Social Media
Social Media for Business: 8 Ways to Get Smart
When it comes to using social media for business, I often run into two camps of people. One camp views social media as a threat, and another camp views it as an opportunity.
Those in the threat camp have an alarming tendency to put knee-jerk policies into place. “No employees will be allowed to have FaceBook [...]
Listen Until It Hurts. And Beyond!
Your company’s first step with social media?
Listening.
(Listening is also known as “social media monitoring.)
And 90 days from now, guess what? You’ll still be listening! Still monitoring.
A year from now? Still listening!
Oh, you’ll be doing more than just listening in a year — maybe you’ll be interacting and energizing, too! But ongoing listening is at the [...]
Why Monitor at Google Video?
When almost everyone has a video cell phone, sometimes the CEO gets caught doing something in public that needs some explaining!
Or, perhaps your brand fans are rolling out product videos and tagging them with your name. Or maybe brand haters are showcasing your product in strange ways…
Try searching for your company name, CEO’s name, and [...]
Are You A Twitter Artist?
So. Are you a Twitter artist?
Twitter is a new medium. No question.
And like any medium, people can use it to create art and build community.
photo credit: Torley
What’s up with this image?
Think 1922, Paul Klee.
It’s no coincidence that Twitter came to be in an era of economic uncertainty.
Many use this simple new tool [...]
Discover Your Personal Brand
Here is this week’s most oft-asked question:
“In social media, how do you separate your personal life from your professional life?”
photo credit: Kelly Hau Photography
The questioners explain that they thought LinkedIn was professional and FaceBook was personal — but now that people are using FaceBook for professional reasons — what is one to do? (And [...]
Short URLs - Not Just For Twitter Anymore!
Running URLs through a service that shortens their length is a fairly standard practice at Twitter. After all, when you only have 140 characters, you don’t want a lengthy URL address taking up most of your precious, limited space!
At the moment, Twitter uses tinyurl.com to automatically shorten long URLs that you might enter into your [...]
Tweak Your LinkedIn Profile to Make it More People Friendly!
How can you make your LinkedIn Profile a little more friendly for people — and for search engines?
It’s easy.
Don’t use the default “My Website” or “My Blog” when entering the address of your website or blog!
Instead, use “Other” — and type in short and descriptive “anchor text” that tells your audience more precisely where the [...]
How would Abbie Hoffman use Social Media?
In the 1960’s and 70’s, Abbie Hoffman was absolutely skilled in getting media attention. In his 1971 publication, Steal This Book, Mr. Hoffman devotes a chapter to getting free or cheap communications.
Today, of course, much of our social media is free or cheap: but many squander its social potential.
photo credit: Kevin Krejci
An iPhone, for [...]
Who Among Us is a Social Media Expert?
I loathe the term “social media expert.” Social media is still in its infancy: who among us can claim to be an expert?
The most anyone can claim at this point is to be a practitioner. Or an enthusiastic student. Or an anthropologist engaged in cultural immersion.
As budgets for ineffective traditional ad campaigns get slashed, many [...]
How to Brand, Hit, and Target Your Social Media Herd
So many marketing terms are dehumanizing or rooted in violence. Think of the origins of each of these words:
Branding - a violent act committed upon cattle.
Hits - a violent act committed with fists.
Targets - the victims of a hit.
Campaigns - a series of military battles.
photo credit: Brian Forbes
For years, the mass marketing approach uses [...]
