Wellness Obsession

Social Media impacts every business, every brand, and in doing so, connects a network of distributed communities of influence, making the world a much smaller place in the process.  Small businesses are in fact at an advantage in Social Media Marketing as they can focus on hyper-local activity that can offer immediate rewards or at the very least, the real-time feedback or lack thereof says everything about next steps. A recent survey conducted by Citibank offers a contrary point of view, citing small business executives who believe social networks offer no benefit or promise to expanding their business. This isn’t all that uncommon however. The truth is that without knowledge or direct experience, it’s virtually impossible to envision the potential of something where they’re most likely absent as a consumer themselves. But, if a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it actually happen? Of course it did…and it continues – with or without you. The “I” in ROI does not stand for ignorance. It does however stand for investment and in cases where new media is “new,” it also stands for intelligence. We’re learning together and that’s both an opportunity and an impediment. We need guidance to better understand the promise and also how to reap its reward. Ad-ology published its “Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010″ report that revealed that among the other benefits of social media, lead generation is the biggest benefit of online networking. Other benefits ranked as follows… Keeping up with the industry Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 55% Monitoring what is being said about your business Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 28% Not Beneficial: 55% Generating leads Very Beneficial: 16% Somewhat: 34% Not Beneficial: 50% Competitive intelligence Very Beneficial: 14% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 57% Improving customer experience Very Beneficial: 12% Somewhat: 29% Not Beneficial: 59% Resolving problems Very Beneficial: 11% Somewhat: 22% Not Beneficial: 67% Finding vendors/suppliers/partners Very Beneficial: 10% Somewhat: 28% Not Beneficial: 62% Recruiting for new employees Very Beneficial: 8% Somewhat: 19% Not Beneficial: 73% Background checks – employees, suppliers, etc. Very Beneficial: 7% Somewhat: 20% Not Beneficial: 72% Among those surveyed, Facebook appeared as the most beneficial social network. Perhaps tied the reverberation of activity across social graphs. LinkedIn, while cited less often, ranked just below Facebook, but ahead of Twitter – for now at least. Facebook Very Beneficial: 10% Somewhat: 23% Not Beneficial: 14% Do not use: 53% LinkedIn Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 15% Not Beneficial: 13% Do not use: 67% MySpace Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 11% Not Beneficial: 15% Do not use: 68% Twitter Very Beneficial: 6% Somewhat: 13% Not Beneficial: 12% Do not use: 69% YouTube Very Beneficial: 5% Somewhat: 10% Not Beneficial: 12% Do not use: 73% The study shows that education and awareness are needed among small businesses to better understand the promises, advantages and the commensurate commitments necessary to generate visibility and ultimately the activity necessary to sustain or at the very least, contribute to a lucrative and growing business. 31 percent of small businesses claimed that their primary hurdle was the perception that “our customers do not use social networks.” Equally, business owners complained that they do not have the time or resources necessary to run an effective social media marketing campaign. Sound familiar? While yes, it’s true, small business owners must focus on the core products, services, and values of their business. However, without visibility, customers do not possess the information necessary to connect the dots between their want or need and you. The Top 10 Ways to Monetize Real-Time Conversations in Social Media No story is complete without providing ideas to move forward and compete for the future. By competing for the future, we also cultivate a flourishing state of “now.” One of the primary advantages of social media for small businesses is the relatively low cost associated with uncovering relevant conversations within your geographic or service area. It’s how we can identify and personally connect with customers. It’s how we learn what they’re seeking. It reveals interests and cravings. For example, take a moment to run a real-time search activity search using Collecta to get a feel for the volume and velocity for relevant conversations online. Then, run a local search on Twitter (choose by geography) using a keyword related to your business, but not necessarily that of your business or product name. For example, Pizza, Coffee, and local yogurt shops are searching those words specifically to offer specials and free items to those within proximity to stop in and give it a try. Business owners report that while offers and freebies reflect a notable investment, they always increase clientele and business overall. To help entrepreneurs and small business owners capitalize on the “now” or real-time conversations populating social media, Web 2.0 investor extraordinaire Ron Conway offered his vision for the top 10 ways to monetize real-time conversations. 10. Lead generation 9. Coupons 8. Analytics, analyzing the data 7. Enterprise CRM 6. Payments 5. Commerce 4. User-authentication, verifying accounts 3. Syndication of new ads 2. Advertising – Context and display ads 1. Acquiring followers New mobile social networks such as FourSquare , Loopt , Gowalla are also emerging that connect people within local areas based on where they are and what they’re doing. These services require you to “check in” to a location or an establishment and as such, local businesses are encouraging patrons to do so by offering incentives, “check in here on FourSquare and get a free slice of pizza or a free beer.” Why? Each time someone checks in, their social graph follows the establishments they frequent and as such, brands the venue within a very trusted circle. There are also opportunities for paid sponsorships. Each time I check in to venues in Redwood City, a local wine shop and tasting room, Savvy Cellar , pops up with a “nearby special.” If I pop in and show my iPhone with the special, I receive 50% off any tasting. Brilliant. To learn more about specific examples for increasing awareness and revenue using Social Media, please read Forbes’ piece on 21 Top Twitter Tips ( Story | Through Pictures ) Connect with Brian Solis : Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Plaxo , or Facebook — Get the new iPhone app! — Click the image below to buy the book/poster : — Image Source: Shutterstock

A friend just sent me this discussion on LinkedIn entitled:” Social Media for Business is CRAP! OK, I finally said it publicly, Social Media for business is Crap!”, written by a guy who has a digital agency – PPC, SEO, Web analytics ...

I could go on all day about the rise of social media at news organizations and why the use of social media tools, if used efficiently, can help almost every aspect of a news operation. The same is true for many businesses, and we've all ...

Guest editorial by Rich Harris While there is a lot of talk about difficulty, social media and business to business (B2B) are indeed compatible. So.

Marketing Podcast with Grammar Girl This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketing podcast with Mignon Fogerty (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download – subscribe now via iTunes For this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast I thought I would grab one of my favorite podcasters Mignon Fogarty . Fogarty is known to legions as Grammar Girl and she’s built an impressive empire dishing out Grammar and a growing list of other topics in Quick and Dirty style. On top of finding a way to build an audience for tips about grammar, she has turned her approach and idea into the the Quick and Dirty Tips Network. The Quick and Dirty Network is a platform created for other experts including Dog Training, Nutrition, Sales, Get it Done Guy and Public Speaking. The brand and approach has led to traffic, advertising and book deals for several of the experts. Fogerty’s the author of New York Times bestseller Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and the 365 day long Grammar Devotional . Mignon makes grammar fun and lord knows we could all use a bit of that. Make sure you check out some of the t-shirts she’s created. In this podcast: About the Quick and Dirty Network Secret behind the success of the Grammar Girl podcast Five worst grammar mistakes Grammar Girl vs. The Elements of Style Making grammar and usage discussion interesting Resources from Grammar Girl GoToWebinar is the presenting sponsor of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Related Posts: Six Pixels with Mitch Joel 3 Sources of Grammar Inspiration Made to Stick Podcast Tim Ferriss on the New 4-Hour Workweek New Jott Feed Feature Reads Blogs for You Like this post? Share it with others

If you work in marketing or public relations, the chances are you are now regularly being asked to use social media to spread your client's messages. I have met lots of marketers and business owners.

Stop Trying To Be Better Than the Competition This content from: Duct Tape Marketing And start figuring out how you can be different than your competition. So many business owners or would be start-ups sit around this time of year trying to figure out how they can be better than the competition – better product, better service, better features, and, the real killer, better price. Heck, some even strive to be “best” in class. What they should be doing is figuring out how they can simply be different than the competition. I’m not against lofty goals – the problem is creating a better product or service is hard. Prospects often won’t take the time to understand the subtle differences that make your product or service better and you might spend all your time and energy trying to educate them on better when all they want to know is the price. If you’ve even wondered why prospects are choosing your competitors over your obviously superior offering, you may have just a hint of appreciation for what I’m saying here. Better than the competition is the enemy of different than the competition, and different is where the money is! Instead of trying to be better or exactly like, build a strategy around a simple way that your company is different from the pack. Again, this is sometimes a place where companies will say, “well, we are different we have a better product, or we offer better service.” Really, and do your competitors all suggest they offer crappy service? We can debate the countless intricate ways that companies can use to create a strategy of difference, but it all pretty much boils down to: 1) Better product 2) Better process 3) Better relationships In my opinion focusing all of your strategic thinking, goal setting and actions on building a better process or better relationships is the surest and maybe simplest way to create a true competitive advantage that someone might care about. Would you rather lean on your 5% better product or price or on something so totally outrageous and innovative that people can’t stop talking about it? Creating your own special way to treat customers, creating an experience that’s unique, or creating a totally new and frictionless way for people to get a result is how you stand out from the pack, it’s how you create a difference that can’t be easily copied, and it’s how innovation comes to small business. Instead of spending your precious R&D time on product features, spend it on creating branded intellectual property, a distinct way of marketing, or on developing people and culture inside your organization that enables you to be seen as different. I’ll leave you with two powerful questions to pose to your organization to help you get started. 1) What are we doing that our competitors are not? 2) What are we doing just like our competitors that we could change for good? Image credit: Laenulfean Related Posts: Don't sell something you can't make more of What's So Scary About Marketing Strategy? Your Real Competition Is Perception Be the Red Leaf Stop Wasting Your Time With Social Media Like this post? Share it with others