Treat your talkers well — they’re literally the force behind your word mouth. Without them, the conversation stalls and nobody is talking about you. It doesn’t take much and it isn’t complicated, but it’s important to show love for your fans.
What to do:
- Say thanks. Saying thank you publicly and often is a great way to show off your fans to the world, as well as to encourage quieter fans to speak up.
- Share exclusive stuff. Give your talkers the friends-and-family discounts, the sneak peeks, the early samples and the geeky info. They’ll love sharing the news and special deals with their networks.
- Seek their advice. Your biggest fans want to see you succeed and would be thrilled to help you better design your latest widget or test your new gizmo. When you finally launch it publicly, you’ve already got an army of enthusiasts saying, “I helped make that awesome!”
Hey you! Don’t skip this blog post. You don’t want to miss these four articles that our SmartBrief on Social Media editors wanted you to see.
Social networking is spreading like wildfire. Next to jump on the bandwagon – government agencies. Check 
it out in the first link.
Photo credit, iStock (read more…)
This’s post is from Liz Ruskin, contributing editor of SmartBrief on Leadership.
Corporate leaders fear what people might say if given a voice on social media, but once a business builds a community — among its customers, employees and other constituents — it opens itself to more innovation, gets more from its human capital, turns customers into loved ones and wins the adoration of investors.
Or so claims Mzinga CEO Barry Libert. Of course he would say that: Mzinga creates social networks for 
businesses, including ABC, Amway, Johnson & Johnson and Deutsche Post. Commercial interest aside, he made an unusual and compelling argument that goes to the heart of what social media could mean in a business environment.
All businesses — whether they make cars, serve coffee or supply paper — must meet the basic need humans have for connection with one another, he claims. “GM never thought of themselves of being in the business of connecting people, which is why they’re going bankrupt,” he told participants at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. (read more…)
Check out today’s bonus tracks, articles that you won’t see in today’s SmartBrief on Social Media newsletter – 
but that we didn’t want you to miss.
Click on the first link to see the many great ways that charities are using social media to raise awareness and money for their causes. They’ve been benefiting greatly from the viral opportunities presented by the web.
Photo credit, FourthFloor (read more…)
Jeremy Epstein runs Never Stop Marketing, a firm that specializes in “cutting-edge Community Driven Marketing” for such clients as Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Yes To Carrots, and best-selling author Dan Pink. He blogs religiously at Igniting the Revolution and can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, FriendFeed.
Who wouldn’t want customers like those of Dan Pink’s book “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko,” who volunteered their own time and money to host events for other readers?
Or the the fans who love Yes To Carrots enough to donate their Facebook status updates to spreading the natural cosmetics company’s message
Sure, everyone wants that. But, it doesn’t just happen. It takes work. (Ugh, I know, I wish it didn’t).
The full business case and process for Community Driven Marketing is outlined in my white paper, “Community Driven Marketing: The Power of the Raving Fan,” but for now I’ll summarize the 3 steps of building a CDM engine:
- Identify your most passionate customers (your Raving Fans).
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