The Value of Creating a Customer-Centric Social Media Strategy

This is why I want you to read this…

I have good news and bad news for you when it comes to your Social Media Strategy:

The Bad News – Social Media, in general, doesn’t function very well as a marketing and sales channel.

The Good News – Social Media is a great way to make things happen indirectly.

The problem that many companies have with their Social Media efforts is that they are trying to turn these personal communication tools into marketing channels, instead of understanding and accepting how their customers actually use these tools.

The companies that typically understand how their customers use these tools and craft their Social Media strategy accordingly, tend to have better results.

Source: The Value of Creating a Customer-Centric Social Media Strategy | MackCollier.com – Social Media Training and Consulting

This is what I want you to understand. This is what I want you to do…

2012: The year of social business

Image via CrunchBase

We’ll look at back at 2012 as a transformative year in the history of marketing, a year when social media changed everything.

Big brands are no longer experimenting with social media – they are now taking it very seriously indeed. They spent 2011 getting to grips with it from a marketing perspective, and bringing in specialist agency support. Some have gone as far as hiring heads of social media, which is only accelerating the change.

2012 will be the year of social business, when brands realise that to keep up with their more enlightened competitors and to reap the rewards of social media, they need to properly internalise it. To move from one-off campaigns to always-on conversations, real structural and cultural change is required.

Operationalising social media within companies will often start with customer service, as brands realise that turning negative online word of mouth into positive has more impact on their bottom line than their pro-active marketing activities.

Source: 2012: The year of social business / We Are Social

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• Demystifying Social Business (darmano.typepad.com)
• Social Business Solutions from Social Business Teams (johnbell.typepad.com)
• 4 Megatrends in Social Media and Social Business – Forbes (forbes.com)
• Social Media for Business (coydavidson.wordpress.com)

How social media shaped my startup

Image via Wikipedia

Entrepreneurs like myself are faced with many challenges today. This is my story of how I’ve learned to address our marketing barrier – or, as I call it, the Brian Solis barrier.

We are two young, highly motivated, internet junkies entrepreneurs and we are both first time founders. Another important thing is that we are both tech geeks and software engineers. This last one is extremely important because it explains why our first instinct (after we had a kick ass idea) was to start writing code.  Luckily for us I stumbled upon Brian’s blog as we started coding day and night.My name is Tomer Tagrin and I’m a first time founder of a new Internet startup name Yotpo. In three words, our startup is a distributer of User Reviews ; I know it’s a bit vague, but with a quick search you could understand exactly what it’s about.

As I spent hours reading almost every blog post and posts from other top A blogs (David Cancel, OnStartups and much more) I realized something – something which truly changed how our startup is run, developed and spends money. I came to an understanding that what we’re doing isn’t rocket science, and we aren’t building a new technology for voice recognition. Don’t get me wrong, our algorithms and system are really complex, but it’s nothing that other motivated entrepreneurs throughout the world couldn’t do.

So, we have a technology barrier that in my opinion in the Internet of 2011 it’s just not enough. I remember talking with my co-founder, Omri, and we thought, “Boy, if Brian Solis was part of our team it would be the best thing Yotpo can achieve.” I know you think it sounds corny and a bit shallow but think of it as the Brian Solis barrier, and what exactly is the Solis barrier?

via bub.blicio.us

This is why I shared this content with you. And, this is what I hope you will do as a result of reading it. Comment below or ‘connect’ above to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…

Related articles

• Come see me at Social Media 301 (saralingafelter.com)
• Book Review: Engage by Brian Solis (hilarytopper.com)
• “Connected” Film about connectedness & #socialmedia in our lives @BrianSolis with @TiffanyShlain [Georgina Lester] (ecademy.com)
• Social Media Author Brian Solis Joins Altimeter Group As Analyst (socialtimes.com)
• Book Review: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web by Brian Solis (blogcritics.org)

U.S. Army Launches Social Media Handbook

The United States Army has officially announced the release of the 2011 Army Social Media Handbook, a document that’s meant to offer social media guidance for soldiers, personnel and families alike. The handbook is a follow-up to the 2010 Social Media Book, which was produced by the Army’s Online and Social Media Division. According to a post on Army Live, the official U.S. Army blog, the 2010 book “only scratched the surface of Army social media use,” which is why a new document was created. The new social media handbook now provides additional tips and best practices, along with information on operations security tips, branding information, checklists, regulations and frequently asked questions. A list of security tips, provided in the handbook, includes points such as:

• Setting privacy setting options to “friends only.”
• Not revealing schedule information and event locations.
• Considering turning off the GPS function of smartphones to avoid geotagging.
• Reviewing photos and videos before they’re posted online to make sure they don’t give away “sensitive” information.
• Making sure family members understand what type of information can and cannot be posted on social networks.

These Army guidelines and tips come during an era when social media use has become increasingly widespread and accepted in the U.S. military, to the point where the Department of Defense announced a new social media policy last February. On one hand, it’s still possible for commanders to restrict Internet access — going beyond social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter — from time to time. Just last month, the U.S. Air Force blocked more than 25 media websites, including The New York Times, from its computers to prevent access to classified information originally published by WikiLeaks. (Note: The ban did not extend to personal computers.) 

via mashable.com

 

Related Articles

• U.S. Army Social Media Guide Stresses Engagement and Security (mediabistro.com)
• The US Army Publishes Social Media Handbook (piosocialmediatraining.com)
• U.S. Army Launches Social Media Handbook (mashable.com)
• No more social media excuses… (thewayoftheweb.net)
• Don’t Tweet Our Position! The Pentagon Issues A Social Media Handbook To Soldiers (socialtimes.com)

365 ways to build your personal brand

 

via thingstodoingreenbay.com

There are few people I know that have leveraged the internet more effectively to build their personal brands than ‘Green Bay Greg’ Dallaire. The video is one that he shot for a client of mine, Tailwind Flight Center, and it demonstrates the quality of the work he’s doing at ‘365 Things to do in Green Bay’ along with Tony Rouse from MindSeed Labs. If you want to know how to use the internet and social media to build your brand you don’t need to look much farther than Greg Dallaire…

Social media in 2010: a cartoon year in review :-D

via socialsignal.com

 

Exploring the Twitterverse

via briansolis.com

Social Media Revolution and its Affect on Small Businesses

Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

Social media is not a trend and its use is growing exponentially. The tools will evolve and may in fact change, but the need for businesses to incorporate the Internet in general, and social media specifically, into their overall marketing strategy in order to achieve their goals is not going away. Social media will continue to change the way businesses market their brand, products and services because a savvy business is able to be proactive with its consumers, listening to what they want and need and responding to those needs quickly.

Small business owners should be excited about the opportunities available using the Internet and social media to grow your brand and become more visible to your target market. Social media will enable you to reach more people interested in your products and services faster and more effectively without the huge marketing budget that traditional media requires. Social media gives you the chance to reach out, talk with your customers, give them a reason to talk about you and happily share their recommendation with their friends or better, your community. As pointed out in the video, consumers will “no longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media“.

The good news is that according to a study by AMI-Partners, nearly 70 percent of the small businesses in the United States use social media. The bad news is that only 30 percent of small businesses perceive social media as strategically important to their continued business success because they are unsure how to best utilize the sites’ services to grow their business.

via socialmediatoday.com

Related Articles

• Back Up Your Social Media Presence Before the Ball Drops (e1evation.com)
• Email, Social Media To See More Marketing Dollars In 2011 (webguild.org)
• Best of 2010: The Future of Business is Social (briansolis.com)
• Small Businesses Getting More “Social” to Stay Afloat (socialtimes.com)
• Speed Summary| HBR on Social Media & New Rules of Branding (fredzimny.wordpress.com)

What’s holding you back?

The beautiful view from my deck in rural northeast Wisconsin is a great reminder of the power I have to publish and promote; from anywhere to anywhere!

I’ve worked hard to develop a simple blogging workflow that can empower even the most basic computer user. I don’t care if you’re Mac, Windows, Linux, or even Smartphone or iPad — my practical, tactical approach to social media can help  you publish and promote your passion whatever it might be. But “Wah!”, you might say, “I don’t want to learn anything new!” Can you send an email? Can you save a bookmark? Then I can teach you how you can leverage social media to help establish your thought leadership position…

We’re now in an unparalleled time in history where everyone has the power to publish — the question is, will you take advantage of it? I post here every day, day after day, the best of the insight God has given me into leveraging these new media tools. If it makes sense to you, use it, great! If not you know the drill — comment, call or contact me and I’ll be happy to net it out for you!