Category

Social Media

Nov 06
Love0

#Election2012 and the Normalization of Social Media

By Communications, Social Media

Today, Election Day 2012, I, of course am thinking about the last presidential election, and how, for me and for millions of Americans, it was the first presidential election we watched unfold on Twitter.

This time around, that doesn’t seem at all unusual. This time, social tools for a nationally-watched event are so integral, I can’t even imagine an election without them. It’s somewhat unbelievable to me that voting hasn’t become a totally online experience and I wonder if it’s possible we’ll get there between now and 2016. One thing is sure, our use of Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and other tools have grown so significantly, it seems by the next presidential election there will be nary a voter without access to and regular use of one or more of these platforms.

I will likely have an eye on Twitter throughout the day with a glance at Facebook now and again. Later tonight will be a combination of TV and communal watching the results come in with others in person and via the social networks.

Get out there and vote, and let me know how you plan to watch the election unfold. 

Oct 31
Love0

Can you be Dr. Jekyll AND Mr. Hyde on Facebook?

By Social Media

It’s a challenge many of us face — straddling the chasm between our personal and professional lives or the personality we have among friends and the personality we have with, say, our grandmothers.

It’s not that we’re necessarily two different people altogether, it’s just that some content we want to share with friends, and some we really don’t want our grandma to see.

So who to be on Facebook, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? And can you successfully manage being two different people on that social network? 

My first piece of advice is this: DO NOT HAVE TWO DIFFERENT PROFILES. First of all, it’s weird. Second, it makes it really hard for people to figure out which one of you they should be friends with.

Instead, manage who sees what by developing lists. For some, that list may be “Grandma and Mom,” or “Colleagues,” or “Exes from Texas.” The other list, the one you share ALL your crazy stuff with, may be simply “Friends.”

For me, I have lists like “Besties” and “Charlottesville” — the town where I live. I have “Business Contacts” and “Family.” Separating my friends into categories serves another purpose; it keeps me from boring the pants off of the people who just don’t really care about my Pinterest pins, my social activities or my cousin’s wedding.

This means, of course, that I have to manage my posting more carefully — I have to actually select to whom any given post is visible. It takes work!

Is it worth it? Well, for those of you struggling to maintain some kind of illusion with your grandmother, I suppose it is.

To get started, click on Friends in the sidebar and Create List. Give your list a name you’ll remember so you can, at a glance, know who’s included in that distribution.

Now, when I post an update, I can select from my list to decide who gets to see that update. For example, if I want to post something relevant to my St. Louis friends, I would select only that list.

It’s a bit cumbersome, sure, but can save a few embarrassing conversations with Grandma over the Thanksgiving turkey.

Facebook has also built in a setting that defaults to the LAST LIST TO WHICH YOU POSTED. So be careful to select the right audience before you post.

Editor’s note: Seriously — go see Jekyll and Hyde at Play On Theatre in Charlottesville this week — it’s spooktacular!

Oct 29
Love0

Four Ways to Use Social Platforms to Drive E-commerce Sales

By Communications, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Social Media

With all the blogging, sharing, news articles and conferences that tout and exploit the uses of social media, you’d think the idea of using it to drive e-commerce sales would be a no-brainer. I mean everyone’s doing that, right? Anyone with an online storefront MUST be using their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and Pinterest boards to drive traffic to product landing pages, right?

Turns out, not everyone understands that, especially in B2C. I was at a training session yesterday with one of our favorite retail clients, teaching them the amazing benefits of Sprout Social. This is a pretty great social media dashboard tool that allows you to manage all your social media presences from one location. As I was helping them hook it all up, I was also asking how these platforms were being used so far. Were they promoting items in the store? Sharing design ideas from their own people? Promoting designers and products outside of the store? Driving traffic to their online web store?

Turns out they were really only using their social platforms to promote things outside their store–designers, other Pinterest boards, other blogs. They weren’t really using the social tools to drive everyone back to their OWN store, either online or bricks and mortar.

I was very surprised, to say the least. But it made me think that maybe they weren’t alone, especially if they were a small business with limited time and resources. So here are some things you can do right now to help drive more sales using social tools.

  1. Set up a Facebook page and update it regularly. MOST people who buy things online have a Facebook presence of some sort. 67 percent of B2C companies and 42 percent of B2B companies have acquired a customer through Facebook (Hubspot, 2011). Use it to drive traffic to your blog, your Pinterest page, or better yet, specific product landing pages on your site. Facebook is a great way to stay in front of customers generally.
  2. Set up a Pinterest page to showcase your products. According to a recent BizRate Insights study, “sixty-nine percent of consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve purchased or wanted to purchase.” In some studies, it’s even outpacing Facebook as a product purchase influencer. While both sites are used to connect with people who share common interests, “Pinterest is more of a product finder and decision influencer.”
  3. Set up a Twitter account for sharing thought leadership. Post content from your blog, and ideas from others, along with deals and ides on your OWN site. Twitter is less effective as a sales tool for consumer products, but it’s great for business solutions and products.
  4. YouTube is still one of the largest search engines, so you have to have a channel. This can really enhance SEO as well. Post weekly video tours of section of the store, specials, or events you might be hosting in your brick and mortar store, but link to corresponding product or category pages in the online store!
  5. Make sure to set up Google Analytics on your web store so you can see what links drive the best results. It’s pretty easy and Google already tracks the major social platforms. You’ll quickly get an idea of what each platform brings to the table in terms of traffic and sales. The key here is to be everywhere, targeting each platform to do what it’s good at. But don’t be afraid to drive traffic to your store, rather than just your blog.

Need help? Call us!

Enhanced by Zemanta
Oct 08
Love0

New: Endorse Your Contacts on LinkedIn

By Social Media

As a LinkedIn user, you may have noticed that you’re suddenly racking up endorsements as fast as an Olympic athlete. Since you can’t seem to recall your medal-winning athleticism, you may be wondering, what the heck is going on here?

LinkedIn launched a new feature to allow its users to “endorse” — with one click — the skills people in their network claim to have. Here’s a sample from my own account:

As a bonus, LinkedIn will e-mail you to let you know who endorsed you and for what — extra points if your employees or customers endorse you out of the blue — you’re doing a good job!

I like this feature for a couple of reasons:

  1. It doesn’t require the user to request the endorsement of their contacts.
  2. You list the skills and expertise you have and others select from your list.
  3. It provides a quick and easy way to recognize others for their capabilities — we often get hung up on the crafting of the perfect testimonial recommendation — this takes that cumbersome task out of the picture.

Endorse someone today!

Oct 02
Love0

Managing Privacy on Social Platforms

By Social Media

Last week, I spoke to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Emerging Technologies luncheon. My topic was privacy in the digital age and I wanted to particularly address ways one can manage one’s privacy using social media.

As a fan of social platforms, the last thing I want to do is instill fear in people about engaging online. It’s too easy to opt out and claim that it’s too dangerous or that privacy is a wholly false notion, never to be trusted again.

It is NOT difficult to manage privacy online but it DOES take some thought, research, planning and intent. It DOES take paying attention when platforms change their settings; their default setting is NOT to help keep your information private — anything but, in fact. So an active social life requires active management of one’s online presence.

Facebook, for example, gives users the false impression that those to whom they’re connected are “friends.” Are they, though — really?

I shared the following image during the presentation to make a point: I may be connected to more than 1,000 people on Facebook, but I have a list of those whom I consider “close friends,” numbering 20. Truth be told, that number’s probably even a little high. My very closest inner circle is only about three people. Sorry, Facebook universe, I just can’t be close to all of you.

When I post items to my personal profile, I can select from a list, WHO CAN SEE WHAT — and often it’s merely to not bore people outside of Charlottesville with Charlottesville-specific posts.

Overall, my main point when speaking about privacy and the social web is this: if it’s private, please don’t put it online. Meet a friend for coffee. Call your mom. But don’t post it on Facebook.