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Let Your Facebook Fans Do the Talking

March 12, 2010 in Facebook, social media, twitter by gtaylor | No comments

The best form of marketing is word-of-mouth marketing.  There’s nothing like sitting back and watching your customers glorify, defend, and recommend your product/service to their friends, family and strangers.  Even though your customers can talk about your product on Twitter, their chatter may go unnoticed.

Facebook is the perfect social media outlet for your customers to express their appreciation for your company; something that can help in a time of crisis.  Don’t believe me, just ask SeaWorld what their Facebook fans did for them.

People tend to be 50/50 on setting up a Facebook page for their business, and I do agree that Facebook pages are not for every business or product.  But, as a creator and active manager of multiple fan pages, I can assure you once you get your fans engaging with each other, the fun begins.

One of the biggest mistakes admins make with a Facebook page, is only allowing fans to comment on what they post to the wall. Restricting fans posting abilities helps keep a page free of useless jargon and negative rants, but it also takes away the opportunity for user generated content.

Social media is about socializing with others. There are some pages I do not update for weeks because of fans constantly posting links, videos and comments. People do not want to be overloaded with promotions and links from a business.  They’d rather engage in conversations, share their opinions, and post their own links.

Do not be afraid to let your fans do the talking.  It’s better to see what they’re talking about and respond if a problem arises than to be oblivious to a problem and lose a few customers.

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Marketing Savvy Ala Lady Gaga

March 11, 2010 in Business, Communications, Facebook, Marketing, social media, twitter by MOster | 2 comments

How much can you learn from pop über-diva Lady Gaga about marketing your brand via social media? A great deal, as it turns out.

The past decade has not been kind to the music industry. Lured by digital music products, the convenient and comparatively low cost alternative to compact discs, consumers have abandoned music stores in favor of purchasing music online and downloading it to ever shrinking gadgets like iPods. In the wake of the digital era, many musicians, even the artists whose songs receive a substantial amount of radio play, have discovered that their chosen career path is not as lucrative as it was in years past.

Enter Lady Gaga. The singer/songwriter has mastered the art of leveraging social media to drive sales of her albums and digital singles — $8 million in album sales and $20 million in digital single sales, to be exact. Lady Gaga’s latest venture, as a spokeswoman for her own shade of Mac Cosmetics’ Viva Glam lipstick, has been wildly successful as well; the shade has already outsold any launch in Viva Glam’s 16-year history. Now companies that have nothing at all to do with music or the music industry are tapping her to market their products – not as the “face” of the products, but rather, as the “brain” behind the marketing strategies.

What is Lady Gaga’s secret? It is quite simple, and very contemporary. She has taken the medium that has hounded many of her peers – that is, digital media – and used it to her advantage. Social media in particular has been crucial to her success. The premiere of her “Bad Romance” video on LadyGaga.com generated a Twitter trending topic that lasted a week and a cumulative 110 million views on YouTube to date.

This is because Lady Gaga stays in constant contact with her nearly 2.8 million Twitter followers and more than 5.2 million Facebook fans. Though Universal, Lady Gaga’s label, occasionally supplement’s the singer’s online efforts with marketing firm partnerships, the vast majority of the time the musician maintains a hands-on relationship with her fans and marketing empire.

The lesson: Do not be afraid of the negative impact social media could have on your brand. Take a page from Lady Gaga’s book, and utilize it as a powerful marketing tool. Social media can also be leveraged for crisis management. In the wake of a massive recall, Toyota is attempting to restore its tarnished image via online social networks such as Twitter.

Social media is here, and its presence in commerce is growing. Soon, it could very likely become a necessary part of conducting business. You can fear it, but you cannot outrun it. So why not use it to your advantage?

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Social Media Webinars and Workshops – Which One(s) Should I Attend?

March 9, 2010 in Communications, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Technology, emarketing, social media, twitter by gtaylor | 1 comment

Regardless if you are just beginning your social media journey or have been blazing trails of your own, by now, you should have had the opportunity to participate in a webinar, or workshop, focusing on social media.  There are companies that present the basics to you, while others provide a more in depth explanation of specific ways social media can change the way you market to your customers.  For newbie’s, the information presented may be helpful, but how do you ensure you don’t waste your time?

As a social media strategist, I have attended my fair share of webinars and workshops, and have found only a few of them helpful and interesting.

Half of them are about the social media basics, defining social media, or using the big five (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) for your business.  The other half may have a speaker that has been successful in using social media and want to share their success stories with everyone.

Here’s a few tips on choosing a webinar or workshop that will benefit you or your company:

Research the organizing company

You don’t buy a TV without shopping around.  If you’re going to invest your time into attending a ‘How to Use Social Media’ workshop, look to see how the presenting company uses social media.  It’s easy to find out how long a company has been using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and creating blog content.  As Google continues to integrate social media into their search results, a company’s social media presence will be more noticeable.

Search for hashtags

Most organizer’s promote their event with a hashtag (#).  The hashtag makes it easy for not only the organizing company to see what people may be saying about their event, but also makes it easy for people to see what others may have thought about the webinar/workshop.

Crowdsource

If you don’t ask questions, you’ll always be in the dark. Maybe some of your followers on Twitter or connections on Facebook attended a previous webinar/workshop given by the same company.  Ask them what they though or if the information was useful. Usually, you’ll get an unbiased answer.  If you really know your followers, you’ll value their information.

Review previous transcripts or presentations

Most webinars are archived for viewing at a later time.  Quickly skim through the podcast or slideshow.  Skimming through podcast make take a little more time than looking at slides but spending ten minutes of your time to avoid wasting 90 minutes is understandable.

Follow your instinct

If you’ve researched the company’s social media efforts, crowdsourced information, searched for hashtags, listened to the podcast or reviewed slides and you’re still unsure, rely on your gut feeling. Your time is valuable.  Besides, you know your social media skill level better than anyone else.

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Will Social Media Eventually Overpower Email?

March 4, 2010 in Business, Communications, Facebook, Technology, email, emarketing, iPhone, internet marketing, social media by gtaylor | 2 comments

After coming back to the office after a lunch meeting, a tweet mentioning @SmileyHanchulak stated how the meeting went. Not only did I see that, but the 600+ followers the company has saw it too.  Even though business cards were exchanged, social media was the medium used to display their satisfaction and gratitude.

When email became the preferred method of communication, the US Postal Service cringed and the term ’snail mail’ was born.  Now, with social media quickly becoming the preferred method of communication, will the use of email eventually decrease?

Many may disagree, but social media increases the use of email.

Think about the contests on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.  Most of them require either an email address or want you to send them an email with a certain subject to register. Twitter allows you to send direct messages but they have the same 140 character limit as a regular tweet. Facebook direct messages allow unlimited typing, but who wants to login their Facebook account every time to read a long message?

Having the ability to receive email in the palm of your hand is why smartphones like the iPod, BlackBerry, and Android exist. Sure people love the apps, but the instant communication is what people really want.

Email is viewed as a formal way of communicating. Although your company has a Twitter account, the chance that you are going to send a proposal to a major corporation in 50 direct messages is slim.

Social media is similar to “water cooler” conversation.  The short, instant messages on social media are short, and have the potential to be “overheard” by someone else. and if anything needs to be discussed later email addresses will be exchanged.

Twitter may send 50 million tweets a day, but how many outgoing emails does Google, Yahoo or MSN process on a daily basis?

Social media is great for instant two-way communication, and sites like Twitter allows you to reach out and follow whoever you want.  Email is great for personal two-way communication and the only people able to contact you are those who you have shared your email address with.

Will social overpower email?  My sources say no, but social media will definitely reshape the way email is used.

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Will Social Media Exist Forever?

March 3, 2010 in Communications, Facebook, Marketing, Technology, blogging, emarketing, internet marketing, social media, twitter by gtaylor | No comments

In 1875, when Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, people probably weren’t convinced that this new invention would even work.  Now, telephones may have evolved into pocket-size devices that do more things than Inspector Gadget could shake his hat at, but the initial concept is the same, two-way communication.

When polling if Twitter was going to be around forever, 45% of the respondents felt it would be around another two or three years, 23% felt either it will be around for another year, or outlast Facebook, and only 10% of poll respondents felt it will be around forever. With the multiple social media networks available to use, and as countless networks are being developed as I type, will social media be a means of communication forever?

Two-way communication fuels social media.  Twitter and Facebook have completely changed how consumers receive information.  We want real-time updates and the social media networks of today provide just that.

Individuals and businesses have included social media use in their daily routines, and some companies have made their Facebook page their main website or use social media as a part of their customer service department.

One key factor of social media’s immortality is the unlimitied opportunity for constant innovation since brand loyalty doesn’t exist.

Millions of MySpace users switched to Facebook due to increasing popularity and the itch to try something new.  Music artists held onto using MySpace as long they could but their fan base had moved onto something new. In less than two years, MySpace had been dethroned by Facebook as the top social media network in the U.S. and had to lay off 30% of their workforce.

Will social media last forever? It’s possible.

The only threat to social media’s existence is the FCC.  As of right now, the only guidelines on social media are the terms and conditions of each network. Realistically, social media is in an extensive beta phase.  What happens next is still up in the air.

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