Archive for April, 2010
LinkedIn- the sleeping giant?
Posted by Paul McSweeney in Company News, Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking, Thoughts & Opinions, World News on April 30th, 2010
News has come out today that LinkedIn is to follow (literally!) in the footsteps of Twitter and Facebook by introducing the “follow” button for their users to track companies.
So now, any LinkedIn user can follow a company on the network, and will receive real-time alerts from the profile in their news and activity stream. It’s very similar in theory to the act of “following” someone on Twitter of becoming a fan of someone on Facebook.
With over 45 million registered users, it is no surprise to us that LinkedIn is pushing more social features.
We think there are potential risks here for the online reputation of companies. They need to ensure their pages are updated with relevant, and fresh information all the time. There will need to be procedures in place in terms of who can update the pages, and what they can say.
What do you think?Is this something that could potentially benefit your business? To enable potential job applicants to keep an eye on the jobs coming up within your company in the near future is one use for this…can you think of any more?
A quick test …… blog to ping … to networks ….
Posted by David Harrison in World News on April 30th, 2010
Social Media Presentation
Posted by David Harrison in Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Useful Stuff on April 29th, 2010
Quite a short post – I gave a talk recently to Enterprise Nation on Social Media and thought it might be of interest, so feel free to download, digest and circulate! Social Media Presentation.
Why is no-one reading my blog?
Posted by Paul McSweeney in Social Media, Thoughts & Opinions, Useful Stuff, World News on April 29th, 2010
This is a widely discussed subject within social media. I have been reading around and tried to break down some of the most relevant points as to how you can potentially get a great deal more out of your blog.
Many employees get disheartened as people don’t read their blog posts, and not enough companies actually realise how much money a blog can actually make you.
The biggest mistake people make with their company’s blog is getting the wrong person to write it. Think of a blog as you would a Formula One Car. You can have the best car on the grid, but if you get your Grandmother to drive it, the results will not be to your expectations.
People are anonymous on the internet, and if you put the company junior in charge of the blog, it will either be ignored or ripped to pieces.
And if you apply Game Theory to Social Media; which many of the leading voices in the field are; you are only as good as your last blog post in terms of building the networks you will need to generate business from this.
Your blogger needs to be able to talk about your business and your industry as good as anyone in the company. They are a spokesperson for your brand. The person needs to be paid well, since you are effectively turning them into a public figure; your brand ambassador if you like. Many companies make this mistake.
Always remember, that yours is not the only blog out there. You need to take several steps before you promote your blog. There is a hierarchy!
Step 1: Listen. Go to the leading blogs in your industry. See what is being said, and from there, you can work out what needs to be said. Find your place in the “blogosphere”
Step 2: You must follow first. You don’t lead first. Learn to follow first and people will start to trust you. Therefore, go to industry blogs and leave comments. Reference useful posts within your own posts. Add to the discussion and people will get to know your name.
Step 3: In time, then you can become a leader. But if you have not established yourself as a competent blogger, who can be relied upon for relevant and fresh information, you simply won’t cut the mustard!
Don’t just talk to yourself. Smart bloggers don’t invent something from scratch..they reference others’ posts and then add to them.
You need to be timely in your opinions. If they are not up-to-date, then why would someone bother reading it? You will simply get lapped by bloggers who actually have something relevant to say.
Make it visible as well. People need to be able to find it easily on your company website. Put it on your signature and reference it in newsletters.
Another and final word..keep it under 500 words..that is smart blogging!
Some links that you will find useful for additional reading are:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports/community-management/
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/
Start now: Leave us a comment and then check out this blog..one of the leaders in the field..start participating to build trust and get new business! And please let us know how you fare of course.
How do I use Social Media to get me business if I am a 1 man band?
Posted by Paul McSweeney in E Mail Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking, Thoughts & Opinions, World News on April 28th, 2010
In short; it can only be achieved by building stronger relationships.
You can have the largest network around, but if you are not engaging in conversation, little fruit will be borne out of your efforts.
Social media can expand your freelance network exponentially and yield opportunities that you’d never find elsewhere. But just like knocking on doors in the traditional way, it takes investment, hard work, and time.
Perhaps the most obvious advantage of social media is connection building. As a freelancer or a small business, you are your brand, and like any social marketing campaign, it’s not about racking up followers or flooding the space with links. It’s all about the conversation, that will generate ultimately pitches and then business.
In each type of social media where you participate, you should have a core group of friends who you talk to regularly. The primary way to get to know others through social media is to respond to their comments with questions.
It does require consistent effort and ability to monitor and focus on which methods are giving you the biggest feedback.
Social media offers small businesses the chance to compete with large ones online; but your must be prepared to invest that most precious of resources..time.
Some of our clients have acquired business via Twitter, and others through LinkedIn.
How have you managed to use social media to generate business? We would love to get your experiences to share with our customers.
Please talk to us – we hate being lonely!
Posted by David Harrison in World News on April 27th, 2010
We are not really that lonely! But we would like to get more of a two way dialogue going please – that is after all the whole point of this social media mallarky is it not?
You can “engage” with us via the routes you would expect:
Blog Feed, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.
Ask us questions, give us a hard time – whatever you like except for a shed load of spam obviously!
We look forward to hearing from you!
11 Killer Social Media Presentations Worth Watching
Posted by David Harrison in Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Useful Stuff on April 27th, 2010
You have probably noticed that we at Severn Internet are cranking up our output on the blog at present! It has been too much a case of “Do as we say, not as we do” of late so hopefully we are addressing that now and trust you are finding some useful information contained within the posts. Please subscribe to the RSS feed so we can keep you up to date even easier!
On the subject of RSS, more and more people are no longer visiting the actual site where news is posted – they are viewing it in a reader and then going there if they want to. It is highly likely that any story is just one of many in a news reader so do try and write a catchy, attention gathering headline!
This post is really a link and also a plug for the people I am sending you to. Hubspot is a great company and it’s founders have also written a great book called Inbound Marketing. I would recommend you think about buying their book and you should also subscribe to their site – it has loads of excellent material.
The link to their article headlined above is http://bit.ly/bEMLwe
Let me know if you think it is worthwhile. We are always on the look out for new sources of info so do let us know if you have anything good we should be looking at too.
YouTube: no longer simply one big video library!
Posted by Paul McSweeney in World News on April 27th, 2010
There are over 78m registered users and 24hrs of video uploaded to be shared on YouTube every minute (source: Social Commerce Today) Whilst much of this content is not so much shopping-related, research shows that people are increasingly sharing information on products and services via YouTube. For younger people especially, YouTube is fast becoming their premier product information resource. A new shopping search engine if you like.
One of the best examples of this is a video showing a diver being effectively mugged by an octopus. The diver was trying out a new Panasonic camera, which the octopus stole. The video depicting the robbery and the subsequent chase to get it back, went viral with over 2 million views in just a few days. Moreover, this created long conversation threads, with much of the conversation focusing not just on the event, but also on the durability of the camera and the quality of the video!
Of course, this is beyond the wildest dreams of the Panasonic marketing department, but it shows an important point. This is content from real people using real products in real situations – and this is far more compelling than content which is pushed at the consumer via any marketing agency. It shows YouTube as a powerful product demo tool.
http://bit.ly/abNNTb
I am not suggesting that this happens all the time of course. It is more luck than anything. Something takes hold and it just goes from strength to strength. The power of the viral loop is something everyone is chasing, but very few marketing agencies manage to attain. It is something neither they nor any manufacturer can control. It all lies with the user. No-one can predict it.
But when it comes to marketing, video can be a great way to interact with potential customers, but you must do it correctly in order to attract new customers and not chase them away. They must see your video as providing them with interaction as well as value in order to be an effective means of social media marketing.
YouTube should certainly not be overlooked as a social media tool. We would be interested in hearing your YouTube success stories. How have you used it? How has it worked for you? Do you have any tips or tricks that you would like to share? Please use the comment section to share your YouTube experiences.
The Social Networking page of the future…
Posted by Paul McSweeney in Facebook, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Thoughts & Opinions, World News on April 26th, 2010
How can we as a web design agency help you maximise the potential of your social networking pages? For us, the key to a successful social networking strategy is ongoing interaction of users with your company.
With this in mind, you should start to view these pages as an integral part of your web site. Another way for your users to engage with you, whether it be for customer service, product reviews, or other relevant content that you upload to these areas.
To get users to interact with you, we suggest enabling several important functions. Allowing your customers to leave their own product reviews, invite them to provide input on new products you plan to introduce, or to share their shopping carts with friends. Facebook and the like, to a certain extent, already provide the community part. It is up to you to provide the interactive and engaging elements. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, for example, they bring the people to you. So you should leverage that by targeting your audience within these communities and providing them with what they want.
So take a look at your current web sites, and think of innovative ways, you can invite users to comment upon your products or share information with their friends. Get their input..they are your customers after all!
Social Media Job Description- in-house or outsource?
Posted by Paul McSweeney in World News on April 23rd, 2010
We have talked in various blogs recently, about the need for Social Media to be part of a long-term corporate strategy. A twitter account and a blog posting once every 3 months is not sufficient! So what I have done is had a look around at social media jobs in large corporations. What are they looking for? If some of the most successful companies in the world are taking social media seriously, then so should you! Below is a list of some of the principal day-to-day roles a social media manager in a top firm is expected to fulfil. When you go down this list, you will soon be able to realise whether you have the resources in-house to do this, if you want to bring someone in to do this job, or whether you would like a friendly and knowledgeable company such as Severn Internet, to come and either help train your staff or undertake the social media strategy for you on an ongoing basis. We look forward to your comments.
What your social media manager needs to do?
Responsibilities – the key responsibilities for this position include:
• Create a comprehensive social media strategy to define programs that use social media marketing techniques to increase visibility, membership and traffic across all your brands; and implement and manage social media programs
• Experiment with new and alternative ways to leverage social media activities (“marketing R&D”)
• Monitor trends in social media tools, trends and applications and appropriately apply that knowledge to increasing the use of social media in your company.
• Formulate strategy with and educate the management team and others across the company on incorporating relevant social media techniques into the corporate culture and into all of the company’s products and services.
• Measure the impact of social media on the overall marketing efforts.
Experience – the ideal candidate will have experience in the following areas:
• Social media tools and techniques
• Marketing (traditional, new media, guerilla and ‘word of mouth’)
• Strategy
• Product marketing
• Press and analyst relations
• Business development
• Technology
• Operations
• Sales
Attributes – the key attributes for this position include:
• Creativity
• Willingness to experiment
• Ability to deal with uncertainty
• Ability to contribute individually, and lead, manage or participate in cross-functional teams
• Doggedness and determination
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of data into actionable information
• Excellent writing skills and a willingness to use them
• Excellent verbal communication skills
• Persuasiveness
• Ability to create great working relationships with all levels within the company and across multiple disciplines
• Sense of humour
This is an expansive list but should serve as a yardstick for SMEs to maximise the potential of social media. If anything, I hope that this list illustrates the need for an ongoing strategy. As I mentioned before, you need to be in this for the long haul, and to be patient to get results.
How many of you have a social media manager? Have I missed anything out on this list, or have I gone OTT? We would love to hear from you..and of course, if we can help in any way, just post a comment or get in touch with us!
Now go out and enjoy the sunshine!!
-
-
You are currently browsing the archives for April, 2010
