Of Risqué Products, Drugs, and Social Media

Many companies pop up in the social web trying to promote themselves and their products. However, when you take a closer look it’s usually companies that sell products that are “easy” to market. Easy, in this context is relative as marketing is always tricky but when you think about it, it’s easier to market fashion, cookies and jewelry as opposed to risqué products.

We all know these companies exist. They make big bucks selling those kind of products and yet, it’s something that our society chooses not to talk about. The use of such products is considered private which is perfectly fine. However, does that mean that marketing through the social web is not an option for online pharmacies or even companies that sell more controversial products?

I say it is indeed an option, though it requires some different thinking. None of us wants to receive Facebook updates or Tweets about weight loss products or any other product that we’d strictly be using in private. We’d feel offended. Rightfully so. At the end of the day, what does a random company know about our bodies or sex lives? NOTHING.

For that reason, companies trying to market controversial products through the social web, need to pay attention to one thing: SUBTLETY. I can’t stress enough that excessive self-promotion as well as direct sales messages is a NO NO for any company on the social web. It’s not what social media is about. Don’t forget, social media is all about the relationships. It’s the opposite to radio spots, TV and banner ads.

However, I have bought products from companies that approached me on Twitter after I tweeted about a certain need. And even though our society is steering towards being more open-minded, I doubt anyone would tweet about his or her need for a risqué product or certain medication.

So, how on earth, can such companies use social media and still be successful?

You are part of an industry! Make the most of it!

It doesn’t matter what kind of product you are trying to sell, you are part of an industry. i.e. medication = health industry. Use that to your advantage. Share information about current health issues. Start your own blog where you discuss controversial issues, give health tips etc. Get GPs to contribute. Get your audience involved. The possibilities are endless.

It seems like a lot of effort at first with little reward (sales!) but when you become a go to source for health information the sales will follow. The same goes for any risqué product. Make sure you realize that you are part of something bigger, an industry, and establish yourself as an expert in that industry.
Pushing sales Tweets or Facebook messages isn’t going to get you anywhere. They will be considered as Spam and the general population gets flooded with Spam on a daily basis and has learned to hate it.

Information comes first. Sales come second.

As I mentioned before, talking about the use of certain medication or sex toys, is not on our priority list. We don’t want our credit card receipts to show that we have invested in weight loss medication, so why would we want the entire Twitterverse to know that we are interested in purchasing?

However, there’s no shame in learning and broadening our horizons. That’s why the information part is so important. It’s less intrusive. We all want to live longer and happier lives and there’s no shame in informing ourselves.

This aspect is important to realize for any company, no matter the product. The social web is not about sales. Of course, every strategy and every investment needs to pay off eventually. But if you are a company with a controversial product, subtlety comes first. Sales come second. This is an important factor to consider because it also marks the point at which you need to make a decision. Are you going to rely on traditional marketing and advertising tools, such as banner ads, or are you going to jump in with both feet and give the social web a try.

The decision is yours, what will it be?
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Today’s guest post is by Antonia Harler. Antonia recently graduated and holds a degree in Management, Communications & IT. She’s performed extensive research on how to best use Twitter for Relationship Marketing. For more information about her visit her blog www.socialglitz.com, follow her on Twitter (@antwizzel) or join her on Facebook www.facebook.com/socialglitz.

3 Social Media Tips for Friday

Now days more often than not college students are applying for social media internships. As we all know internships are extremely valuable experiences during college. In this day and age obtaining a social media internship has naturally become a coveted position. When resumes come piling in how do you decide who to give the internship to? How do you know who’s the best fit? With some help from Mashable, this is how to find your perfect social media intern.

1.Passion
Don’t hire just to hire. If a student is studying biology then they most likely won’t be a good fit. Hire someone with passion for your company, for what you do.  If they have passion then they have motivation, which means they will most likely do a good job. A little gumptoin, enthusiasm and a smile go along way. What isn’t known can be taught but social skills are taught on their own.  The right attitude can make or break an opportunity.

2.Communication
An intern must have strong communication skills. After all, once on the Internet it’s there forever.Take note of how they communicate. If they can communicate with you in clear and articulate way than most likely this will translate when communicating online. Communication is key.

3. Writing Skills
You shouldn’t expect a Hemingway on your hands but strong writing skills are important.When writing it’s necessary to be able to get a message across, put together complete thoughts and be interesting. Also take note to look for some wit or charm to come through as a reflection of his/her personality. You don’t want to hire someone who can’t communicate through writing. It’s an important and crucial aspect to using social media. It’s a written. It’s all on black and white.

We all love our interns. They make our life easier. Hiring an intern creates a business relationship beneficial to both parties.See how active they are already with social media. Get a feel for who they are and what they can do or be taught to do. Hire someone trustworthy and who know will take initiative. Take the time and hire the best fit for your business needs. This really should be fun! What other tips can you offer?

3 Social Media Tips for Thursday

Social media has transformed the landscape for small business marketing. Businesses can utilize social media to drive sales, promote services and engage with customers. Here aret three  tips on what NOT to do to keep in mind when using social media for a small business:

1. Do Not Scream
When marketing your small business do not scream via social media your sales pitch. People will ignore you completely. First, engage in conversations and build relationships. The more your customers do your selling the more credible your product/service becomes. So shy away from your tendency to scream, yell, and sell your company. Engage with users on social media and let me feel led to shout your awesomeness. Don’t you do it. That’s just being vain.

2. Do Not Forget about Customer Service on Social Media
Social networks are essentially word of mouth marketing.Therefore, it becomes imperative to spend the time answering questions and responding to customers reaching out to you. Social networks allow you to give better customer service because you can reach more customers at one time.Don’t forget that people are talking about you online whether or not your listening. You need to  be giving as good of customer service you would in location as you would online. In this day and age it’s all the same anyways.

3. Do Not Think the Social World Revolves Around Your Brand
Do know when you talk about your brand too much to the point of annoyance. We don’t need to hear about every wonderful thing your company has done. Instead we want to see you caring and engaging with others. Social networks should rarely be about your business but about the customers who make your business possible.

Ultimately, remember why you started using social media for the first place. Hopefully some of you wanted to connect on a deeper level with customers or  to give better service. Users want to know your successes. By putting less focus on yourself and more on others the customers will do that for you, don’t forget the power of word of mouth marketing.

Social Media and the Homecoming Queen

Homecoming week is upon us and the honor of being chosen to represent one’s sorority or fraternity on homecoming court comes with great fun and great responsibility (but seriously. It does.) As I received my homecoming packet on when and where I am allowed to promote , I forgot all about the poster stipulations and turned to the internet for my main campaign.

Promptly at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time on the Sunday before homecoming, queen and king facebook campaigns were in full swing. Profile pictures were changed to promotional images of contestants, Facebook groups and events were made (and all of the college network was invited, of course). TwitPics were uploaded and status updates included Facebook tags with sayings such as “______ pities the fool who does not vote him for Homecoming King” and other Chuck Norris-like sayings. While I must say it is a bit odd to see 80 of my Facebook friends with my face as their profile picture, it proves a vital point: visibility is key, and what is more visible to a college student then a social media post?

With over 85% of college students on Facebook and other popular social media sites, the need to reach mass quantities in little time is met through postings, events, tags and more. However, an open profile can do more damage then intended. Feelings are hurt when the “not attending” button is checked, friends are divided when an opposing status is “liked” and wall-to-wall conversations can be read and interpreted to a meaning far from their own. Does bringing a friendly competition into the social media world cause more harm then good? The pros and cons are questionable on both ends, however the fact is here: social media is so integral into today’s collegiate experience that it is impossible for this competition to remain off the internet. Facebook has become the ultimate procrastination tool, StumbleUpon is often seen pulled up on a classmate’s screen in class, and Gordon Hayward was a trending topic on Twitter feed after his #9 draft pick to the Utah Jazz. Jobs can be found via LinkedIn connections, students are checking into academic buildings with Foursquare or Facebook Places, the list continues on and on.

So as my fellow Homecoming court participants and I continue our viral campaigns, we may not even acknowledge the fact that we are reaching more students quicker and with more information than ever before. Yes, we’re living in a digital age and yes, we know that social media has changed our communication methods. The truth lies in a simple event feature that Facebook offers: the “Invite all of the _______ network” button. One click separates us from a fan following. I may not be completely savvy yet on my marketing skills, but reaching over 1000 people instantly sounds pretty good to me.

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Steph Gray is a Senior Theatre-Arts Administration major and Public Relations minor at Butler University. She is a performer with Butler Theatre and heavily involved in her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. Interests include social media, audience development, Shakespeare and her family.

25 Case Studies Using Twitter to Increase Business and Sales

1.Dell Outlet
Dell Outlet doesn’t have the time to hire an agency and develop an ad campaign. Instead, the company turns Internet marketing using tools like Twitter. The company started to use Twitter to push information out and soon found out that people were interested in talking. Twitter is good source for not only raising awareness on deals but to interact with customers. The company offers post exclusively on Twitter and makes sure to use twitter only a few times a week to avoid spamming their followers. They also use tracking URLs to determine what users find most appealing. Last but not least. The company found that the Twitter deals do increase sales. Dell Outlet has booked more than $3 million in revenue which can be attributable to its Twitter posts. In addition, the division has done research showing that the overall awareness of the outlet has grown, too.

2. JetBlue
JetBlue was among the first corporate companies to join Twitter in 2007. Now in 2010 JetBlue has nearly a million followers and is often cited as an example of small corporate twittering. It’s goal when joining Twitter was to simply, help customers. They eventually found out what the dos and don’ts were for their customers. How did they do this? By asking. The company found that customer service tweets generated more followers and replies. When tweeting about a press release they found no response. JetBlue then began asking question in order to find out what the customers wanted. This approach has made them quite successful. JetBlue tore downs the wall between the customer and the brand by implementing what was to be just an experiment, Twitter.

3.Teusnerwine
Teusner Wines, is a boutique winery located in Australia and has only three employees. One of the three employees, Dave Brooks, sales and marketing director, noticed that Lance Armstrong was on Twitter. Brooks soon joined and started following Armstrong. He started to think that Twitter would be a good tool to tell people about the winery, in hindsight he was right. To get started he searched for wine-related terms. When he found influential and relevant users he followed them and eventually started conversations related to the business. He has since grown the following and makes a point to send personal thank you messages to customers. His mentality is to build relationship which can’t be done by simply selling a product. Since using Twitter, Brooks has seen more people coming to the winery for tours, more traffic to the website and numerous people in the United States and Canada asking where they can find the Teusner Wines. His focus is on the customers not the numbers.

4.Tasti D Lite
Tasti D Lite, a guiltless place to enjoy frozen yogurt, began its journey with Twitter cautiously. BJ Emersonl, Director of Information and Social Technologies, started by using Twitter to listen to what customers were saying about Tasti D, its products and it’s competitors. BJ advise a three “m” approach when getting started on Twitter-monitor, measure and mingle, which is exactly what he did. Once he did that he started following users who had mentioned tasti and began turning the comments into conversations. BJ often tweets exclusive coupons where he creates specific codes for each coupon. These codes are entered into the point of sale cash registers at tasti locations to enable the tracking of coupon conversions and the resulting sales. BJ concludes from the numbers, that Twitter coupon campaigns can outperform similar targeted ads on other social network platforms or certain PPC ads if used effectively. Their next plan is to begin experimenting with paperless mobile coupon options and Twitter accounts for individual stores.

5.Coffee Groundz
Coffee Groundz is an independent coffee shop in Houston, TX. The owner J.R. Cohen began his Twitter journey by going out of his way to interact with Houston Twitter users following him on Twitter. He says his growth was slow and organic but the connections he made were strong.  He began to ask his followers to “come into the store and ask for J.R.” This gave him the oppurtunity to meet with every patron who asked for him, thus strengthening the bond with his followers. Due to an odd request from a cutomer using Twitter J.R. started taking and recieving to-go orders via DM. Customers can also reserve a table/booth, order from the patio, or reserve the place for events through direct message. Twitter helped J.R. create a more efficiently run coffee house and his many patrons agree.

6.Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. Naturally, Twitter was an ideal fit. The company found that their community was using Twitter to promote their handmade items for sale on Etsy. So by watching and learning from them they adopted the same ideas. The initial use of Twitter was to share when their blog was updated. Now they use Twitter in a variety of ways ,alert followers to particularly creative products from Etsy sellers, share valuable tips & tricks, and provide information about upcoming events and promotions on the site. In Etsy’s experience they’ve found that Twitter is a valuable way to harness the creative minds of the community. Most importantly, they have fun with Twitter.

7. NAKED Pizza
Naked Pizza is an organic pizzaplace that tastes good and even better yet, is good for you. A Twitter account was created after the advice from  investor Mark Cuban who outlined these goals: help create a community around healthy eating, save on marketing costs, and ultimately drive sales. Twitter is now such an influential tool for the company that Jeff Leach, co-founder along with Randy Crochet, has set up a kiosk within his store, where customers can sign up for a Twitter account if they hadn’t already been users. In addition, Naked’s online ordering page, there will be the Naked Pizza Twitter stream in case customers have questions about the company’s product offering. As of May 29,  2010 a surprising 68.60% of total dollar sales came from customers who said “I’m calling from Twitter”.

8.American Apparel
American Apparel got their start on Twitter after some employees were playing around and setting up accounts. Now multiple employees are involved with responding to comments on Twitter when users make about the company, taking advantage of the opportunity to interact directly with customers.American Apparel fans with blogs occasionally write posts with favorable mentions of the company or its products on Twitter. In one case, they received a DM from a freelance photographer who was chronicling his wife’s pregnancy with weekly photos of the mother-to-be in American Apparel clothes. After seeing the blog, American Apparel liked the photo series so much that they provided the new mom with free clothes and used the images as the basis for an ad campaign .Thus launching  an  ad campaign for expecting mothers with an unique banner ad for baby clothes, and the blog became one of American Apparel’s top performing sites for online ads. Twitter led the minds behind American Apparel to new ideas and opportunities for advertising.

9. Pepsi
Pepsi started usign Twitter to connect with customers on a more meaningful level. For years the company had relied on its toll free number where customers could call in with concerns. Twitter helped to humanize the brand. The toll free number tended to focus on the product where as now Twitter allows the customers to give feedback on promotions as well as opinions on the products.The company collects reactions and likewise can give fast feedback. Pepsi is till figuring out what the customers respond to the most but have found that they are able to give the customers better service by monitoring Twitter.

10. Levi’s
To connect with a young male demographic, Levi’s hired recent college grad Gareth Hornberger to manage their Twitter feed. Gareth, a.k.a. “@Levisguy”, provides Levi’s fans and denim aficionados an insider look at Levi’s the company. He shares behind-the-scenes access at Levi’s events and updates on new products. In addition, he engages his followers’ interests by spurring conversations about topics that matter to them. By hiring Garth to represent the brand they promoted the correct image that Levi’s has always strives for, authenticity.He’s just an ordinary guy, in an extra-ordinary position, sharing interesting stories, encouraging fun conversations and attempting to get everyone he can in a pair of 501 jeans. He just so happens to be doing all of this on Twitter.

11. MTV-2010 VMAS
MTV has integrated Twitter with live TV. This was evident during the 2010 Video Music Awards, which pulled in 11 million viewers. For the viewers watching at home there was a live Twitter scoreboard. there was the visualization for web users. Users could tweet directly from the app, that MTV created with the help of Stamen Design…and tweet they did-194,000 times. MTV is innovating how TV can be used on Twitter. They established themselves as a leader.This kind of integration creates a conversation  surrounding a live event on Twitter and at the actual event.MTV also stirred up some competition between the fans on Twitter. The Sunday before the VMAs, fans found a Twitter Tracker and tweeting would give their favorite artist a higher ranking on the list. Ultimately, MTV found that  the activity on Twitter went beyond the original audience via followers,  Trending Topics, Twitter Tracker and more. MTV found a way to excite audiences and create strong fan engagement.

12. Comcast
Comcast developed a Twitter account to change what most associate with a cable company. Essentially, they wanted customers to know that they cared, which gave the idea for their Twitter name, ComcastCares. Instead of waiting for negative comments to appeare and the react. Comcast is proactive by searching and tracking comments.  Comcast is handling an individuals issues publicly through Twitter. Additionally, Comcast announces via press releases the addition of a social media component to help customer service reach a large audience effectively. Comcast has found a way to reinforce quality customer service with an appropriate Twitter name and proactive attitude when reaching customers.

13. Namecheap
Namecheap is a 10-yr-old company based in L.A. offers cheap domain registration. Their mission statement is to thrive on making customers happy. Upon visiting their Twitter page you’ll see that their mission statement is well in effect. It seems that every tweet is centered on connecting with the customer and their needs. Michelle Greer, the company’s sole marketing specialist,set up the Twitter account. To catapult the account she created a contest. The contest was launched in December so she posted a Christmas-related trivia question. Then To win, you had to be one of the first three @replies with the correct answer. The prize was credit a for one-year domain registration. People began to anticipate the questions and were tweeting and blogging about it. NameCheap used the search.twitter.com API to automate winners and the Twitter API to automate the questions. As a result of the contest, Namecheap’s follower count went from 200 to 4,000. In terms of the actual business aspect,  Namecheap’s site traffic increased more than 10 percent in December, which resulted in a 20 percent increase in domain registrations.

14.BestBuy
The Twitter account for BestBuy is an all exclusive look into the latest and greatest news from Best Buy,which  includes updates from employees, deals, event notices, and more. For instance. On October 15,2010 one tweet from a BestBuy representative said,“It’s officially Free Phone Friday!! Check out the phones and/or order online here: http://bit.ly/1015FPF via @Coral_BestBuy”. What BestBuy has done is to create an interest among customers to keep them visiting their Twitter page. At over 80,000 followers its safe to say that BestBuy established a following by giving an incentive.

15. Nabbit
Nabbit is technology start up that allows people to tag or dubbed appropriately, “nabb” radio tunes they like by pressing buttons on their cell phones.They have used Twitter to increase favor with influencers while allowing users to generate an automatic tweet with every nabb.Nabbit has over 18,000 followers. They’ve taken Twitter and made it work for both interaction and integration by generating a tweet with every nabb. It’s a win win.

16. Realtors
Specifically, Teresa the Realtor, who has over 3,000 followers on Twitter. Many of her tweets are conversational. She is retweeting and answering questions. In a word she is engaging. The world of real estate requires communication between the buyer and the realtor. She has created a new line of communication through the use of Twitter. Teresa also takes the time to teach other Realtor’s how to soft sell using Twitter. She puts it simply, “It is like breezing through a party, she said, and “being introduced to a friend of a friend who just might be looking for a house.”

17. Vistage International
Vistage International is essentially a members organization for CEO’s. They used Twitter to prospect new members, up and coming entrepreneurs who are apart of younger generations. The concerns when launching a Twitter accounts was whether or not their audience was using the social tool. After a few tiny campaigns the results were in favor of Twitter. During a two month period they found: Twitter to be an easy way to build relationships with members  very efficiently. Vistage empowered them to talk about their  experiences with the company good and bad) as part of what they already discuss on Twitter. Then every time the Twitter community talked about their experience, five to 10 people asked us about the organization, which led to some great leads.They were able to widen their reach by adding new experts and new topics. After the  two month period, the Twitter campaign secured 36 member inquiries and six new members, which was attributed to the network of members, Chairs, and speakers. For a small and member’s only organization this is quite the feat.

18.Open Forum
OpenForum is a community built to help grow small businesses. They created a Twitter account to provide information, strike up conversation with small business owners, and to drive people to their conversational site, which is separate from their website. The goals are to:Build brand equity, acquire new customers, and build loyalty among existing customers. OpenForum lets the conversation happen versus trying to control it. The reaction from that is more brand loyalty from existing customers. In addition they have over 12,000 followers.

19. Intel
For starters Intel has over 25,000 followers and has no official Twitter strategy. However, they use the tool  for many employees  to build relationships, listen, learn from others/each other, and get the latest in news.  Their tweets do not typically revolve around Intel as they feel that people are people not brands or logos. They also feel that Twitter is a place for conversation not one-way marketing. A lesson to learn from Intel, Twitter builds community, connects people, and fosters relationships; and in order to do so requires authenticity. It’s difficult to be authentic when hiding behind a company logo.

20.U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey’s  has a unique responsibility which is to  monitor and report earthquakes. Twitter helps the USGS expand these reports through first-hand accounts after an earthquake occurs. Earthquakes as well as any natural disaster affects thousands if not millions of people at one time. They began their journey with Twitter by listening. They soon found that seconds after an earthquake people were tweeting about it. As it turns out Twitter is one of the first places to indicate that an earthquake has occurred. What the  USGS does with this information is to gather, summarize, and map out earthquake tweets to provide a rapid overview of what people experienced during an earthquake.They now have their own Twitter-based application which provides tweet counts for affected cities and lists the tweets created immediately following the event For the future, USGS is using Geocoded tweets to allow for more accurate pinpoints of the locations that users posts, and a distinct retweet channel helps them to differentiate between people who experience the shaking and those who are broadcasting others’ experiences.The USGS is following advances and listening to users feedback. Turns out the newest tool for monitoring earthquake effects is Twitter.

21. The North Face
The popular brand joined Twitter in October 2007. However, they had no clear direction until 2008. In 2008, The North Face  went to create a free digital tool that would enhance the user’s outdoor experience. By December of 2008, they launched a free iPhone application. \The app was successful with nearly 250,000 downloads but users shared some constructive criticism to share.  In 2009, they relaunched the app with the consumers feedback in mind. The new and improved application included Twitter. They soon realized that the best way to leverage Twitter and build a communal following was to promote The North Face branded content.. Serving up industry information to their Twitter community, they quickly increased the following, and saw a steady flow of re-tweets, which spurred community interaction. Their success came by combining technology with the outdoors, leveraging Twitter and in the end they are able to give users and accurate tool.

22. American Cancer Society
As found on Mashable,the American Cancer Society tweets about cancer research, specific types of cancer news, and information. They also connect to @RelayForLife, a Twitter account that provides updates on one of the American Cancer Society’s largest fundraising and awareness events. As of October 15, 2010 they have over 85,000 followers. They have created an online community on Twitter by engaging in conversation and listening to what users are saying.

23.American Red Cross
On Twitter the American Red Cross makes it their cause to inform about catastrophes or offers ways to find out about the  terrible events happening around the globe. They tweet to educate what is  is affecting the lives of millions of people. The official account  uses Twitter to warn as well as interact with people about situations that may require additional help. Wherever, and whenever disaster occurs the Red Cross lends a hand and now they are tweeting so you can as well. They currently have over 200,000 followers.

24. Create the Good
Create the Good is an organization that connects the  AARP members, friends and families with ways to make a difference.As read on Mashable, AARP uses the Twitter account to  network and point out members of the organization who are making a difference in the world. On Twitter they also help promote other organizations and  media channels making a positive impact on the lives of others. Twitter also educates others about regional opportunities to get involved with good projects.

25. Humane Society
The Humane Society uses Twitter to spread the word and motivate their constituents to action.They engage followers by  asking for feedback and reactions on issues in the media that affect animals.Their website features all the social tools their are using and really drives people to action. The Twitter page is  not intimidating and comes across as personal versus an off putting organization. They have found success by being open, engaging and informative.

The Definition of Social Media from a New User

There are many of us who scoff at the idea of the definition of social media because we have been talking about it for a couple of years. However, we are in the minority. I wanted to encourage novice users and bloggers to write guest posts on my blog that defined social media in their minds. Here is the first one.

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What is social media?

This is a very good question and has been asked many times. As a matter of fact, when I performed a search of this phrase in Google, it produced the following results:

Notice how many results that query produced?  573 million results! We can come to the following conclusions:

1. It is a very popular topic
2. There are over 500 million articles on the topic

Overwhelming? Yes it is. But, I decided to tackle this subject to provide a definition from a new or fresh perspective. Why? Because I am no expert and only recently, has this subject peaked my interest. Thus, this post is dedicated to those who are interested in the subject but unsure as to what it exactly is.

Wikitionary defines social media as forms of media that allow users to interact with and publish to each other, generally by means of the Internet.

Dictionary.com defines social networking as: a website where one connects with those sharing personal or professional interests, place of origin,education at a particular school, etc.

Notice the definitions? I would like to focus on two words in particular, interact and share. In other words, social media is about interacting with others albeit friends or family where both sides share content. Popular tools that allows for this are Facebook and Twitter. Initially, the idea was just that, to keep in touch with your friends and family. However, some have found a way to use these tools as a means to generate income. I am sure you have heard of this and think that this is possible for you too. Remember the search results that were produced at the beginning of this post? Let’s do another search on Google for How to make money using social media. Here are the results:

Wow! We have over 70 million suggestions on how to make money using social media. While it is possible to make money using these tools, it is not easy and the success is not always possible. If it was that simple, I would be writing this article on a beach in Costa Rica. Nevertheless, here are a few ways that these two services can be of benefit:

Facebook – Facebook does allow for the creation of fan or company pages where you can promote yourself or product. I think this is one of the main applications that internet marketers use for promotion especially since Facebook encourages it. They allow for you to create ads at a reasonable price. Additionally, they have recently implemented Facebook Places which allows for location based functionality similar to Foursquare.

Twitter – Allows for you to promote yourself in a 140 characters or less. But, if the Twitter community finds that you’re spamming others, then you will be called out. Also, Twitter itself will restrict spamming to the point that your account will be suspended.

In my personal opinion, the concept of social media has completely changed, especially with Twitter. At first, I would only retweet articles or quotes that I found interesting, because I figured that is what everyone did. Then I decided to interact with a few respected twitterers and was shocked to received responses (actually that is how I got this guest post). Unfortunately, that is not the case for all whom I follow. It almost seems that they automate their tweets, which restricts interaction or you’re too much of a peon that it’s not worth their time to respond. As a matter of fact, I have a suggestion for some of these “celebrities”, since you have so many followers, pick a random person and say hi. Also, if you want to help a charity promote the charity, don’t charge your fans to become a follower.

If I can summarize social media in one word, it would be interaction. Even if you have 5 followers or over a million, take the time to interact with your followers and I guarantee it would be appreciated.

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Today’s guest post was written by Reinaldo Moodey is a novice blogger and social media enthusiast. By no means an expert but frequently expresses his opinion regarding technology at his blog blogtekkie.

The Right Way to Market Yourself on Twitter: Part 2

Viral.  Almost anyplace you see that word it conjures up images of bad things.  Viral at the doctor’s office is never good news, nor is it welcomed on your computer.  The one place it has the connotation of being a good thing is in the realm of social media.  (Note: It can still be bad in social media if the viral story reflects negatively upon you or your organization.)

There are lots of benefits of social media vs. traditional communication, and they include 1 to 1 conversation, listening, etc.  But perhaps the greatest is the ability to spread the word about something very quickly one Twitter user at a time.  I recently had this experience and I can give you some hard numbers to support it.

Kyle was kind enough to ask me to write a post on the right way to market on Twitter which was regarding a conversation we had on a positive experience I had on Twitter.  I was pretty excited about it and Tweeted to my followers to come check out my blog post.  I have a bit.ly integration with CoTweet, so I am able to track how many times somebody has clicked on my link.  As you can see below, I tapped out at 49.

As my following is relatively small at 200, I was pretty pleased with that number.  But I was curious to see how often it had been clicked on based on Kyle’s reach.  When I clicked on the aggregate bit.ly numbers I got quite a different number.

Holy Canoli!  I had found out that the article had been clicked on 436 times.  Furthermore, it had been Tweeted or ReTweeted a total of 99 times and the reach was all over the globe.

Over 15 countries have seen this Tweet!  And at this point in time, the true power and possibilities of Social Media start to become a reality.

So what have I learned?

1. Influence the Influencers- If you want to get a message to the masses; you need to network with key influencers.  Note their number of followers, Klout score, and plan accordingly.  Here is a great article on how to get the attention of influencers.
2. Track your stats- There is no better way of seeing if your links are of value, than to see if anybody is clicking on them.  Find the total clicks, tweets, shares, comments, etc.
3. Activity Breeds Activity- I had some conversations with Kat @goheadband and she shared that she had an excellent day in sales the day this article was released.  It only stands to reason with the amount of people who read about her success, but I like to validate the hypothesis with real data.

Incidentally, my Klout received a bump during this process as well.  It sure is nice when everybody wins.

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Todays guest post was written by Brian Richardson has 19 years of sales and management experience and is a sales trainer at ExactTarget.  Follow him at B__Richardson (that is two underscores) and check out his Twitter bio for hobbies and interests.

20 Ways Businesses Are Using Foursquare

I know. We are trying to figure this “foursquare” thing out. I understand completely. The research team at Brandswag (Rachel Elsts and Stephanie Gray) decided to put together 20 different ways foursquare is being using in the business setting. Hopefully this will help you in your search to using Foursquare for increased revenue and interaction.

1. Retail stores

Retail Stores are using Foursquare to get shoppers to not only “check-in” but to buy. It’s coupon clicking for retail without the hassle of having to chase a sale. Below are some great examples:

Express “$30 off $90 @ Express stores now-9/14/10, ring code: 2793. Limit 1 offer per customer. Offer must be presented at the time of purchase. Other terms & conditions apply, see store associate for details.”

American Eagle - “Check-in to any A store and unlock a 15% Off discount towards your next merchandise purchase. Expires 9/30/10. Limit one per customer”

2. Restaurants

Restaurants have been among the most popular places to use Foursquare. Many restaurants are being to play around with the application so be sure to “check-in” when your out. Some great examples of restaurants using the application are:

Carrabba’s Italian Grill - “Show that you’re the Mayor of Carrabba’s and enjoy a complimentary dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Grazie!”

Granite City Food & Brewery - “One Complimentary Appetizer or Flatbread for the Mayor!”

3. Fitness Clubs

Fitness clubs can engage with clientele by using Foursquare. The Five Seasons Family Sports Club offers this deal for checking in “See Thad, Fitness Director, for your complimentary Personal Training Session. Thank you for being a member. (one per member)” This is a nice incentive for current members to use the application. As a  guest who happens to visit I would consider becoming a member upon discovering this…after all I could be getting a FREE training session.

Currently they have this ad running.

4. The vast majority are doing it- even small business!

Corporations not necessarily related to customer service such as restaurants, retail stores and so forth are using Foursquare. SpinWeb (Indianapolis, IN)
“Since this is your third meeting at SpinWeb, you’ve won a free massage at Healing Key! Ask us for your gift card ” Pretty nice incentive and thank you for business gift. Businesses can give a personal gift without having to promote it all over town. It feels exclusive.

5. Parks are using Foursquare.

Parks are slightly different than any other venue. Its a venue where people assume interaction so using Foursquare to heighten this interaction is second nature.  For Instance, Conner Prairie Interactive History Park offers“$2 off General Admission on your first check-in! (one discount per Foursquare account “

6. Want to rule the town?

Mayorship is not a new perk of using Foursquare, but being recognized in the media because you’re the mayor is. Metromix Indy recently ran a cover story with the top mayors all around Indianapolis. Now, some Starbucks are even offering special discounts for “mayors” of their location. It may just be a title, but it does seem to come with fame (and a little fortune.)

7. Sport teams move to Foursquare

Redskins fans are in for a Foursquare reward: check in at the game and obtain a special Redskins badge. With the increase in geolocation social media, football season is sure to start to jump on the Foursquare bandwagon, with the Redskins leading the way. The move into social media will be a great way to measure fan base and game attendance plus the ability to make the game more interactive to fans. And the ultimate reward for constantly checking in at FedEx Field? VIP tickets. Not a bad idea at all.

8. MTV and the Entertainment Industry

MTV recently paired up with Foursquare to offer a contest to users that frequently checked into local music venues. Whatever venue had the secret “Moonman” badge put the user into a contest to win tickets to the VMAs on September 12.

The real question now is what celebs checked in at the actual event?

9. Get a discount on all the books you could ever want.

Borders has entered the digital e-book market and is using Foursquare as a new marketing strategy. Borders said it had started running a promotional campaign focused around Foursquare, where customers would receive a 10 percent discount off all full-priced books after every third Foursquare check-in at a Borders store. Borders is planning to roll out the campaign to all of its 26  stores and would keep the deal going for an initial two months (via Delimiter).

10. Did you check-in before or after you ordered your burger?

At 4food in New York City, the owners are giving customers a chance to rate their food and tell their friends immediately after eating. LED screens are displayed around the restaurant showcasing twitter mentions and Foursquare check-ins, while customers are encouraged to rate their meal during their visit. 4food states that they have yet to spend a dime on advertising, because they let their reputation and customers do it for them…and isn’t that what social media is all about?

11. FREE FOOD.

Two words that have driven crowds to dress up, wait in line and even forced college students to skip class. So how does it apply? Qdoba offered free burritos for those who checked in during a visit and shouted “I’ve been burrito boredom!” Not only does this have consumers become more outgoing due to Foursquare incentives, but the social media advertising has done the chain restaurant wonders.

12. (Socially acceptable) Gaming

With an increase in businesses participating in Foursquare, the competition between friends, peers and even strangers for mayorship/badges has taken gaming to a whole new level. The social media aspect is evident, as most hardcore Foursquare users post their status to various SM sites. However, there is a constant competition of who can become mayor of the workplace, coffee shop, etc. Coworkers “check in” fervently to try and win the title, glory,and available coupons.

13. Voice Recognition

It may not be the most socially acceptable way to check in, but Vlingo has created a way for  the Android app users to “check-in” on Foursquare by voice recognition. It’s a speech check-in feature that will save time, even if it does raise a few eyebrows.

With the new app, Android users can speak a simple “check-in to [insert place name]” command after tapping the home screen button. The command will prompt Vlingo to automatically pull up the location in question, and other nearby venues, on Foursquare, providing users with a fast alternative to touch-based Foursquare check-ins. (via Mashable)

14. Foursquare on Broadway

Have you seen Foursquare in Times Square lately? The geolocation social media app recently had a digital advertisement appear above the American Eagle store in New York City last week, encouraging users to check-in and find their friends. Foursquare is moving up beyond the local Starbucks check-in to the city that never sleeps…moving up has never been so rewarding.

15. SXSW (events) and Foursquare

South by Southwest is a popular music festival in Austin, TX flooded by young adults. The festival has been  integrating technology into the activities for the duration of  the week long event. Three years ago, Twitter dominated and this year Foursquare was all the rage. Over 15 badges specifically created for the festival and SXSW  stated that “Foursquare is a great way to keep track of one’s friends during a busy and crowded day in Austin, TX.”

16. Analytics/Check Stats

Businesses are using Foursquare to track the statistics of their locations in many ways. Here are the real time statistics businesses get insights into:
customer behavior while at venue

• most recent visitors
• most frequent visitors
• the time of day people check in
• total number of unique visitors
• histogram of check-ins per day
• gender breakdown of customers
• portion of foursquare check-ins broadcast to Twitter and Facebook

17. Foursquare as a Businesses Mobile Application

The application works as a real life walking advertisement; a potential customer checks-in somewhere down the block…they see that nearby there is a special deal just for checking-in…chances are they will visit. Foursquare tells users where the deals are and how to unlock them. Essentially, they drive traffic to your location.

18. Customer Service and Support

Foursquare helps guide the customer to this answer though tips and to do lists via friends on Foursquare. The users who give tips are customers with more than an opinion but an experience. These customers speak on the behalf of the company (good or bad). In a nutshell, customers are checking-in and soon discovering what’s so great about the product, venue or food from relevant sources. Businesses can let the customers speak for them and use their word of mouth  to spread the love.

19. Managing an Online Reputation

The application appeals to tech-savvy users and companies use it to promote themselves on various social media channels. Social media allows companies to have greater control of their online reputations. Foursquare is another way a business to manage its reputation by engaging with customers that they know have been to their location.

20. It’s still an open playing field.

Businesses are still figuring Foursquare out, which means now is the time to figure out a locations strategy. Businesses can bring all the things that make social networking fun straight through their doors.  Foursquare offer incentives ( a reason to visit the location), a game and a way to connect with friends. Why not play?

An Awesome Social Content Hub. Social Media Informer.

I would recommend checking out the new Social Media Informer website… no joke… it is the complete package as your one stop shop in webbiquity. What is Webbiquity?

1) The fusion of SEO, search marketing, social media, reputation management, content marketing and interactive PR.

2) Being omnipresent on the web for the search phrase that uniquely describes you or your organization.

3) The place to find help with all of this. Webbiquity – be everywhere online. This is the definition the site provides and with a little research of my own I find this to be true.

Readers can easily navigate through the site to find the information relevant to them. The site also features a newsletter to ensure that you are as up-to-date with the world of social media… from the people who write about social media.The site features contributing writers who cover various areas from blogging, marketing, copywriting….everything.

In short, you won’t be disappointed upon visiting the site. You’ll read up-to-date social media news and can now eliminate the endless search for the most coveted news. The site was launched last Wednesday and already features a list of credible writers.. This site is a definite must read for people wanting share and learn all things of and beyond social media.

As their site promotes….Sharing is Sexy…and they have made it easy to do just that. The site has been created to share high quality content, and expose others to great writers who can help this social media mania be most beneficial to the reader.  Check it out.

1 in 4 US Adults Use Mobile Applications

Smartphones aren’t just for the tech-savvy anymore. According to Mashable, 1 in 4 U.S. adults now use mobile applications. It is no secret that cell phone use has increased over the past couple of years. Currently, cellphones are losing steam while smartphone usage is more commonly the first choice in mobile phones. Smartphones can do more than connect you to the Internet. They provide the user with a variety of applications. Among the most popular apps are those that provide entertainment… surprising huh?

In a recent Pew Internet Project survey a national sample of 1,917 cell phone users were asked about cell phone applications. Of the 82% of adults today use cell phones with 43% of users with apps on their phones. It’s been understood that app users are younger and more aware of current technologies. This survey was able to confirm that app users tend to be younger, more educated, and more affluent.

Overall… application users still rank low when compared to other uses of cell phones. Only 29% of users have downloaded an application  while the highest percentage is at 76% of users taking pictures with cell phones. For those who do have applications on their phones, the average user has 18 applications.

Again, there is some uncertainty among cell phone users… particularly older cell phone users… about what software they have on their phones.  Fully 18% of cell phone users with apps on their phones do not know how many they have.  That figure doubles to 36% among cell phone users age 50 and older.

Finally, the survey showed that there is still some uncertainty among older cell phone users. The uncertainty is in what software they actually have on their phones. 18% of cell phone users with apps  on their phones do not know how many they actually have or what they do. When considering cell phone users over 50 that percentage doubles to 36%.