Twitter

The Dangers of Social Media for Business

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Social Media, and Digital Marketing are two great ways to expand your brand in whichever way you choose. They allow you to reach millions of people with ease, target your message directly to those you know are listening, and deliver, to them, a far more approachable advertisement. In addition, if used correctly, Social Media sites are great to get to know your customer, and give your customer an opportunity to get to know your business. It can be used by employees to promote the company, or by owners to make themselves more accessible to their customers. This allows businesses to build relationships and establish loyalty. This all sounds great, right? Well, if you notice a few lines back, I added the phrase, “if used correctly”. This seemingly innocuous phrase, when disregarded, can have consequences. If misused they can have the opposite effect, and can reflect poorly on yourself of the company. When using sites online like Twitter, or Facebook, it is important to recognize what it is your doing.

I was reading an article this morning on Mashable that was talking about the government subpoenaing Twitter records of several people of interest. They were interested in, not only their tweets, but also their private messages. The person they focused on was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his employees. They were planning on scouring their private messages to see if they had collaborated, in some way, to illegally release over 2,000 classified documents that they got their hands on. Apparently, due to the current legal system, Twitter was forced to oblige, and hand over the records. There is some loophole that allows these things to be accessible to the government. It would be logical to assume that your private Facebook messages or blog posts would be accessible too.

Now, I say all that to say this; be smart. If you are working for a big company, or if you own your own business, just know that everything you put out on the web has your name on it. If you have a department that handles all of your Social Media, make sure they are posting quality content. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, if you don’t already have them, to establish Social Media guidelines for your company. There are steps that can be taken to ensure that your Social Media usage is nothing but positive, and maybe it’s time to think about taking some of those steps.

Tags: Business, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Government, Mashable, social media, Twitter
Posted in Social Harbor News | No Comments »

Social Media Improves Customer Service

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

In Joe Jaffe’s new book, Flip the Funnel, he explains why customer retention is the new acquisition. And why shouldn’t this be the case? In any low level college marketing or advertising course you learn that it is much easier and less costly to retain existing customers rather than trying to acquire new ones. It’s also common sense that someone who has purchased a product or service before is more likely to purchase again than someone who has never purchased that product or service before. So where many companies are focused on getting new customers you should be focused on making sure your loyal, existing customers are happy. As the old saying goes, “A person who has a positive experience may tell one friend; a person who has a negative experience will tell ten friends.” This is where social media comes in.

In today’s age of Twitter and Facebook, people who comment about experiences with companies do not just tell a few friends, they let all of their Facebook “friends” know and tell all of their Twitter “followers.” Those people may in turn retweet that information to all of their followers or friends and so on. So, in the case of a negative experience this could prove very bad for a company if it does not hear of the situation. This could happen to a company who focuses most of their budget and effort on acquiring customers through mass marketing channels. Whereas if you budget for internet marketing you can monitor social media and be alerted when your products or company are mentioned. So, if you see a negative Twitter comment, you can act on it by contacting the customer and resolving the issue before it gets out of hand.

Social media should also be used to build relationships with customers. Create a digital community and reward loyal customers. Good customer service can turn many customers into brand loyalists who feel emotional connections to the product. Customers who feel connected to a product will not only promote that product but will also come to its aide in hard times. “We need to encourage and engage in dialogue by providing our customers with multiple ways to contact us at will,” says Jaffe. By improving the customer experience you will improve sales and the brand image as a whole.

Tags: Facebook, Joe Jaffe, social media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Monitoring, Twitter
Posted in Customer Serivce, Facebook, Social Harbor News, social media | No Comments »

LinkedIn and Twitter Join Forces

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Earlier this week, social networking mega-sites LinkedIn and Twitter joined forces. Why it didn’t happen sooner is anyone’s guess.

Both companies, now synced, earn ample benefits from their respective partners, such as data exchange and worthwhile business intelligence. LinkedIn users will able to update their statuses more frequently and appeal to a younger demographic. Twitter can gain access to LinkedIn’s influential and growing user base.

In your LinkedIn settings, you can link your account to Twitter to allow for every tweet to be posted as your LinkedIn status, or just the ones that include either the #li or #in hashtag.

Where this ends up is anyones guess, but for now, enjoy the new networking feature.

Tags: Linkedin, Microblogging, New Media, Social Networking, Twitter
Posted in Business Social Networking, Linkedin | No Comments »

Number of Social Networking Users Doubles Since 2007

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

With Facebook and Twitter grabbing national news headlines, it may not be all that surprising to hear the number of users on social networking sites has doubled since 2007. However, the numbers are staggering to look at.

Almost 1/3 of the US population - 55.6 million adults to be specific - visit social networking sites at least monthly. This according to the latest report from Forrester Research. That number was 15% in 2007 and only up to 18% last year in 2008.

This puts the popularity of social networking among adults higher than instant messaging, streaming music, and reading blogs. Here is the complete breakdown from Forrester’s report:

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the tools driving these online activities (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at the moment) are constantly evolving. It is imperative for companies and their team members to be in position to benefit from these new technologies. If you simply cannot allocate the time and resources within to keep your company in the conversation, look for custom outsourcing options. You do not want to get passed up and left behind in the social conversation on the web.

Tags: Facebook, Forrester Research, Social Networking, Twitter
Posted in Business Social Networking, Facebook, Linkedin | No Comments »

Effectively Using Social Media for Business

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Social Media tactics can be tough to measure and monetize, unless you do social media the right way. Today’s gleaming example comes our way from Starbucks. You may have heard Starbucks wanted to give away a free pastry with the purchase of a drink. And their savvy social media tactics are the reason you heard that.

Let’s start with their Facebook promotion. They created an Event, Starbucks Free Pastry Day: July 21, 2009, which by last count had nearly 600,000 “confirmed guests” on Facebook alone. That is a whole lot of foot traffic for Starbucks around the map, but we said “start” with Facebook because the biggest piece of their promotion puzzle was Twitter.

Twitter has an immense amount of potential when executing a promotion. We’ve seen a couple media companies in the recent past, Squarespace and Moonfruit, use hash-tags (#squarespace) to spread the word on Twitter. Their promotions actually required Twitter users to use that hash-tag in a tweet in order to be entered for a prize. It worked. Their names (because so many people were using their hash-tag) quickly jumped into Twitter’s top Trending Topics. Due to Starbucks already established brand and recognizable name, the Twitter population did the work, by simply doing what the do every day, tweeting. By just telling friends, family, and other “followers” they were headed to Starbucks or just got a free pastry, Trending Topics was soon taken over by “Starbucks” - thus adding fuel to the flames. Below is a graph from Twist showing Starbucks mentions as a percentage of total tweets. Their mentions were up nearly ten times due to their promotion.

As you can see, social media can absolutely be measured and monetized, if done correctly. Early evaluations look promising, and despite a fair amount of negative blog posts about individual hiccups, the data indicates this promotion was a success for Starbucks.

One company, local here to the Ann Arbor, Michigan area, just jumped into the social media space with a Facebook promotion of their own. That company is Weber’s, a boutique hotel/upscale restaurant/ultralounge that has always had a terrific following via word-of-mouth, but like everyone else it was time to take that online. They kicked off their Facebook Page opening with a giveaway (are you getting the hint that we all love free stuff?!). With a beautiful landing page setup (taken down after the promotion expired) at Facebook, they emailed their existing client database with the offer to enter for a chance to win 1 of 50 free rooms at the hotel. The email gave them the Facebook fan page link and simply required they “become a Fan” to enter. Within 3 days of launching their Facebook fan Page, Weber’s had over 500 Fans and an interactive Wall packed with compliments and praises.

It certainly helped in Weber’s case to have a Facebook Page that was clean and professionally complete with photos, visual tabs, and a thorough company bio. You can check it out at facebook.com/WebersAnnArbor. They definitely disproved the myth that small businesses can’t effectively use, measure, and monetize social media. Execute them correctly and Facebook + Twitter can equal big rewards for your company.

Tags: Facebook, Fan Page, Free Pastry Day, Starbucks, Trending Topics, Twist, Twitter, Weber's Ann Arbor, Weber's Inn
Posted in Business Social Networking, Facebook | No Comments »

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