Posted in Gen y, social media

12 comments

12/03 2009

The Generation Y Disconnect on Social Media

(Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a characterization of generations… just something I have noticed around the past few months)

I gave a lecture to a couple of classes at Purdue University last week about Social Media. You know… everything they could possible want to know. It was an introduction to the power of social media marketingfor small business in the present and future. I noticed something that was fairly surprising to me as a Generation Y social media user. The majority (and when I say majority I mean 99%) of the students used nothing but Facebook. I am talking about nothing. No Myspace. No Twitter. No StumbleUpon. No LinkedIN. They all used Facebook.

Many would think that the majority of Generation Y (or millenials) would be using all forms of social media they could get their hands on.. apparently not so. This also applies to my friends. The only platform the majority of my friends use is Facebook. Why is that?

The light finally dawned when I read a post by David Armano explaining the evolution of social media from SOCIAL to NETWORKING. There is a disconnect between college students using other tools because frankly… they THINK they shouldn’t need to. Think again.

There needs to be a huge push in higher education towards social media education. Graduates should be taught how to use LinkedIN and Twitter to job search. They should be told about sites like Brazen Careerist and Careerscribe and NOT about Monster and CareerBuilder.

Education needs to shift HARD to new tools and not to whether your resume should be copy and pasted into the email or saved as an attachtment. Give me a break.

I worry that the new work force is not being taught to utilize the world of social media for networking and link building.

Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere? (socialmediatoday.com)
Social Media Checklist: Where to Brand Yourself Online (lookuppage.com)
Research Status: The Future of the Social Web, Social Media In A Recession (web-strategist.com)
Social Networks Now More Popular than Email; Facebook Surpasses MySpace (socialmediatoday.com)

Posted in Guest Post, Social Strategy, social media marketing

0 comments

11/03 2009

Guest Post: Finding Your Anchor in Social Media

Michael Reynolds is founder of SpinWeb.. SpinWeb is a Web Marketing & Brand Development Agency. Our philosophy is that of taking a holistic approach to caring for our clients and their Internet and Brand strategies.

Social media makes it very easy to post and distribute information. This can sometimes lead to information overload as we struggle to keep up. For this reason, it’s important to find your anchor.

Your anchor is your general “theme” or focal point as a company when generating activity on social networks. Your anchor is that part of your business that you can talk about over and over and always find new ways to create buzz and new people to talk to.

An anchor can be a product. If you create great products or a great product line, post information on creative ways to use your product or tips on getting the most from it. Events also make great anchors. If you represent an event-centric organization, like an association or networking group, social media is a great way to distribute your events on a regular basis. Sites like Facebook and Smaller Indiana even let you accept RSVPs online.

Without an anchor, your social media activity can be a little fragmented and lack mojo. Find that theme, product, service, or area of expertise that you are passionate about as a company and tell the world about it in a way that benefits your constituents.

What’s your anchor?

Posted in Micro-Blogging, Viral Marketing, Word-of-Mouth, business, microblogging, social media marketing, twitter

43 comments

11/03 2009

25 Small Business Twitter Tips

We have been getting quite a few questions over at Brandswag about Twitter. The questions range from personal use to business use. I thought I would put together a list of 25 Tips for small business owners to use when starting out on Twitter.

Use them. Learn them. Love them.

1. Use your personal picture in your Twitter profile. There is only one situation where you can use your logo… if you have two profiles. Your personal profile and your company profile.

2. Don’t setup an Auto-DM to send when users follow you. Why you ask?

Here are two posts talking about why you should not:
Tweeter Blog: How to STOP These Freakin Auto DMs
Social Media Club: To Auto DM or Not to Auto-Dm

3. Use Twitter Search to find subject matters that interest you. This can cater to your business interests, as well as your personal interests. This will help you find people that share

4. Personal life reigns… but not too much. Add in some of your personal life while you are using Twitter. What is important to remember is that you are using Twitter for your business generation as well. The people following you want to know that you are REAL… but not to the point where they are hearing about what you are eating or where you are driving.

5. Use it. It is important to use Twitter as much as you can but not to the point where you are wasting valuable time when at work. Tweet about what you are reading online.. Maybe a new insight you found while reading the night before. Try to use Twitter a couple of times a day.

6. Reply. Reply. Reply. Whenever you get a response (@yourname) make sure that you respond to the reply. This is extremely important because your most valuable followers are the people that respond and communicate with you.

7. (via John Janstch) Use strawpoll to create a survey to feed into your Twitter stream. This will be an awesome way to get information regarding service offerings and products.

8. Follow some awesome business Twitter people (@problogger, @chrisbrogan, @gacconsultants, @business901, @roundpeg, @Ribeezie)

9. Use a business Twitter account (example: @brandswag) to create a great place for customer relationship management. Teach your clients to use Twitter to keep with the happenings of your company. Also, it can help you share the news and information regarding the success of your clients.

10. Use Twitter as a discussion forum. Ask your clients and prospective clients what they would like to see, hear, taste, and experience.

11. Help. (via Twitip) Always help before asking for money. Twitter is not a place for you to hard sell individuals on services. We are here for discussions and not sales.

12. I started out with a personal profile that allowed me to create relationships before starting my company profile. (also via Twitip) I was able to cleaning transition between two accounts because people trusted me. If you start two accounts at the same time you will be overwhelmed and underwhelm your followers.

13. Use TweetLater for productivity. I don’t recommend using this tool much. You need to be involved in the conversation as you start sending tweets. If you are not there to interact with your followers there really is not a point for using the tool. Though.. it does help for those random tweets to stay connected.

14. Take pictures and share on TWitter. Add pictures on Twitter using Twitpic using your iPhone or mobile phone.

15. Use Google Analytics to measure the traffic directed from Twitter to your blog or website. If you can measure the traffic related to sales or aquisitions it help you understand an ROI from the tool.

16. Encourage your employees to join Twitter and become part of the conversation.

17. Twitter connets thought leaders. Talk about a great brain trust!

18. Fill out your profile. Make sure you put information regarding your personal life as well as your business life. This is important because.. everyone reads it.

19. We add our Twitter URLs to our business cards. I also like to add my LinkedIN account and blog URL. This will encourage more of your networking friends to follow you and communicate more effectively.

20. Follow @Zappos. A perfect example of corporate blogging.

21. Download TweetDeck. Tweetdeck is a powerful tool to help you be productive while using Twitter.

22. Are you using a Blackberry or iPhone? You should definitly be looking at downloading an application to help you manage your twitter account while you are out of the office.

23. Thank you. When someone shares your post or tweet make sure you send a DM or Tweet thanking them for their support. Just as you should be emailing people to thank them for comments… same goes with Twitter.

24. Don’t AUTO-DM. Please… it is completely and utterly worthless. Show some personality and human quality when using Twitter. The worst thing to do is Auto-DM. There is a reason I put this twice in the list.

25. Don’t add hundreds of people when you first join Twitter. Let the entire conversation happen naturally.

If you have anymore tips. Please add them below! Get on it!

Marketing, Social Media Community, blogging, business, content, relationship, small business, social media marketing

0 comments

10/03 2009

Grow Your Biz Using Social Media Class

For those of you in the Indianapolis area.

I have completed some Rain University Classes the past couple of months and I have another class coming up on the 19th of March.

This class is not for beginners. We will not be covering basics. It will help if you have been through at least one of the introductory classes or are already blogging and engaged in several social media sites.

Social networking is a great way to promote your business and build your brand. With that said, how do you use it productively? How do you spend 30-60 mins a day and get the most out of social media?

What you will learn:

What is the big deal about Social Networking?

Our 4 Site Social Media Productivity Plan

Strategy plan for Social Networking

Networking 24/7

Measuring Return in Social Networking

We will also be offering this class with a live online video stream. To find out more information follow the link to the Information Page.

Micro-Blogging, Uncategorized, small business

2 comments

10/03 2009

The Guardian Gets It. NY Times Still Missing.

The Guardian (out of the UK) has finally launched an open platform that allows users to share and distribute content directly from their site.

And I would like to say that traditional journalism (at least some of them) may finally be understanding what it means to share and distribute content.

Now onto the people who are still not understanding the concept of the new media: the NY Times. NYT is still trying to focus on the paid subscription and micro-payment models.

I still don’t understand why the New York Times is still having problems accepting the fact that content is now free in an online environment. The Guardian has it figured out.

Take your content and allow users to share it across the millions and millions of pages spread across the Internet. Why? Because the consumer is now in control of the content spread across the web. Let the consumer control the content and your traffic will fly!

New York Times publisher to sell HQ (guardian.co.uk)
Journalists out for lunch – ethics and etiquette? (blogs.journalism.co.uk)
Saving Newspapers, Part MMIX: Collude and Conspire (boingboing.net)
On Being a BoingBoing Guest Blogger (boingboing.net)

Social Strategy, microblogging, small business, social media marketing, social networking

3 comments

10/03 2009

Twitter Replaces Offline Networking

(disclaimer: this rant stems off a post by Mike Sanson at ConverStations)

I hope I never find a blog post written towards a social media site replacing face-to-face networking. It is extremely important for all business owners to realize social media marketing is not meant to replace your traditional strategies… just transform them.

I have told people now and again… If you ever come to me and say you stopped all traditional marketing and started a Facebook page… I will smack you in the face with my mind. I am not really that physical of a person and pretty tame.

Sites like Twitter are meant to strengthen your network and add a second touch point to the people geographically close to your business. They were never meant to replace face-to-face networking, ever. Go ahead and test it out.

Invite a Twitter friend to coffee or lunch. You will find that the working relationship has progressed a little farther because of the use of social media. You will learn a lot about a person online before you ever meet them.

It just adds to the fun!

What’s Your Social Media Baseline? (beth.typepad.com)
Talking Social Media with Chris Brogan (marketing.blogtanker.com)
Social Media Marketing – What the Heck Does that Mean? (biztipsblog.com)
Twitter Or Facebook ? You Need Both For Different Reasons (advancingwomen.com)

Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Micro-Blogging, ROI, blogging, business

5 comments

9/03 2009

Social Media and the Recession

When is the next phase of the Internet going to present itself? We hear talks about Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 but when are we going to see social media adapt into it’s third phase? It could be after the recession.

I was reading a post by Chris Charabaruk about social media surviving the recession and he makes a comment about social media adapting towards the end of 2009:

“I think that social media will survive the recession. The idea itself is so insidious, so viral that it’ll never be stamped out. But how the world of social media will appear at the end of the recession will certainly be much, much different than it looked like going in.”

I always liked to dream that the next phase of the Internet or social media would be through innovation and a new form of communication. When will the next phase come? When does innovation and quick development happen? In what Keith McFarland calls Hard Times University in his book Breakthrough Company.

When we are faced with hard times and adversity… the survivors shine through. I think we will see the advent of a new form of social media because of the economic crunch. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace will have to learn how to monetize or die and because of that market stress they will evolve or die.

I am excited to see the transition. In like every market there are deaths, changes, and rebirths.

Unless you are Ford and GM… then you get a bailout.

What’s Your Social Media Baseline? (beth.typepad.com)
Social Media Measurement – Without Myopia (marketingpilgrim.com)
Exploring Social Media: Do You Know How to Use the Social Web? (blogherald.com)

Marketing, Reputation Management, microblogging, small business, social media, social media marketing

4 comments

9/03 2009

Defining Twitter Using Your Goals

Twitter is slowly starting to shift mainstream and (believe me) this does not mean anyone really knows how to use the tool. It is a chameleon of sorts, shifting definitions with every new user who joins the network. There are a few necessary rules that have been developed post the creation of the site.

Overall it is a growing mass of people spouting links, ideas, quotes, conversations, and sometimes the Sleestacks (Copyright Michelle Riggen-Ransom via Twittip).

The question now stands… How do you define Twitter for yourself and how do you use Twitter the right way? Remember how you use the tool is completely based around your definition.

Defining Twitter

Why define Twitter? It is pretty simple. SO YOU DON’T WASTE TIME! Social media can be a huge time-suck if you do not define how you use each site. Believe me… even the most dedicated can drown in the social media pool.

Ask yourself why you decided to use the tool. Was it because you heard it was the THING to do? Do you want to keep up with old friend and colleages? Do you want to use it as a business networking tool? Maybe lead generation?

The questions you ask yourself are extremely important. Be honest with the way you want to use the tool. Write down your goals for using the Twitter network. I will give you the first couple goals on my Jan 2008 list.

1. Increase brand recognition for Brandswag and Kyle Lacy.

2. Learn from the professionals in the social media world.

3. Become obsessive in order to help others use Twitter for their benefit.

Twitter is whatever you define it (business and personal goals). Honestly, that is what makes the tool so attractive in the long run. Your experience is based on how you use the tool, who follows you and vice-versa.

How do you define Twitter?

Will social media survive the global recession? (coldacid.net)
Social Media could be the savior for SMB’s (socialmediatoday.com)
HOW TO: Manage Multiple Social Media Profiles (tsurch.com)

Corporate Strategy, Social Strategy, business, social media

7 comments

8/03 2009

Myspace Dominates in Business

I have met my fair share of Myspace haters the past few years. Admittingly I have become a hater. I really do despise the overall design and the “trashy” brand name Myspace has developed… I do. Now, just because I hate using the tool doesn’t mean I don’t respect their business prowess.

Mashable recently had a post talking about the new Citiforward Myspace Credit Card, which is a great business tool for Myspace to increase their $600M revenue posting from 2008. Whether or not you agree with the concept of credit cards or offering a social-networking card is not the reason for this post. The simple fact is that Myspace is owning the rest of social networking sites in terms of revenue.

The question still stands: Will Myspace be able to hang on to the business model they have created? Will Facebook actually figure out how to monetize 130M users? Will Twitter ever make money (Good luck)?

I can give the people over at Myspace my respect…because in terms of business…they own the market.

HOW TO: Manage Multiple Social Media Profiles (mashable.com)
Facebook Pages: Barack Obama Gets Less Features Than You Do (mashable.com)
Follow Mashable on Facebook (mashable.com)
New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers (mashable.com)

indianapolis, relationship, social media mission, social networking

0 comments

6/03 2009

35 Lbs of Food to End Hunger

There is a great site that was just launched yesterday by Indianapolis creative firm Mediasauce. The site is called Pledge to End Hunger and it was created to help feed needy families and children across this great nation of ours.

I am a huge fan when companies take the initiative and try to make our world a better place. The site is extremely well designed and as of this morning they have a total of:

761 Pledges

266,351 lbs of food

106,540 meals

On the site there is a way for the user to either GIVE, VOLUNTEER, or SHARE. To be completely honest with you… I just get excited when people take it upon themselves to help others. This is a great way to get a ton of people onto a cause and the site is well designed too! I am looking forward to seeing what comes of this entire campaign.

Also, if you are looking for a good way to take your website from 1.0 to 2.0… Go check out the Pledge to End Hunger site.