Facebook’s Facelift – Give it a chance!
By Sarah Shehata | February 8, 2010
Facebook’s recent changes have finally rolled out to me just today. Most of us almost always dislike new changes first time round. Having explored the new re-design however, I feel that it is much more user-friendly and has a cleaner feel to it. How do you feel about these new changes?
I like what they have done with the top menu and think it’s a great idea to have those icons up there for easier navigation. Even more, the concept of having the icon light up when a new notification/ message is received is a splendid way to grasp one’s attention.
Explore it and give it time, we only need to adjust to the modifications before being able to accept them!
Topics: Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »
Super Bowl Ads Should Reference Social Media
By Adam Maikkula | February 7, 2010
While you watch tonight’s Super Bowl game, keep an eye on your favorite television ads. I bet you will see many of them mention Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn, and FourSquare within the ads. This is a great way for companies to direct a lot of consumers to quickly connect with them through social media. I’d also keep your eyes peeled for actual sites being used or poked fun at in commercial parodies. With this many people around the world watching television tonight, you can bet those who are social media savvy will be chomping at the bit to let the world know they have Fan Pages and Twitter accounts.
…Go Colts!
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Are you being LOUD enough?
By Sarah Shehata | February 5, 2010
Chances are you probably have several potential target customer groups. Have you stopped to think about how you are coming across to your audience? Are you being too sales-y? How well are you interacting with your audience?
A great way to start would be to set your tone to the audience as well as objective. Whether you prefer to be more professional, casual or a mix of both depends on what you are offering and to which target customer group.
Choose which to focus on by considering the 4 Ps.
Which audience will you be able to offer an eye-catching product to while also charging a competitive price and earning acceptable margins? Will one audience respond better to promotions than another? Are you able to reach some more easily with existing distribution channels such as Social Media than others? Which tone would be most heard within that target group?
By answering these as well as other questions related to the 4 Ps you will be better able to make marketing decisions and choose effective Social Media sites for your marketing plan.
Speak up loud and clear and reach out to your audience!
Topics: Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Going Mobile
By Joel Feder | February 4, 2010
Wordpress is without a question one of the more popular blogging/website platforms. The world has been going mobile more and more lately and Wordpress is not sitting on its hands. They already have an iPhone app that is on version 2.1 while no app was even available for either Android or Blackberry. That changed this week. Yes, there has been a Blackberry app in development for a while. In fact some people had the app for beta testing but it is now out of beta and public. The same goes for the Android app. The world is going mobile and with the Wordpress application it is even easier to have your blog mobile with you. I personally use the Wordpress app on my iPhone to both post and make changes to my blog all the time. It is much more convenient than logging into the website on my phone all the time. If you are a Wordpress user and have an iPhone, Android device or Blackberry I highly recommend downloading the Wordpress app.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Twitter Adds Value to Sharing Your Location
By Tim Barsness | February 4, 2010
Twitter has launched its first value-add to the location sharing function of its application. Now, when you share your location you can get local trending topics for a limited set of markets in addition to the national trending topics.
Minneapolis wasn’t on the list of local markets, so I chose Chicago and there weren’t any topics yet. We’ll update this post when we find more.
Topics: Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
ROI of Social Media: Customer Service
By Mitchell Hislop | February 3, 2010
This is the first post of a series that will delve into what social media can do for your Rate Of Return, aka ROI. Let’s start with customer service:
I host my websites with MediaTemple (MT). I chose them because of the support they provide, and the fact that the package they had to offer was just what I was looking for. As a geek, I have my laptop covered with stickers of companies I use and love. One night, I tweeted out that I wish I had some MediaTemple stickers for my laptop. They responded with a very quick reply that I should send them my address. I did, and three days later had two sheets of stickers and a handwritten note!
Now, this is a short interaction. All this probably took MediaTemple less than 5 minutes and cost them less than $5. However, in return they turned me from just a customer to a loyal fan. If I get just one person to look at MT through my tweets, I have made them money.
In addition, I am less likely to switch hosts now. This means that they made even more money off their interaction.
This is not an isolated case, either. Comcast regularly leverage their Twitter account for customer service, as do many companies.
So, how do you measure the ROI of this?
One of simplest ways to measure your ROI is to have your Customer Service Representative (CSR) team trained on how to listen/interact (~$1000) and set up Twitter accounts. Then, use your existing ROI metrics for your CSR’s.
For instance, lets look back at MediaTemple. My hosting is $20/month. I have gotten one person to try it out, so that is making MT $20/month off their $10 investment. In addition, I am more likely to stay with them, which translates more or less, to an extra $100.
So, that is at least $120 over the next 6 months, or a 12x ROI.
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Topics: Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Facebook Demographics
By Tyler Olson | February 2, 2010
People frequently ask us here at SMCpros about the demographic information of Social Media. In order to measure demographics, marketers typically combine several variables.
How does one talk about the demographics of the global population? It’s almost useless information when trying to talk about its utility as a marketing tool.
Here’s my take on the importance of Social Media demographics to business:
- There are approximately 6.8 billion people on earth (1)
- There are approximately 1.7 billion people on earth with access to the internet (2)
- There are approximately 350 million registered members on Facebook (3)
- There are approximately 175 million registered members on Facebook who are on Facebook every single day (4)
In short, that means that 10% of all internet users in the world login to Facebook every single day. And, if you only are interested in marketing in the United States, the number is far higher than that.
In sum, the answer to the question typically is, “Yes, your target market is on social media, they use it, and they use it frequently!”
*Statistics based on Wikipedia
Topics: Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »
The Economist: A Special Report on Social Networking
By Adam Maikkula | January 31, 2010
This week’s (January 30th – February 5th 2010) issue of The Economist did a special report on Social Networking. Reading through a few of their special report articles helped me realize that no matter how much time we at SMCpros spend in social media, it is still such a young piece of global culture. Reading through the special report also helped prove to me that there really is a clear generational gap between those who get it and those who are still trying to bend social media to fit an old model. I hope that people read this report and continue to participate more in social media until they realize that social media is revolutionary enough to force the world (business and social) to adapt to it (and not vice versa).
Here are a couple of interesting articles regarding social networking and business from The Economist’s special report. Check them out when you have a few minutes:
Topics: Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
LinkedIn: Groups & Subgroups vs Custom Groups
By Sarah Shehata | January 29, 2010
Are you utilizing your LinkedIn to its fullest potential and using Groups?
To start off with, there are three different types of Groups within LinkedIn that you can create. The traditional Group, a Subgroup within the Group and Custom Groups.
LinkedIn defines a Group as your destination to find and join communities of professionals based on common interest, experience, affiliation, and goals. It is an excellent way to stay in touch with organizations, schools, and companies that you are and were a part of, network with professionals with similar interests and goals, and collaborate in a professional community online. LinkedIn does restrict your ownership to 10 Groups at any one time.
A subgroup is a group within an existing LinkedIn main group. The subgroup, or child group, provides you with more tightly focused arenas for professional discussion and interaction among members within the existing main group, also known as the ‘Parent’ Group. Subgroups are smaller than the parent group and have a focus that is more defined. For example you may find a parent group named Social Media Group’ and then subgroups named ‘Email Marketing, ‘Stumble upon your Facebook ‘and ‘Forever Twitter’. These subgroups are more exclusive in their membership and have news and discussions that are of specific interest to them. Parent groups can contain up to 20 subgroups. Keep in mind that members must sign up to participate within the child groups discussion forums.
Custom Groups is a new feature on the website that allows users to build subsidized collectives. This type of Group is now available for a monthly fee and enables companies to turn their discussions into elaborate marketing sites.
It has been said that businesses that create this type of Group can import content such as RSS feeds and videos within the group. This is also a great new feature since it allows you to better target your audience.
The growth rate of Groups has been increasing tremendously and not only does it allow you to take your online networking to a professional level but it also allows you to further promote your products and services!
Topics: LinkedIn, Social Media | No Comments »
The social media value proposition
By Mitchell Hislop | January 27, 2010
“What is the value of Social Media?”
I have been asked this question countless times, both as an honest question and as an attempt to push my thinking further.
When asked, I usually bring up the low cost, high potential and how to measure your ROI.
However, as a business student, I want to know the real answer. I want to know Social Media’s value proposition.
So, I did some thinking about it. And asked you about it.
In my own opinion, the value stems from a few areas.
For one, Social Media is everywhere, and it is something that we use every day. Anyone who is on Facebook is using Social Media. This means that you do not need to learn anything new, nor leave behind your current social network. They are very user-friendly and relatively open. These sites allow you to see what is going on, “listen” in on conversations between brands and people, and interact with others.
In my words, it simmers down to:
“Social Media is an open, easy to use tool for users to engage with each other and brands, fostering more openness and communication”.
These are some responses I got back (unedited) when I Tweeted this question:
GirlMeetsGeek: Human Connection: Where technology can only go so far- real hands can reach.
Jo Roberts: Social media **as a tool** makes it easier to create sustained meaning/value with people you connect with in real life.
What is your definition of Social Media’s value proposition?
Topics: Social Media | 1 Comment »