Sep 28
Love0

The State of Social Media: 3rd Quarter, 2011

By Communications, Media, Public Relations

Listen to the full interview with Coy Barefoot.

State of Social Media on Charlottesville Right Now

Nielsen has published its third quarter, 2011 report on social media usage in the United States. While may of the results are unsurprising to those of us working in media or communications, there are highlights from the report worth mentioning and worth the particular attention of certain industries.

The study, and the overall results are of interest to any marketer or business owner as they dramatically impact the way we do business, attract and keep customers. Some highlights to consider:

More women view video on social networks, but men watch longer.

If you’re using video in your marketing, how does this change the way you’re creating and sharing video? Are men or women your primary audience?

You can scoff at online games all you want; the figures speak for themselves. Internet users are spending more time playing social games than they are spending on e-mail. 

If you’re a marketer or responsible for the marketing success of your business, paying attention to the significance of gaming is important. It may be more effective to gamify your content than continue sending e-mails to your customer base. What does that mean for your promotional structure? How do you make a game of your customer interaction? Have you ordered Domino’s Pizza online? Buy a pizza and experience what a successful social gaming promotional campaign looks like. (The pizza’s gotten a lot better recently, too.)

Another particular point of interest to marketers and business owners:

When compared to the average adult internet user, active adult social networkers are 47% more likely to be heavy spenders on shoes, clothing and accessories.

If this is what you sell, knowing who the social networkers are in your community is critical.  We also know that social networkers are influential offline as well as on; creating value for this audience is important to your business as its revenue.

If your business is a late adopter, or still dabbling without a specific online strategy, get in this game now, before you’re left in the dust.

What highlights from the Nielsen report resonate the most for your business?

 

Sep 27
Love0

How Not to Commit Social Media Suicide

By Public Relations, Social Media

I met with a couple of bright young women today, eager to launch a new business and putting some early thought into social media strategy to support it. One of them expressed concern over committing a social media faux pas — or, as she called it, “social media suicide.”

I thought that was funny and said (truly, I’m not even making this up) that she’d just named the title of my next blog post. . . .

Here are five ways to avoid committing social media suicide:

  1. Think before you publish. Seriously. Sometimes, if you recognize you’re reacting in the heat of the moment, it’s best to let a reactive post sit overnight. Sleep on it. Often viewpoints are clearer the morning after.
  2. Be true to yourself. If you are consistent, believe in what you share and maintain control of your own account, there’s little to be sorry for.
  3. Pay attention to what’s being said. If a national disaster is occurring, don’t be the lone voice sharing your drivel about what you are having for lunch.
  4. Don’t (for the love of all that is good and holy) tweet, thinking you’re DMing, take pictures of your junk (of any variety) and share them online. Jeez!
  5. Don’t ignore reply messages, mentions of your brand, direct messages or other contact to give you a frame of reference for the tone of the conversation.

It seems pretty dramatic, but social media users are a ruthless bunch. Paying attention is important. See: Five Ways to Avoid a Social Media Spanking.

Sep 26
Love0

Five Simple Ways to Manage a Reputation

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Public Relations

How do you manage the reputation of your company? It’s difficult, and there are many moving parts. That’s why so many hire help from a firm or solo practitioner. Not a week goes by when I don’t hear about a business owner fretting over a bad Yelp review or an article damaging to their business or industry.

There are a few basic elements to managing a reputation, such as:

  1. Publishing content that tells the story of your organization in an authentic way
  2. Monitoring what’s being said and written online, to react to opportunities to respond
  3. Proactively pitch media with real news about your business
  4. Position the leaders of your organization as thought leaders and experts; offer them to media members as interview subjects or authors of whitepapers and editorial pieces
  5. Generate conversation among fans of the business

Of course, if a company’s reputation is bad because its product, service or customer relationships are bad, you may do all of the above and the company will still earn the reputation it deserves. Consider carefully your clients, PR and marketing people. And companies? Don’t expect miracles when you’re unwilling to improve the way you do business.

And now, a little Joan Jett and the Blackhearts . . .

 

Sep 24
Love0

Dig Your Gig: Why It’s Important to Love What you Do

By Communications

I’ve been having this conversation with friends and clients frequently — everyone seems to be at a crossroads in their careers, or pining to do something other than the status quo. Last year, I spent my “year of 40” — the year leading up to that “big” birthday — prioritizing, organizing and setting my ambitions free. It led to the decision to leave my employer and start my own business, now a nearly 10-month-old successful enterprise.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/BalmatLaw/status/117321513555861504″]

I’m finding everything about what I do totally gratifying. I love helping people be successful through communications. The feedback I’m getting just fuels the fire of wanting to do more!

Do you love what you do?

What are you waiting for?

Sep 22
Love0

Facebook Changes to Recapture the Emotional Experience: Get Ready to Get Uncomfortable

By Media, Public Relations

I had trouble sleeping last night, not an unusual condition but the unfortunate combination of Dexter in the background as I worked and monitoring of the Troy Davis story as it unfolded. When I did fitfully sleep between 4am and 7am or so (as has become my custom) I had nightmares full of murder and blood.

And I’m OK with that.

I don’t inject politics into my online presence; I’m a business owner and a PR person — I know that’s not appropriate. But as a human being I’m not bothered by telling you that I’m against the death penalty. As an American I will tell you that I think we (the Supreme Court, the justice system, America) failed last night and that troubles me, and it should.

It’s my custom (job, habit) to stay connect to my social networks almost constantly. I was fascinated, then, to watch a division of content unfold. The conversation on Facebook appeared wrapped up in the many layout changes the platform introduced yesterday. You may have heard; people didn’t like them. This series of status updates had a span of uninteresting to “eyeroll.”

On Twitter the conversation was vastly different. Troy Davis was the topic, by and large, with other content looking like an intrusion, an interruption from the guy who enters a room and starts talking before taking a glance around. I learned from it, was enriched by it, moved by people I follow and the passion they shared with the rest of us. That’s important, because if nothing else, a social network should have the ability to move, mobilize and activate people for change. It should be a tool to bind us together for a common purpose. It should be a vehicle for communication when news is taking place right now and help is needed to save lives and make the world a better place.

There are early reports that Facebook’s recent changes are just the trailer for a full-length feature of changes about to debut. Mashable, a trustworthy source for social media news, reports that we should be prepared to see beginning this week. Ben Parr writes,

 

I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media. And while I won’t talk about the mind-boggling things Facebook will be launching, I will say this: The Facebook you know and (don’t) love will be forever transformed. The news that will come out of Facebook during the next few weeks will be the biggest things to come out of the company since the launch of the Facebook Platform.

Parr continues to address Facebook’s growing problem of being able to tap into emotional engagement (which was demonstrated beautifully, coincidentally, last night.) What’s going to happen, is that the platform will evolve with a way to do this, and do it better than any other currently active platform.

We’ll see.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/cnnbrk/status/116711628363407360″]