Affichage des articles dont le libellé est social media. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est social media. Afficher tous les articles
jeudi 31 mai 2012
5 Branding Tips for Your Launch
1. Logo and Website Design
We live in a culture that wants things to be aesthetically appealing. Having a firm understanding of what your business says in a visual sense can help you create a design and feel for your branding collateral.
The visual aspect of your logo and website should speak in both literal and figurative terms, about the character of your business. If you are a wholesale wine distributor, it make sense to have a bottle or a glass of wine in your logo, or perhaps you want something a little subtler. A bundle of grapes or a wine barrel could work just fine. Decide what characteristics you want your business to stand for about the industry you’re in, and try to visualize it. This will enable you to describe to developers what look you're going for. Your logo and website will define your business both online and offline, so make it something you’re proud of.
2. Social Network Business Profiles
These sites are an important part of your online influence, and a great avenue to reach your customers. Once you’ve decided that a business profile is for you, I would recommend looking into other companies you look up to, and note what they’re doing well with their profiles. You want to generate content that your fans will find interesting, and want to share. Some of this information can be deals, or information on products or services you provide, but you might want to also post articles or videos you find helpful, useful, or entertaining.
3. SEO
As a small business owner, the hardest obstacle you’ll have to overcome is being “seen." The Internet is littered with small business websites all vying for the same small corners of the web. It’s imperative you focus on driving more traffic to your site, and drive up your search engine optimization. Social networks can help a lot, as well as having a blog as part of your site. Identify ways you can reach your customers (advertising, partnerships, etc.) and take the necessary steps to get your name out there. The more unique visitors you can drive to your site, the better your Google rank will become, which in turn makes you more visible online.
4. Publicity
PR is another great way to make yourself visible both online and offline. If you’re involved in any sort of charitable work, alert local media so they might want to cover it. Position yourself online as an expert in your field, and make yourself available for comments and opinions. Target smaller publications and blogs at first to build up your persona, and create working relationships with the media. PR can get very expensive very quickly if you pay for it, so as a small business it makes the most financial sense to take care of it in-house. I offered to write articles for various publications on and offline to build up my reputation, which has to led to many free PR opportunities for my company.
5. Testimonials
Once your business is up and running, make sure you connect with your customers so you understand what is working and what isn’t working. Don’t be afraid to tweak your product or service, and be receptive to feedback. It’s important to understand that no matter how much experience you have in business, you never cease learning how to do business better. When your clients are happy and vocal about your product or service, ask them for a testimonial. You can share these on your site, and it will prove your worth to other potential customers as well as instill trust in possible future clients.
Dan Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen-Y research and management-consulting firm. Subscribe to his updates at Facebook.com/DanSchawbel.
12:01 0
mercredi 30 mai 2012
Mark Pincus On Zynga’s Facebook Addiction: “We’ve Never Thought Of It In Terms Of Attachment (Or Detachment)”
“Zynga is very tied to Facebook,” Kara Swisher brought up immediately, describing the two stocks as “tethered together.” Indeed, Zynga makes up 15% of Facebook’s revenue, and Facebook makes up most of Zynga’s.
“They’re really important not just to us.” Pincus said, “Facebook is providing a new part of [the ecosystem's] stack, there is now a social stack and an app stack.” Pincus went on to describe the social graph as “magical” but expressed concern at Facebook’s pace of innovation on mobile, “On the web they’ve been really important with regards to distribution.”
Pincus called out for more mobile discovery options, and referred to Android and iOS as platforms that held just as much importance for the future of Zynga. “Discovery and the return path to apps still needs innovation on mobile,” he emphasized.
In order to address the lack of a unified place to discover apps of mobile, Pincus brought up that Zynga had aspirations to become this platform, aiding third parties in the distribution of social games, an ambition that Swisher compared to that of Xbox Live. But it’s sort of tough to become a platform while you’re still addicted to another.
Because Pincus didn’t clearly address how its reliance on Facebook for its primary revenue was being dealt with strategically inside Zynga, The Verge’s Josh Topolsky asked the CEO again about Facebook during Q&A, “How are you going to get detached from Facebook?” Topolsky said, “What is your actual strategy for being a business on your own?”
“We’ve never thought in terms of attachment or detachment,” Pincus responded, “We have a 90 to 10m rule, which means that if a platform can bring us 10m DAUs in 90 days then we invest at scale. Facebook met that rule and Android and iOS have the potential, he said.
“I think of it like the evolution of TV.” Pincus explained. “People wanted to watch TV but our desire to watch TV wasn’t created by the networks, it was a relationship between us and content. People have a latent interest in playing independent of the platform and we are willing go anywhere.”
11:13 0
How Stan Lee Became a Social Media Superhero "EXCLUSIVE"
by
Excelsior! At 89 years-old, comic book legend Stan Lee shows no signs
of slowing down. In fact, the creative force behind iconic Marvel
characters, including Spiderman, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, is
more digitally connected than many whippersnappers half his age.
Lee will launch his own comic convention — Stan Lee’s Comikaze, Presented by POW! Entertainment — in September. The event is partnering with the location-based social engagement app Buzzmob to provide exclusive content to fans at the show, as well as connect those unable to attend.
Mashable recently sat down via Skype video chat with the Generalissimo himself, as well as with Comikaze CEO Regina Carpinelli. We talked comics, tech and social media — areas in which Lee also excels.
On Twitter, he’s amassed about 280,000 followers and tweets regularly from his home and office computers. (“I wear out a keyboard a week,” says @therealstanlee. “That’s how hard I hit them!”) He also just launched a new YouTube channel, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes.
Buzzmob, meanwhile, will give Comikaze a sophisticated level of social and mobile interaction. The app functions as a mini-social network for fans in attendance, letting them see who else is nearby and what else is going on at the convention, while simultaneously allowing Lee and other organizers to send out timely contests and notifications. But that’s not all — comic book fans who can’t make it to Los Angeles for the show can check in for a digital experience.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in Cambodia or Temecula,” says Carpinelli. “We want everyone to be a part of the show.”
Read on to see why Lee and Carpinelli partnered up for Comikaze, how Lee practically invented social media (you’ll be surprised), and his thoughts on how technology has changed the world of comic books. Also, stay tuned for one more upcoming treat — the entire Skype conversation in video form.
So what’s your first convention going to be like?
Lee: It’s going to be fan-tastic! I’ve always wanted to have my expo, my own comic con. But that’s not my business — I don’t know how to run them. Then I met Regina! She said, ‘Stan, how would you like to be a part of Comikaze?’ I had been to the first Comikaze, and it was wonderful! So I said, ‘By all means.’ Not only am I part of it, she put my name in front! It’s now Stan Lee’s Comikaze.
I’m real excited about this — it’s going to be a fan convention. The fans are everything, they’re going to be thrilled, they’re going to see new things they haven’t seen before. It’s going to just be the most fun convention there has ever been.
Carpinelli: And tickets are only $15! It’s jam-packed with amazing guests. Stan invited Todd McFarlane, and Elvira’s coming and doing all kinds of interactive content…
Lee: The Mistress of the Dark!
Carpinelli: We’re all about our fans and doing something awesome for our community. Eventually we’re going to take over the world.
Lee: Why haven’t we already?
What’s Buzzmob’s social integration going to bring to the table? How’s that going to help Comikaze?
Lee: We’re going to accommodate all the people who can’t make it, and we’re going to be in touch with them on the web! We’re going to have all sorts of things on the web for people to participate. I’m going to let Regina talk about it because, for one thing, she’s prettier than than I am, and my throat is getting hoarse.
There are also two websites you want to go on. One is ComikazeExpo.com. Then Stan has an amazing site called TheRealStanLee.com. Stan is such a tastemaker, and he’s always at the front of technology.
Lee: No, no — she didn’t say I’m wearing a pacemaker. I am a pacemaker!
Carpinelli: A tastemaker!
Lee: Oh — a tastemaker. Okay. Well, I’m a pacemaker, also.
That seems like a pretty cutting edge approach for a comic convention. Why did you guys feel like it was so important to introduce that mobile, social element?
Carpinelli: Keeping up with technology is really important. Anyone can have a regular convention. We want to change how conventions are made.
Lee: We want to change how the world goes on! See, we can’t bear the thought of one human being missing out on all this wonderment. That’s why, through Buzzmob, if we can contact everyone in the world through the web and let them be part of all these great things we’re doing, its almost as if we’re performing a great public service, you see.
I think we shouldn’t have to pay taxes, because what we do is for the good of all mankind. I’d say more, but I’m getting all choked up emotionally.
Carpinelli: I keep trying to get Stan to run for president.
Lee: How about King of the World? President seems so local.
Was it easy or hard for you to get into Twitter, and why do you keep up with it so diligently? Not every 89-year-old man is doing that.
Lee: I always try to be out there somehow. One of my big fears is that somebody anywhere in the world might forget me, and I must never let that happen.
Twitter was easy to get into. When I was doing the comics, I had a column called “Stan’s Soapbox” that ran every issue of every book, and I would just talk about anything I felt like — of course, I made it incredibly entertaining and knowledgable for the readers. But Twitter is the same thing.
Twitter’s only the beginning of your social media expertise, though. What’s up with your new YouTube channel, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes?
Carpinelli: What is going on is they have all these fantastic, fabulous shows. There’s Stan’s Rants, where Stan complains about things — and it’s amazing. There’s Cocktails With Stan, where he sits with Jenna Busch, and they have drinks and interview these amazing people.
Lee: But we never drink too much! For our younger viewers out there, one sip and that’s all we have.
Carpinelli: There’s also an awesome show called Adrianne Curry’s Super Fans. She’s this beautiful model, reality show host — and huge, giant nerd. You can send in your videos and tell Adrianne how nerdy you are and why you are the biggest super fan, then she shows up at your house and looks at all your nerd stuff.
Lee: Somehow I feel like the conversation is never as interesting when it’s not about me.
Carpinelli: Elvira also launched an interactive web series with us, called Elvira’s Horror Hunt. Amateur filmmakers can send in their horror films. The winner gets flown out to L.A. and gets a screening of their movie with a red carpet premier at the Vista Theatre. The next day, they’ll be a guest at Stan Lee’s Comikaze.
Lee: I hope everyone is taking copious notes. There may be an exam!
Here’s a question from our reader, wdeg: “You’ve had an incredible career and could easily be kicking back on an island somewhere enjoying the fruits of your labor. So, why aren’t you retired? What keeps you getting up motivated every morning?”
Carpinelli: Stan’s a giver.
Lee: That’s right. And I love the fans and want them to know I’m always there for them. See, most guys say, ‘I can’t wait to retire so I can do what I really want to do’ — play golf and so forth. But I’m already doing what I really want to do! Please don’t make me have to spend time on the golf course. That would be like a prison sentence!
This one’s from another Mashable reader and fan of yours, Manny Redruello: “If Twitter and social media had been around during the early stages of your career, how do you think you would have used it then?”
Lee: Well, I didn’t have Twitter, but I had my column and we had letters pages in the comic books, where readers would write letters. You know the reason I wear glasses now? Because I strained my eyes! I read every damn letter and answered as many as I could. I was writing to them and they were writing to me, and it felt like I had a million friends all over. So that was my Twitter in those days.
And I never thought of them as fans — they were friends. Everyone who writes to us and tweets to us now — these are friends of ours, and you’ve got to be good to your friends. You can’t be on the golf course when your friends need you.
Carpinelli: It’s amazing to see how gracious he is to his fans, and how they respond. I’ve seen people cry when they meet him. It’s fantastic.
Lee: You notice when people say nice things like that, I never interrupt? I let her talk and talk. About people crying to meet me, though — I hope that isn’t taken the wrong way.
Carpinelli: They’re tears of joy!
Lee: When it comes to stories, no change at all. We could write a good story today that was like an old story — there’s no difference. But some of the comic books have a whole new look now — they look like beautifully illustrated tablets. They look like paintings, rather than just regular comic book drawings, and it’s the addition of the computer coloring and computer lettering.
There are some purists who feel that we ought to go back to the old comics, that they were more like real comics. But everything changes. Everything advances. To me, most of the changes are improvements. We can’t live in a way where we say, ‘I like the old stuff better!’
It’s impossible to go back to yesterday — you have to keep moving along with today and tomorrow. To me, what makes the arts so much fun is that they keep changing with the times….Hey, that was a great speech!
Thumbnail image courtesy Gage Skidmore, Flickr.
Lee will launch his own comic convention — Stan Lee’s Comikaze, Presented by POW! Entertainment — in September. The event is partnering with the location-based social engagement app Buzzmob to provide exclusive content to fans at the show, as well as connect those unable to attend.
Mashable recently sat down via Skype video chat with the Generalissimo himself, as well as with Comikaze CEO Regina Carpinelli. We talked comics, tech and social media — areas in which Lee also excels.
On Twitter, he’s amassed about 280,000 followers and tweets regularly from his home and office computers. (“I wear out a keyboard a week,” says @therealstanlee. “That’s how hard I hit them!”) He also just launched a new YouTube channel, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes.
Buzzmob, meanwhile, will give Comikaze a sophisticated level of social and mobile interaction. The app functions as a mini-social network for fans in attendance, letting them see who else is nearby and what else is going on at the convention, while simultaneously allowing Lee and other organizers to send out timely contests and notifications. But that’s not all — comic book fans who can’t make it to Los Angeles for the show can check in for a digital experience.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in Cambodia or Temecula,” says Carpinelli. “We want everyone to be a part of the show.”
Read on to see why Lee and Carpinelli partnered up for Comikaze, how Lee practically invented social media (you’ll be surprised), and his thoughts on how technology has changed the world of comic books. Also, stay tuned for one more upcoming treat — the entire Skype conversation in video form.
Q&A With Stan Lee
So what’s your first convention going to be like?
Lee: It’s going to be fan-tastic! I’ve always wanted to have my expo, my own comic con. But that’s not my business — I don’t know how to run them. Then I met Regina! She said, ‘Stan, how would you like to be a part of Comikaze?’ I had been to the first Comikaze, and it was wonderful! So I said, ‘By all means.’ Not only am I part of it, she put my name in front! It’s now Stan Lee’s Comikaze.
I’m real excited about this — it’s going to be a fan convention. The fans are everything, they’re going to be thrilled, they’re going to see new things they haven’t seen before. It’s going to just be the most fun convention there has ever been.
Carpinelli: And tickets are only $15! It’s jam-packed with amazing guests. Stan invited Todd McFarlane, and Elvira’s coming and doing all kinds of interactive content…
Lee: The Mistress of the Dark!
Carpinelli: We’re all about our fans and doing something awesome for our community. Eventually we’re going to take over the world.
Lee: Why haven’t we already?
What’s Buzzmob’s social integration going to bring to the table? How’s that going to help Comikaze?
Lee: We’re going to accommodate all the people who can’t make it, and we’re going to be in touch with them on the web! We’re going to have all sorts of things on the web for people to participate. I’m going to let Regina talk about it because, for one thing, she’s prettier than than I am, and my throat is getting hoarse.
“Keeping
up with technology is really important. Anyone can have a regular
convention. We want to change how conventions are made.”
Carpinelli: If you’re at the show as an attendee and
you log in, you get exclusive content: downloads, contests with magical
gifts and prizes. If you’re in a panel room, but there’s something else
going on, you could still be following that on your phone. But the
greatest thing is, if you can’t be at the show because you live far
away, you can still log in and get special stuff and see videos and
photos. It’s just like being at the show — but on your phone. There are also two websites you want to go on. One is ComikazeExpo.com. Then Stan has an amazing site called TheRealStanLee.com. Stan is such a tastemaker, and he’s always at the front of technology.
Lee: No, no — she didn’t say I’m wearing a pacemaker. I am a pacemaker!
Carpinelli: A tastemaker!
Lee: Oh — a tastemaker. Okay. Well, I’m a pacemaker, also.
That seems like a pretty cutting edge approach for a comic convention. Why did you guys feel like it was so important to introduce that mobile, social element?
Carpinelli: Keeping up with technology is really important. Anyone can have a regular convention. We want to change how conventions are made.
Lee: We want to change how the world goes on! See, we can’t bear the thought of one human being missing out on all this wonderment. That’s why, through Buzzmob, if we can contact everyone in the world through the web and let them be part of all these great things we’re doing, its almost as if we’re performing a great public service, you see.
I think we shouldn’t have to pay taxes, because what we do is for the good of all mankind. I’d say more, but I’m getting all choked up emotionally.
Carpinelli: I keep trying to get Stan to run for president.
Lee: How about King of the World? President seems so local.
Was it easy or hard for you to get into Twitter, and why do you keep up with it so diligently? Not every 89-year-old man is doing that.
Lee: I always try to be out there somehow. One of my big fears is that somebody anywhere in the world might forget me, and I must never let that happen.
Twitter was easy to get into. When I was doing the comics, I had a column called “Stan’s Soapbox” that ran every issue of every book, and I would just talk about anything I felt like — of course, I made it incredibly entertaining and knowledgable for the readers. But Twitter is the same thing.
Twitter’s only the beginning of your social media expertise, though. What’s up with your new YouTube channel, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes?
Carpinelli: What is going on is they have all these fantastic, fabulous shows. There’s Stan’s Rants, where Stan complains about things — and it’s amazing. There’s Cocktails With Stan, where he sits with Jenna Busch, and they have drinks and interview these amazing people.
Lee: But we never drink too much! For our younger viewers out there, one sip and that’s all we have.
Carpinelli: There’s also an awesome show called Adrianne Curry’s Super Fans. She’s this beautiful model, reality show host — and huge, giant nerd. You can send in your videos and tell Adrianne how nerdy you are and why you are the biggest super fan, then she shows up at your house and looks at all your nerd stuff.
Lee: Somehow I feel like the conversation is never as interesting when it’s not about me.
Carpinelli: Elvira also launched an interactive web series with us, called Elvira’s Horror Hunt. Amateur filmmakers can send in their horror films. The winner gets flown out to L.A. and gets a screening of their movie with a red carpet premier at the Vista Theatre. The next day, they’ll be a guest at Stan Lee’s Comikaze.
Lee: I hope everyone is taking copious notes. There may be an exam!
Here’s a question from our reader, wdeg: “You’ve had an incredible career and could easily be kicking back on an island somewhere enjoying the fruits of your labor. So, why aren’t you retired? What keeps you getting up motivated every morning?”
“Most
guys say, ‘I can’t wait to retire so I can do what I really want to do’
— play golf and so forth. But I’m already doing what I really want to
do!”
Lee: I wouldn’t dare retire, because when I think of
all the enjoyment that I bring to people out there, I know I couldn’t
deprive them. It wouldn’t be fair for me to not let them enjoy me as
much as humanly possible. Carpinelli: Stan’s a giver.
Lee: That’s right. And I love the fans and want them to know I’m always there for them. See, most guys say, ‘I can’t wait to retire so I can do what I really want to do’ — play golf and so forth. But I’m already doing what I really want to do! Please don’t make me have to spend time on the golf course. That would be like a prison sentence!
This one’s from another Mashable reader and fan of yours, Manny Redruello: “If Twitter and social media had been around during the early stages of your career, how do you think you would have used it then?”
Lee: Well, I didn’t have Twitter, but I had my column and we had letters pages in the comic books, where readers would write letters. You know the reason I wear glasses now? Because I strained my eyes! I read every damn letter and answered as many as I could. I was writing to them and they were writing to me, and it felt like I had a million friends all over. So that was my Twitter in those days.
And I never thought of them as fans — they were friends. Everyone who writes to us and tweets to us now — these are friends of ours, and you’ve got to be good to your friends. You can’t be on the golf course when your friends need you.
Carpinelli: It’s amazing to see how gracious he is to his fans, and how they respond. I’ve seen people cry when they meet him. It’s fantastic.
Lee: You notice when people say nice things like that, I never interrupt? I let her talk and talk. About people crying to meet me, though — I hope that isn’t taken the wrong way.
Carpinelli: They’re tears of joy!
“Everything
changes. Everything advances. To me, most of the changes are
improvements. We can’t live in a way where we say, ‘I like the old stuff
better!’”
A number of readers had questions along these lines: How have
you seen technology change comic books over the past couple decades,
and do you think it’s been good for the industry?Lee: When it comes to stories, no change at all. We could write a good story today that was like an old story — there’s no difference. But some of the comic books have a whole new look now — they look like beautifully illustrated tablets. They look like paintings, rather than just regular comic book drawings, and it’s the addition of the computer coloring and computer lettering.
There are some purists who feel that we ought to go back to the old comics, that they were more like real comics. But everything changes. Everything advances. To me, most of the changes are improvements. We can’t live in a way where we say, ‘I like the old stuff better!’
It’s impossible to go back to yesterday — you have to keep moving along with today and tomorrow. To me, what makes the arts so much fun is that they keep changing with the times….Hey, that was a great speech!
Thumbnail image courtesy Gage Skidmore, Flickr.
10:10 1
Pepsi to Provide Free Music Downloads on "Twitter"
The “Live for Now Music” initiative is an extension of Pepsi’s recently launched “Live for Now” global campaign, will offer free music downloads, music videos and a series of pop-up concerts this summer and fall. Every Wednesday for the next 52 weeks, Pepsi will offer videos providing an overview of the artists, music and music news trending on Twitter that week.
In addition, @pepsi will offer free downloads from the Amazon MP3 store for fans who follow the brand on Twitter and use the hashtag #PepsiMusicNOW in their tweets. The brand will also use Twitter to announce pop-up concerts, which it will offer on-demand afterward for fans who want to watch it later.
The deal comes about two weeks after Twitter announced another long-term deal with ESPN to create custom ad programs around major sporting events. Twitter, which makes most of its money from advertising, is poised to post ad revenues of $259.9 million this year, according to eMarketer.
09:59 1
mercredi 9 mai 2012
Easy Ways to Fit Social Media Into Your Business
We got advice from members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization of promising young entrepreneurs that has access to tools, mentoring and resources that support each stage of business development. The organization promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and under-employment.
1. Determine the goal. "[Look at] how the new social media platform aligns with your overall social media goals by asking these questions: Will it create more sales? More engagement? Better customer service? Next, establish forecasts and measure the costs against the benefits. If it makes sense to add the new platform to the mix, try it out for a few weeks to see what happens."
— Logan Lenz, founder and president of Endagon
2. Outsource other things. "Unless you want your social media accounts to read like robots are writing, you're going to have to put in some time and effort. Outsource other things that you don't do well so you can focus on true engagement. Social media is a strong tool to nurture clients and leads. Of course it's going to take work, but it's well worth the returns."
— Kelly Azevedo, founder of She's Got Systems
3. Syndicate existing content. "Whenever a new social media platform appears on the scene, I start by syndicating what I'm already doing to [the new one]. It's rarely the best approach to get full benefits, but it allows me to start learning that platform without stressing about using it perfectly. That way, the new platform doesn't dramatically add to the workload. Then, as best practices emerge, I can evolve my strategies and rearrange priorities."
— Thursday Bram, consultant for Hyper Modern Consulting
4. Focus on quality. "It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to social media. Post strategically and you will not have to overload yourself trying to keep up a constant presence on all new sites. Prioritize each social media platform by which one has provided you with the best ROI and focus the majority of your time there."
— John Hall, CEO of Digital Talent Agents
5. Prioritize your presence. "Prioritize where you want to focus your social marketing efforts. You don’t have to be present on every little social media platform. Find the ones that fit your needs and provide the most success and focus your time there."
— Brent Beshore, owner and CEO of AdVentures
6. Repurpose old content. "If you have posts that worked well on Twitter or Facebook, rewrite them in a different way and share them on new networks when they emerge (such as Pinterest). Content is king and if you have valuable stuff, don't spend time re-creating it. Instead, spend your time distributing it to the masses."
— Lucas Sommer, founder and CEO of Audimated
7. Adapt to a management platform. "Using tools like HootSuite or Buffer, you can add multiple social network accounts into one dashboard to view. Send all of your updates from there. Both tools allow you to schedule updates to go out on multiple platforms. Buffer especially will find the best times for you to tweet to receive the most return response and maximum exposure. HootSuite enables you to have side-by-side timelines for reading and sending."
— Lane Sutton, social media coach at Social Media From a Teen
8. Make it work with ifttt. "[The company]'s claim that it will 'put the Internet to work for you,' is a good one. Social media can take up a lot of time, so a tool [such as ifttt] that gives you one hub where you can update numerous platforms is a touchdown. Update one platform from ifttt while it updates the others without you having to manually do it."
— Ashley Bodi, co-founder of Business Beware
Put these resources to work for your business by trying these tips from upcoming entrepreneurs on effective social media strategies.
What helpful advice have you gotten about social media lately?
07:21 0
Sexiest Social Network: Your E-Mail Inbox
The truth is that the best social network is the one that benefits you the most.
What is beneficial may differ, depending on your business. If you're a home-improvement company, you might get more out of Pinterest. If you're a musician, you'll love Soundcloud. Google+ is loaded with photographers.
But none of those networks are the sexiest. Instead, your e-mail inbox is the most powerful and alluring network that exists.
Inbox Allure
When someone chooses to read your e-mail and responds or forwards that e-mail, it's a much deeper interaction than hitting a Plus icon or a Like button and moving on to the next consumable.
If I've earned a spot in your inbox, I've got your most intimate social network near at hand. You can introduce me to people who matter to you. You can forward my message or idea to someone else. The interaction stays with you.
Smaller Is Sexy
There's a reason that smaller is sexy. While Facebook is nearing its 1 billionth customer, another network called Path that imposes limits is getting some attention. Path limits you to 50 friends. It's a very small, very intimate social network. You can do a lot of the same things that you can on Facebook: Post location, photos, text, and so on. But only be 50 people can see what you post.
As a small-business owner, if I can focus my attention on a very small group of people (or maybe two small groups—my would-be buyers and my sources of new ideas), I won't be so overloaded with what could be. I can decide who matters and dedicate my efforts to them.
Huge social networks generate fantasies of huge potential: I could reach millions of prospective buyers. But check out some smaller networks and see if you can serve them more fully. You might find that you'll do better.
Small Is Not Local
When I praise small networks, I don't mean location-specific networks. Geographic diversity is very important if it's at all possible in your business. If your customer base is limited to your region and it's impacted by an economic or weather issue, you'll be low on buyers. If you can sell to more than one locale, you have a better chance of diversifying your streams of revenue.
More paths help sustain your business. If you can sell somewhere other than only local, give it a go.
What Works for You
Sometimes targeting a smaller network serves your business better than trying to reach infinite numbers of customers. Evaluate what you put your energy into to decide what will best serve your business. Don't be distracted by the potential of reaching the masses when your own closest network—your e-mail contacts—may be the one that will benefit you the most.
What are you doing with small or not-so-small networks? Which network matters most to you now?
06:13 0
dimanche 6 mai 2012
What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised
Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes).
Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008.
The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join.
“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”
As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.
Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170.
With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow.
“If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time.
“Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.”
Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments.
10:09 0
What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised
Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes).
Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008.
The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join.
“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”
As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.
Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170.
With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow.
“If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time.
“Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.”
Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments.
09:45 0
mercredi 2 mai 2012
8 Ways to Cultivate Serendipity in Business and Life
Thor Muller and Lane Becker, co-founders of Get Satisfaction, the community platform that lets companies participate in an ongoing online conversation with their customers, saw it as not just dumb luck, but rather a series of strategic moves on the part of Instagram leadership that led to the historic acquisition.
Muller and Becker have published a new book called Get Lucky, which outlines the skills and elements we need to begin cultivating luck.
"Luck is a fundamental part of how the world works," according to Muller and Becker. "Open any history book and you’ll find stories of curious people looking for one thing and finding another."
The Search for Luck
When asked about the secret of Google’s meteoric rise, company co-founder Sergey Brin replied that "The number-one factor that contributed to our success was luck." Muller and Becker maintain that Brin wasn’t saying this to dismiss his accomplishments. Instead he was arguing that it requires more to happen than any one person can fully take credit for in order for something to succeed with the scale and speed that Google did.
"What Brin can take credit for," they say, "is being open to serendipity, and being willing to use it to his advantage." They add that Brin combined a passion for his work, a commitment to his organization’s purpose and a willingness to do whatever it takes to find the best way to put those qualities to work in the world.
Planned Serendipity Explained
Those qualities are all part of the skills of what Muller and Becker term "planned serendipity." Muller and Becker believe that planned serendipity is the only way to succeed in our fast-changing world, where so many things are out of our control.
"Accidents happen," they say. "There’s nothing mystical about them—but it’s our practical ability to take advantage of the best accidents that transforms these from forgettable moments into incredible opportunities. This is the essence of planned serendipity, the kind of luck you make for yourself."
That's good news, since most of us have at one time or another envied a competitor who seems to win by sheer good fortune while we keep working tirelessly without ever realizing that sudden overnight success.
The real question is, how can we introduce serendipity into business and life and put it to work? Muller and Becker offer these eight suggestions:
- Motion. Maximize physical and conceptual movement in your workspace.
- Preparation. Focus on breeding and feeding obsessive curiosity.
- Divergence. Minimize fixed plans and goals to allow for changing circumstances.
- Commitment. Choose from all your options the right ones to focus on.
- Activation. Create new activities to open up your awareness of all the possibilities.
- Connection. Optimize the number and quality of connections with others.
- Permeability. Replace the rigid walls most organizations put up to keep themselves separate from other people and organizations with an open exchange of information.
- Attraction. Project your purpose out into the world to draw the best and most valuable events, people, ideas and opportunities toward you.
But how do you begin creating a life and workspace open to serendipity?
"Break out of your routine!" they implore. "Routine is the enemy of serendipity."
Muller and Becker add that to take advantage of unexpected surprises, you have to put yourself in a position to encounter the unexpected. This is what they call "the essence of motion," putting yourself in unfamiliar situations, but within familiar environments, to engage with previously unfamiliar people and ideas that are connected to your job, your projects or your interests.
As a practical example of how anyone working away at a job might do this, the authors offer the following advice.
"Visit a different department inside your company. Attend a conference in an area related to your job, or even pick a different place to sit for lunch in the cafeteria each day."
"Here’s a little secret," they add. "No one succeeds without an assist from the unexpected. But every successful person on this planet employs the skills of planned serendipity."
How do you change up your routine? Have you had a stroke of good luck happen lately?
12:43 0
lundi 30 avril 2012
5 Ways Coaches and Experts Can Hurt Your Business
The main problem with experts today is that everyone seems to be one.
Don’t get me wrong. We need experts. The next time my dishwasher breaks, I want an expert to fix it. And sure, if my business needs help with marketing, I want a marketing expert to help me. But you need to separate the good from the bad by watching for the following five warning signs.
1. Hasn’t been there, hasn’t done that
You want a coach or expert who has actually done what you are doing. While a coach may have training in your field, nothing can top hands-on experience. Look for a coach that has direct experience in what you need advice about.
2. Big words, little action
It is easy for an expert to gain credibility by writing. Many experts quickly dominate the blogosphere with sage advice. But the reality is that words mean nothing if you can’t execute. Look for coaches who both write about what they do and do what they write about.
3. Advice, but no specific experience
Ever ask an expert what they think about your product or service and they then tell you why it is a horrible or great idea? I don’t care if you have 100 years of consulting experience. If the expert is not the end consumer of the product or service, his advice is wrong.
The consumer knows what she wants. Listen to her.
Tip: If you want to quickly qualify an expert, ask them what they think about your offering. If they offer advice, without qualifying (or disqualifying) themselves based on their consumer experience, they're likely giving you bad advice.
4. No coach of their own
If a coach doesn’t have his own coach, red flags should fly! It could indicate that the coach you're hiring doesn’t believe in being coached. Or, that the coach feels she has nothing left to learn.
5. Nothing to learn from you
An expert doesn’t know all things. Being an expert means having superior knowledge and hands-on experience in one category. To apply this knowledge on your behalf, the expert must learn about your business. If they aren’t thirsty to know more about your industry or if they don't ask for your direction, you may be getting a one-size-fits-all solution. At the end of the day, that's not a real solution.
When you need an expert in a certain field, be discerning. You want someone who knows what they’re talking about, does what they talk about, is constantly learning and doesn’t try to solve all problems with one easy-fix solution. That expert will give you some great advice.
09:07 0
5 Social Media Activities for Your Next HR Training Session
But a new way of thinking is to encourage smartphones, laptops and tablets. Make them a part of the session, since today’s training participants are multi-taskers. Trainees may want to tweet, post pictures and take notes to add a valuable interactive element to their own learning experience. In this new school of thought, trainers are becoming facilitators. It's a great opportunity to introduce trainees on how to properly engage with social media to add a professional benefit to not only their own employment but also to the company at large.
Adding social media is a terrific means to spark conversation before, during and after a training session. Here are five examples of training sessions that provide employees with a great grasp on how to wield social media for the good of the company.
1. Facebook before you train
Prior to a learning event, a trainer can create a Facebook group for participants. This page can be used to solicit and convey information about the program. In addition, videos can be posted prior to the session to provide background information for participants. You can also post materials using document sharing systems such as Google Docs or SlideShare.
Some of the advantages to using a Facebook group prior to training include: getting participants engaged with the trainer, breaking down any barriers between the group and starting a discussion about the subject prior to meeting. All of these are good ways to engage the group before the formal training session starts.
2. Start networking on LinkedIn
Objective: Recruiters are online, companies are online, job seekers are online and you should be too. A professional profile is a necessary tool in our social media-focused world, so there's no excuse not to have one.
Technology: LinkedIn
Activity: Ask participants to set up a LinkedIn account, then give them tasks. For example, ask them to connect with five people they know, update their profile with their current job, make at least one recommendation and join one group.
Discussion: Talk with new users about the experience. What did they learn about the platform? What tasks were easy and difficult? Where can they see the advantages of using this social networking site in the future?
3. A map of our team
Objective: Great for virtual teams to build a stronger sense of team identity and the individuals on the team.
Technology: A location-based map service like Google Maps or Bing Maps. If your company wants to implement a custom or branded map, OpenStreetMap is a great option.
Activity: Assign each team member a unique marker or pushpin. Team members can place the pushpins on the map anywhere to identify landmarks related to them, including details where appropriate.
Examples of relevant locations are where a person currently works, the location of corporate headquarters or regional offices and the locations of key customers or vendors. You could also include the city or campus where a participant went to college, the farthest place you’ve ever traveled or the location of your first job.
Discussion: Ask the group about how sharing information helps to build teams and how geography plays a role in a person’s work style.
Source: The Big Book of Virtual Team Building Games by Mary Scannell, Michael Abrams and Mike Mulvihill.
4. Customer service role play
Objective: To practice customer service recovery situations.
Technology: Twitter
Activity: Create a Twitter account that simulates angry customers. Then, assign participants the specific roles (customer, sales rep, manager and operations department) and give them an assignment. For example, a customer might complain that his equipment isn’t working. The team should work together to troubleshoot and offer a solution.
Discussion: Ask the group if they were able to solve the problem and how they accomplished the task. This can also be a great activity to discuss clarity in communications.
Source: Social Media for Trainers by Jane Bozarth.
5. Tweet your training
Another consideration is to create a Twitter hashtag for your training session so participants can read through all of the tweets. After the session, the hashtag can be used to post a summary of key points and articles or blogs of interest. Trainers can host Twitter chats or a guest speaker to keep the conversation going as a method of increasing learner retention.
Conclusion
Adding social media to training isn’t creating a distraction; it’s a way to engage people with the tools that most of us are already using in our lives. What better way is there to enhance the learning experience for everyone involved?
09:03 0
8 Professional Tumblr Themes for Your Small Business
When it comes to your small business website, image is everything.
How you present your company on the digital sphere is important, and as we've learned recently, people are searching for the word "Tumblr" more than "blog." The micro-blogging site has become a more serious platform for brands, whether it's to show brand character,
offer a peek behind the scenes, or just to update customers on the
latest from their storefront. But with so many social media sites to
juggle for your business, why add a Tumblr to the mix?Tumblr has carved a niche for itself in embracing a more graphic and design-oriented aesthetic, which is a plus for your company if you're looking to distinguish yourself in a more meaningful way than you can through a generic Facebook Page. You should also keep in mind that there are more than 50 million blogs on Tumblr. That's a lot of people who could be looking at your site.
The best place to start is simply setting up a Tumblr. After that, selecting a theme will help your site stand apart and look more professional. If you don't have the budget for a custom theme, there are plenty of great free ones to choose from in Tumblr's theme garden. Try to choose one that works with your brand and the utility goals of the blog. For example, if you're looking to inform customers about what's happening within the company, you'd be better off with a classic blog format. However, if you're looking for something more visual, a pinboard style theme might be a better option.
Feeling a little in over your head? We rounded up eight classic, professional Tumblr themes that will work for your small business:
1. Simple Things
This theme is a basic option for a business owner who wants a simple site, but also desires a more modern look.
2. Natural Elegance
By going with a darker background, text and images stand out, and your site looks sleek and contemporary. This theme is used best when you're taking a graphical approach to your Tumblr.
3. Simplify
The name of this theme says it all: simple. This is a great option for a business owner who is just looking for the very basics.
4. The Atlantic
This theme, stylized after popular news magazine The Atlantic, gives your site a newsy feel that's professional and customizable. It's a good option for businesses with more text-based posts, such as keeping customers up to date on the latest from your company.
5. Art She Said
This theme has a nice italic font that makes text stand out, and its clean, classic look will make your business' site look pretty sharp.
6. c/c/c/ theme
This theme is elegant, classic, with a simple pretty font.
7. Content Focus 1.1
What's great about this theme is the fact that it has more than 60 interchangeable options for its appearance. You can switch fonts, colors and layout to match your company's branding.
8. Brickway
This theme lets you customize colors and the social buttons at the top give it a highly professional accent.
08:56 0
Open Source and the Future of Capitalism
That analogy serves as the title of the book Standing on the Sun by Christopher Meyer and Julia Kirby, which gives a big-picture view on how capitalism is changing and how those changes are impacting businesses. Even though the book seems to focus on large markets and corporations (and reading this text can feel like heavy lifting), there are nonetheless some profound points that small business owners can use to prepare for coming changes.
Here are a few key points from the book.
Open Source Doesn’t Equal Free
If your company is in the software or hardware development game, open source may feel like a drag on your profitability. But according to Meyer and Kirby, although open source software and hardware often follows a "freemium" model, that doesn't mean you can’t make money. There are lots of software companies that have an open source product and then build on it with a more advanced version that customers purchase.
Standing on the Sun, espouses this collaborative, interconnected way of the future by citing numerous international examples of technology being used in unexpected ways. For example, it shows how mobile phones “power” a village by giving merchants access to local and national markets. Another example is the U.S.-based small business Adafruit, a DIY electronics kit maker, which encourages its community (with a cash reward) to hack the Microsoft Kinect system with an open source driver. Microsoft objected at first until it realized this sort of collaboration could benefit its systems, too. You can read the full post here.
Faster Product Development via Makerspaces
Another way the open source movement is benefiting small business is in prototyping. The good news is that you don't have to invest $20,000 in a laser cutter or high-end 3D printer for prototyping. You can join a makerspace, hackerspace, or an open access public workshop like TechShop (although there are only five across the country right now). Many start-up small businesses are leveraging these technologies by purchasing, leasing or joining a community space where they get access to tools and machines.
Square, the credit card processing device for mobile phones, was prototyped in the California TechShop in about two weeks. This is also an example of “reshoring,” where large and small companies bring their manufacturing operations back to the United States from China. Prototyping the Square device overseas would have been both cost- and time-prohibitive for the inventors. Thus we are seeing an evolution toward small urban manufacturing that makes it easier to produce locally. (Check out my OPEN Forum post 13 Ways to Create Products in Real Time, for more on devices that help you create prototypes or even working products.)
Using Hashtags in Your Marketing
Tagging content on your site makes it possible for like-minded individuals to connect and makes tracking social media a bit easier. Not to mention that like open source software, it is free to employ. Meyer and Kirby suggest one or two hashtags in each chapter to spur online conversation. Think about your marketing pieces, your blog posts, your events and how you could add simple hashtags for people to use on Twitter and Facebook.
The world economy, like everything in life, is always in motion and always changing. We don’t always notice it until enough change has taken place. Thanks to Standing on the Sun, we can catch a real glimpse of the future of capitalism and small business.
08:49 0
samedi 28 avril 2012
How to Maximize Your Facebook Engagement
If you have a Facebook page, you likely know how important it is to get likes and comments. Without those, your EdgeRank
suffers, and your posts are seen by fewer fans in the future. Facebook
has already admitted that the average Facebook page only reaches about
17% of its fans. Since less than 1 to 2% of fans go back to your page,
EdgeRank and newsfeed visibility are critical.
When you get a new fan, you have the opportunity to keep them engaged. If you don’t, they’ll simply stop reading your posts. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind as you determine how best to engage your Facebook customers.
You need to maximize likes and comments to be visible to fans. Part of getting better engagement results is knowing which days of the week your fans are most and least responsive. This is different for every company and industry. Knowing the best day of the week for all Facebook pages won’t help you with your brand. So even if the best overall day is Tuesday, your company’s best day might be Sunday. For example, recent research indicated that the most responsive day for high-fashion brand pages is Wednesday, while the most responsive day for outdoor clothing brand pages is Thursday. Why should brands care? Well, even if you post every day, your greatest focus should go to those days when followers are most responsive. So, if your best day is on the weekend, make sure you have that covered.
It also turns out that the best days of the week to post on Facebook are not always the same days brands create the most posts. Sometimes it’s a Sunday, and maybe no one is working. It appears that the amount a brand posts is not based on their most responsive days, but perhaps just on convenience or coincidence.
When you compare individual companies, you see that the days they do the most posts are not the same days that they get the most likes and comments per post. For example, see the following charts: Here is when Chanel posts the most (average posts per day over 90 days):
Chanel’s fans are most responsive on Saturdays, but it’s their
second-to-least posted on day of the week. Most likely, their social
media person isn’t working that day, and they’re not scheduling posts
for that day. Without realizing it, they’re missing out on a lot of
likes and comments, which of course hurts their Edgerank and lowers
their fan page’s post visibility.
This highlights that you shouldn’t post most when it’s convenient for you, but when your fans are most responsive.
If you want to figure out this data for your page, here are the steps:
If one of your competitors is doing a much better job at getting likes and comments, you might want to follow their lead. It could be, in part, the days of the week they post, and also the type and quality of content.
When you get a new fan, you have the opportunity to keep them engaged. If you don’t, they’ll simply stop reading your posts. Here are some of the things you should keep in mind as you determine how best to engage your Facebook customers.
Which Days are Your Fans Most Responsive?
You need to maximize likes and comments to be visible to fans. Part of getting better engagement results is knowing which days of the week your fans are most and least responsive. This is different for every company and industry. Knowing the best day of the week for all Facebook pages won’t help you with your brand. So even if the best overall day is Tuesday, your company’s best day might be Sunday. For example, recent research indicated that the most responsive day for high-fashion brand pages is Wednesday, while the most responsive day for outdoor clothing brand pages is Thursday. Why should brands care? Well, even if you post every day, your greatest focus should go to those days when followers are most responsive. So, if your best day is on the weekend, make sure you have that covered.
It also turns out that the best days of the week to post on Facebook are not always the same days brands create the most posts. Sometimes it’s a Sunday, and maybe no one is working. It appears that the amount a brand posts is not based on their most responsive days, but perhaps just on convenience or coincidence.
Case Study: Chanel
When you compare individual companies, you see that the days they do the most posts are not the same days that they get the most likes and comments per post. For example, see the following charts: Here is when Chanel posts the most (average posts per day over 90 days):
And here is when their fans are the most responsive (likes + comments per post):
This highlights that you shouldn’t post most when it’s convenient for you, but when your fans are most responsive.
How to Maximize the Most Engaging Days
If you want to figure out this data for your page, here are the steps:
- 1. Go to your Facebook page insights and click on likes.
- 2. Click on export data. Choose post level data, then select at least a two-month range so you have a good sample.
- 3. Save it and open it in Excel.
- 4. There’s not a quick way in Excel to group dates by day of week, but with a bit of manual work, you can find the average lifetime of engaged users per post, per day of the week.
If one of your competitors is doing a much better job at getting likes and comments, you might want to follow their lead. It could be, in part, the days of the week they post, and also the type and quality of content.
10:26 0
mardi 10 avril 2012
Everyone’s Curious About Instagram; Android App Hits 5 Million Downloads
As reported first by The Next Web, by studiously watching the Google Play page for the Instagram app, the app has now jumped into the category of “5,000,000 – 10,000,000″ installs where it was previously in the “1,000,000 – 5,000,000″ install range. I’ve picked up the application myself, and while I still think it’s a close call with Camera ZOOM FX, Instagram’s ability to auto upload and share with others is pretty slick.
Are you using Instagram for Android?
10:32 1
lundi 2 avril 2012
Foursquare Shuts Down Location API for “Girls Around Me” App
The app was first discovered by John Brownlee over at Cult of Mac and has since gone viral. John tells the interesting story of showing this app to friends to set their “skin crawling”, and explains how the most worrying thing about the app is how it uses public information — nothing the app is doing is technically forbidden. It raises a few questions for platform creators — questions that other services Tumblr have been facing recently: Do you draw moral and ethical boundaries on the content on your site?
It seems like the answer is yes for extreme cases like these. There’s no reason to let this application continue to provide potentially dangerous information to people, and Foursquare took the opportunity to emphasize this by shutting down GAM’s access to the Foursquare location API. This was followed by Apple taking the application down from the App Store.
19:38 0
How One Entrepreneur Is Profiting From March Madness
The former newspaper editor and publishing exec has built a business consulting and teaching how to create social media strategies. March is madness for him. His company, KSRyan Group, partners with Turner Sports Interactive to manage social media features for March Madness Live, the video app that lets fans watch the NCAA tournament on their computers and mobile devices. Viewers can see Ryan’s work, a torrent of fans’ comments on each matchup, flowing alongside game video.
"These are fans interacting with fans," says Ryan, 48, who lives and works in New Hyde Park, N.Y. "It’s analogous to a viewing party or the bar stool conversation people have while you’re watching the game. You want to talk about what you’re seeing…It allows viewers to participate in ways they hadn’t before."
It’s an incredible gig for someone who’s been working on his own for just two years. He started out as a newspaper reporter and editor before joining Barnesandnoble.com in 2000 as a vice president and web editor. "When I left The New York Times in early ‘97, it was somewhat of a risky move," Ryan says. “I remember people saying, ‘why would you want to leave The Times?’ But the fast pace, always moving Internet schedule, was very similar to what I lived with in my journalism days.’’
He learned about marketing and online content, working on ways authors and readers could interact. He created online book clubs at the moment when people were starting to blog. He plunged into social media, building the book conglomerate’s presence among Facebook and Twitter users.
Ryan began to think about how he could marshal this new technology in his own business that would let him spend more time with his wife and three children. He realized that social media is just another way to tell stories and that he could help a business “build a narrative for customers.’’
Ryan consults and trains, getting businesses to understand and build a social media strategy. “A lot of companies are still trying to figure out what they should do on a Facebook page,’’ he says. “If you’re not paying attention to what that conversation is, then you’re at risk of allowing brand damage to be done without you knowing about it.’’
March Madness work is Ryan’s most intensive part of the job. He helped define the social product features for the March Madness Live app, organized the social arena features on Facebook, worked with vendors and managed the kit and caboodle throughout the tournament.
Ryan’s work with customers through social media had trained him well to judge when someone’s comments were helpful and when they were made just to get noticed, says Michael Adamson, Turner interactive vice president for new products.
For the fan chatter, Ryan and his March Madness colleagues set up Twitter feeds for each of the 68 college teams that played, filtering out swear words and insensitive or inaccurate remarks.
Monitoring is important, he says. "Social media is a no-holds-barred kind of enterprise and people will push the envelope with what they can say," Ryan says.
Take for example the NCAA’s decision to suspend Syracuse starter Fab Melo for academic reasons. “The Twittersphere just blew up,’’ Adamson says. Turner and NCAA relied on Ryan’s journalism training to filter through the posts. "We wanted to make sure we were filtering out the ‘you sons of b--ches’’’ and included what most fans were writing: “Holy Cow! I need to change my bracket!”
A 1985 graduate of Syracuse University, Ryan says the Orange men’s loss on March 24 to Ohio State didn’t crush him. “They’re going to break your heart at some point,’’ he says. “Now it’s easier to focus on the work.’’
The folks at Turner hope the conversation will be “absolutely crazy,’’ Adamson says. “I hope [Ryan] gets slammed. That means there are interesting stories and the fans are talking.’’
19:07 0
4 Facebook Features Marketers Can’t Afford to Ignore
If you have a brand or a business to market chances are you’re using a social media management application to monitor online mentions, schedule updates, and generate reports. But if you really want to be an effective marketer, you need to develop a deeper understanding of which networks are most vital to your company, and what network features are key. In Facebook’s case, we’re talking about some powerful community management components that are unmatched by its competitors, and often overlooked by marketing pros. Here are the four that simply can’t be ignored.
1. Activity Log
Facebook’s activity log is like a Facebook Timeline for every interaction that fans have with your page. It also includes updates you’ve made, like comments or Facebook Questions. What makes this tool unique and powerful is that it offers an archive of your Facebook interactions that you can review at any time. This is useful for tracking how well you’re following up and engaging with fans, and what kind of feedback you’re getting from them during specific events.
2. Demographic Targeting
The manage tab in Facebook Page’s Admin Panel allows you to publish updates to specific demographic groups. The feature isn’t as robust as it should be, but it lets you reach out to people who, for example, speak a certain language. This is useful if your page serves audiences in different countries.
Netflix is a prime example. Due to the nature of its content licensing deals, the site offers different movie and TV-show libraries in the United States than it does in Canada. If the Netflix page administrator wants to announce a new movie that’s only available in one country, he or she can hide that update from fans in the other. Other options include making a post completely invisible to people outside of a certain location, or to people under a certain age.
3.Twitter Linking
Cross-promoting between social networks is a critical component of any social media marketing strategy. Facebook recognizes this, which is why it offers the ability to link your Facebook page to Twitter for the purpose of publishing updates to both sites.
The one caveat is that the implementation here is slanted pretty heavily towards promoting Facebook. This means tweets that originate from your Facebook page always have a link back to Facebook. If that’s not your thing, you can supplement with a third-party tool.
4. Smart Moderation
You probably already know how to moderate individual comments on Facebook, but you can also dive into your Facebook Page’s settings and add specific terms you want to automatically block. While it’s better to allow open conversation on your Facebook page — customers don’t like to be censored — there will be specific situations that call for more control. This tool will give you that.
18:27 0
mercredi 28 mars 2012
7 Steps to a Simple Social Media Strategy
Okay, just kidding.
What's not a joke is how important and how overwhelming social media can be for small business. It can provide the leverage to move a company from floundering to flourishing, but it can also take over your life. Figuring out exactly what to do is where it's easy to get lost—which is why you need a strategy.
- What should our profile say?
- What platforms should we use?
- Who's in charge?
- How often should we offer coupons?
- Who's in charge of coming up with stuff to say?
- How often should we post?
1. Identify your target
Don't get lost in the details here; use the demographic research you've already done, or just answer each question as quickly as you can from what you already know or with a minimal amount of research. You need a rough idea, not a book-length collection of research.
- Who are you trying to reach?
- Where are they?
- What are they talking about?
In order to create a message that matters to your customers, you need to talk about what they care about: their problems, their pain points.
- What are your customers' pain points/problems?
- What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
- How can you communicate your USP most effectively to customer pain points?
- How can you approach social media with a solution to their problems?
Goals can be anything from “build an e-mail list” to “get more sales”; it depends on how your business operates and how you use social media and your website to interact with your customers.
- Why are you using social media?
- What do you hope to gain out of it? (Be specific.)
- What counts as a successful conversion?
- How do those conversions turn into profit?
Creating and offering value is what will make you stand out in social media. Adding to the noise isn't a good strategy; adding value and sharing it with your market is.
- What can you provide via social media that will help/interest/entertain your target?
- What kind of content will you produce?
- What content or curation makes the most sense for getting customers to your goals?
You can't do it all; define your resources in terms of money, time and personnel, then put those resources to work.
- How much time, money, talent and energy can you dedicate to social media?
- Who is in charge?
- What will you outsource?
You still can't do it all, so don't waste your time trying; focus on sticking to your strategy within a few social media spaces. You can always expand later.
- What social media platforms will you use?
- What content will you put on each one? How often?
- When will you produce this content?
- How will you measure its success?
Set a time limit (several months, at the least) and stick to your strategy for that amount of time before you start messing with it.
Keys to success
- Start with a focused approach. Spreading yourself too thin is a sure way to commit social media suicide. Instead, choose one or two platforms, a primary message, and a primary means of communication.
- Stay consistent. Consistency conveys authority and builds trust.
- Follow the etiquette of social media (be polite; respond to people; don't spam; give credit; so on).
- Use apps that will help you streamline your social media sharing.
- Don't rely solely on automation. Engage, respond, talk to people, help them, have conversations.
- Don't let it take over your work time. Instead, designate a daily block of time to do your social media work.
- Set your goals first, then break the goals down into tasks, then assign the tasks to your daily time slots (and/or your employees, and/or your outsourced help).
- Stick with it! Social media takes time, but it's worth your time. Just not all your time. Use a simple strategy like the one you've just created to use social media effectively and still do the rest of your work.
09:50 0
Tumblr Hits 20 Billion Total Posts
Tumblr has hit a major milestone — 20 billion posts — a huge increase from the 12 billion posts figure it reached in November.
“Forgot to make a big deal of this earlier, but Tumblr crossed the 20-billion-post mark Monday night,” said a tweet from the official Tumblr account, with a link to Tumblr’s About page, which sports a counter showing the total number of Tumblr posts.
Currently, the number sits at more than 20 billion posts, 51 million of which were created today. Tumblr currently has more than 49.7 million total blogs and is due to hit the 50 million milestone any day now.
The rapid rise of Tumblr in the past year has been nothing short of amazing. In June 2011, Tumblr announced it had more blogs than WordPress.com — more than 20 million. It took less than nine months for Tumblr to double that number.
For comparison, WordPress powers more than 72 million blogs, about half of which are hosted on WordPress.com.
The simplicity and ease of use of Tumblr on one hand and similarity to microblogging services such as Twitter on the other, have apparently hit the right spot with a large number of users. One thing Tumblr still lacks is a viable business plan — despite significant funding.
From
the creator: "I decided there is not enough internet space devoted to
pictures of cats trying to fit into anything they can, so I have
graciously decided to take on this challenge."
We thank you.
As far as "collections of contorted cats" go, this is particularly fine one.
You'll get nothing but whiskers and win by following The Kitten Covers.
With images of "girls and cats, cats in soft focus, cats on film and dream cats" you're sure to find something Pin-worthy here.
A GIF-based blog slaving to "make the internet a better place."
“Forgot to make a big deal of this earlier, but Tumblr crossed the 20-billion-post mark Monday night,” said a tweet from the official Tumblr account, with a link to Tumblr’s About page, which sports a counter showing the total number of Tumblr posts.
Currently, the number sits at more than 20 billion posts, 51 million of which were created today. Tumblr currently has more than 49.7 million total blogs and is due to hit the 50 million milestone any day now.
The rapid rise of Tumblr in the past year has been nothing short of amazing. In June 2011, Tumblr announced it had more blogs than WordPress.com — more than 20 million. It took less than nine months for Tumblr to double that number.
For comparison, WordPress powers more than 72 million blogs, about half of which are hosted on WordPress.com.
The simplicity and ease of use of Tumblr on one hand and similarity to microblogging services such as Twitter on the other, have apparently hit the right spot with a large number of users. One thing Tumblr still lacks is a viable business plan — despite significant funding.
25 Outstanding Kitty-Themed Tumblrs [LOTS OF CATS]
We thank you.
4. Dream Cats
5. GIF Cat
"Where literature has whiskers and pointy ears." You'll find plenty of vintage pics of literary types and their feline friends.
"Dedicated
to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal
the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle," Garfield Minus Garfield is surreal and funny.
11. Review of My Cat
This
blog contains reader "reviews" of their cats, rating them on
appearance, sociability, usefulness, huggability and a final, overall
grade.
"You've always pretended they weren't watching you get it on. You've always been wrong."
Even if you don't know who Ron Swanson is, you should get some laughs here.
15. Barely Feral
Barely Feral says it answers the question "what if there was a porn site designed by cats for cats?"
It's an X-rated answer, so adult-only click-throughs, please.
It's an X-rated answer, so adult-only click-throughs, please.
17. Stoned Cats
Drugs are bad. If you're not convinced, check out what they have reduced these poor animals to.
This blog shares the "pain" of cats getting in the way of your laptop/iPad/iMac, etc.
20. Celebrity Pussy
As "your premier source for celebrities with cats," Celebrity Pussy
is both a fabulous online image library and we to like imagine, a
constant source of disappointment from, ahem, certain Google users
Lest we forget the important work done by cat scientists during the Sixties.
24. Cats in Ties
There's a joke somewhere about "The Long Tail," but we'll just say this is splendidly niche.
25. The Cat Scan
Finally, our favorite cat-themed Tumblr is the glorious The Cat Scan.
It is probably responsible for a large percentage of cat scratches in recent years as kitty-owners try and persuade their recalcitrant pets to sit still on a humming, flashing box of evil long enough to be scanned.
Those that succeed -- we salute you!
It is probably responsible for a large percentage of cat scratches in recent years as kitty-owners try and persuade their recalcitrant pets to sit still on a humming, flashing box of evil long enough to be scanned.
Those that succeed -- we salute you!
09:20 0
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