Hitachi Data Systems is a large, conservative, business-to-business brand that sells to C-level executives through 18-month sales cycles, often through partners. So, when Hitachi’s Sharon Crost shared a case study at our BlogWell conference, she was candid in saying the company wasn’t sure social media were right for it.
But Hitachi was willing to give it a shot if it could keep the budget low and use tracking to closely monitor results.
In her presentation, Crost shared five shortcuts learned along the way and how the test project more than doubled Hitachi’s goals for Web traffic, social engagement and live sales leads.
Her shortcuts:
- Test early and often. You’re not going to know which content is socially engaging until you start testing and trying things out.
- Segment. Provide different levels of engagement for your audience, and let it self-select.
- Amplify. You don’t need a big budget to amplify what you’re doing.
If you’re not on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, you need to get on for your business’ sake, Gary Vaynerchuk told business owners at America’s Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C.
Vaynerchuk illustrated the necessity of this message when he asked the nearly full ballroom of attendees, “How many of you think Twitter is stupid?” and half of them raised their hands. Then similar numbers raised their hands to say they once thought cellphones and the Internet itself were stupid, but all admitted they use both today.
The arguments people are having about social media today are the same ones they had about those now-ubiquitous developments just 10 to 15 years ago, Vaynerchuk said. And arguing instead of getting on board is just a waste of time, he said. “Innovation doesn’t care about anyone,” it just flows on and will run you over if you don’t jump on and ride the wave. (read more…)
Facebook contests are created to drive traffic to your page, increase engagement, reward your fans and, ultimately, skyrocket your page’s fan count. But as many failed contest attempts will attest to, that goal is much easier said than done.
At ShortStack, we provide a platform to build, install and carry out these contests. But the key thing to remember is that we cannot market your contest. And as we’ve said repeatedly, you cannot “set it and forget it” and expect your contest to work.
We decided to look at one brand using our platform that has seen enormous success with its sweepstakes and let it teach a thing or two about effectively conducting a Facebook contest.
Oxygenics is a Reno, Nev., company that creates and distributes eco-friendly shower heads to retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond and The Sharper Image. It recently decided to rapidly increase its Facebook fan count and use a contest to do so. (read more…)
We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about the importance of developing a social media strategy. We’ve devoted countless posts to the best tactics. We’ve given you hundreds of examples of how companies align their social presence with their brand.
But there’s something missing. Even if you have an ironclad strategy, impeccable tactics and sterling branding, you can still fall flat in the social media arena. There is still one more thing you need to learn.
Are you ready for the final lesson? Is your mind prepared and your spirit pure? Can you snatch the pebble from my hand? Good. Because the final step to social media mastery (at the individual level, anyway) doesn’t come from a business-school textbook, a Fortune 500 CEO or a mountain of data. It comes from Bruce Lee.
When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. (read more…)
During the past year, Yahoo! has focused on building its footprint in social media. Even though it reaches 700 million people a month with its online properties, this huge traffic and attention weren’t being reflected in the numbers of social media fans.
So to build up communities around Yahoo!’s brands, the company launched a series of campaigns designed to attract and engage specific audiences. At our recent BlogWell conference in San Francisco, Yahoo!’s Robin Zucker walked us through one of the projects for Yahoo! Movies.
Her case study covered the strategy behind the project, how it was done and how it all resulted in a million Facebook fans.
A few of her big ideas:
- Focus on earning the right fans. Zucker and her team targeted moviegoers for this entire project because they wanted to build a fan base of people who love movies and love going to them. These are the people they want to build a relationship with at Yahoo!
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