged with all three categories of social media relationships? How can being a part of all three expand your audience?

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• 19Feb

  Twitter is Not the Only Social Media Tool

  SociaLNK No Comments
  

  http://www.ashburnweb.com/pd/images/silo.jpg

  When you think of integrating social media into your business marketing, do you automatically think of Twitter? Although the micro-blogging site is very popular among social media marketing experts and can be used quite effectively for SMM, one should remember that it is not the only social media tool, nor is it the be-all, end-all for social media. It is important to keep in mind that a good social media strategy will include many tools and platforms.

  Twitter is useful for maintaining a fan base that will want to be informed of your company’s goings-on. However, there aren’t that many Twitter users, relative to the growth we have seen on Facebook and other social networking sites. Many people don’t understand how Twitter works, or prefer a more personalized online interaction. Inherently, Twitter is more difficult to figure out than other social networking sites. Anyone can set up a Facebook profile fairly easily, but to learn Twitter takes research and time, not to mention having something to talk about. Retweeting has become popular, but who wants to be repeating what other people said all the time?

  Some of Twitter’s recent updates have gone unnoticed and unused by account holders, while other people simply prefer to use Facebook, which has established many of Twitter’s features on its own site.

  In short, Twitter can be useful for reaching those among your followers who don’t need special attention. But be careful not to consider tweeting as your only social media tool. There are a plethora of other sites you should use to connect with others.

  How do you engage with others? Is Twitter an important element in your social media strategy?

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• 18Feb

  Search Engine Optimization on Facebook

  SociaLNK No Comments

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is much more these days than simply raising your business’s ranking on the search engines. It is that, but more, now that social media is increasingly part of our everyday lives. A company needs to build trust and a good reputation across the social networking platforms in order to maintain high search engine rankings.
  Search Engine Optimization applied to Facebook is much different from SEO for Google or other common search engines. To engage in Facebook or Twitter (or any other social media), one must consider that status updates and messages are constantly moving and changing, literally at the speed of light. Also, there are multiple ways of gleaning information from Facebook, whereas a Google search remains fairly straightforward.
  Since over 350 million people have access to Facebook, it should go without saying that your company needs a Facebook profile. The ease of searching within the site while checking friends’ status updates will guarantee many searches happen on the Facebook website. If you are present, you can be found there. It is as simple as that. There are other ways for Facebook users to talk about you: they can chat, share a link, share information, join a group or fan page related to your company, or just update their status. Any of these ways could be used to talk about your company, so you should work to maintain a solid reputation as well as a high profile.
  All of this Facebook activity will have only indirect results for your SEO, but it will not go without reward. Because of the popularity of the Facebook platform, it will benefit you in SEO to maintain a presence there.
  How is your company engaging on Facebook or other social platforms? What can you improve to increase visibility of your profile?

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