Posted by Mary Ellen Slayter on July 02, 2009
Social media has revolutionized the way people can share and talk about your advertising. This leads to more exposure, more impressions, and more longevity for your content. If you’re already shooting commercials, creating flyers, or buying radio spots, why not also put them online for people to discover and share?
What you get:
- Free impressions. Through forwarded and reposted ad content, you can — for free — significantly increase the amount of impressions you get.
- Personal endorsements. When someone forwards your ad, it’s no longer a message from a marketer — it’s a message from a friend.
- Permanence. The internet has a fantastic memory, and whatever you put on it will likely be there forever. While this is bad for all your college photos, it’s great for your ads!
Posted by Jesse Stanchak on July 02, 2009
In an age where everyone is connected to everyone else via a plethora of social networks, e-mail marketing is starting to look a little crusty. That may explain why nearly two-thirds of e-mail marketers say they’re planning on to integrate social media into their work by the end of the year, according to research by StrongMail Systems, Inc. Of course, with that change come some new problems. The survey shows marketers aren’t sure whose responsibility social efforts should be and how they should measure success. Check out the full survey results and other cool links from SmartBrief on Social Media.
Posted by Mary Ellen Slayter on July 01, 2009
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director for Bizzuka and member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board, helps create the questions and analyzes the results. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter. This week’s post is from Senior Editor Mary Ellen Slayter; Paul Chaney’s analysis returns next week.
Last week’s SmartPulse question: Has the use of Twitter in reporting news of the Iranian election and uprising changed your attitude toward its importance as a tool for crisis communications?
- It has improved my perception of Twitter as a critical tool for crisis communications, 46%
- I’ve always thought of Twitter as a useful tool for crisis communications, 24%
- I don’t view Twitter as a valid tool for crisis communications, 14%
- My opinion has remained unchanged, 12%
- I have no opinion one way or another, 4%
- It has lowered my opinion, 0%
“Twitter is rapidly outgrowing its reputation as primarily a source of inane drivel, but a few holdouts remain even among social media fans. What do you see as the biggest limitations on Twitter for serious conversation and crisis communications? Are they fixable? ” –Mary Ellen Slayter
Posted by Jesse Stanchak on July 01, 2009
Is your business thinking it’s about time to see what this social media thing is all about? Before you buy the hype wholesale, consider this: not every company needs the same level of engagement. Erik Qualman recommends starting out on YouTube, Digg or Delicious before diving into the deep water on Facebook. Don’t overcommit to your social media strategy, he suggests and make sure your presence makes use of your existing assets. Sign up for more quality social media marketing advice from SmartBrief on Social Media.
Photo credit, iStock
Posted by Andy Sernovitz on June 30, 2009
Your topics are what fuel you word of mouth. A great one isn’t a slogan or a generic brand message — it’s something simple that spreads easily among friends. And remember, if your topic works well in a traditional press release, it’s probably a bad one.
What to look for:
- Emotional. People share things that make them happy — the funny, surprising, and remarkable elements of products and experiences.
- Portable. A portable topic is something that can be slapped in a blog post, an e-mail signature, or a T-shirt. If it’s too complicated or needs explaining, nobody will repeat it.
- Repeatable. If someone has to make an effort to remember what to say, they won’t say anything.
Posted by Jesse Stanchak on June 30, 2009
Social media isn’t a silver bullet for marketers. It’s more like a publicity garden that takes constant care to thrive, David Armano writes. If you’re launching or expanding a social media push, take scalability into account. Don’t count on being able automate social interactions. It’s going to take real, honest-to-goodness people to create, spread and maintain a social presence. Will you have the manpower you need for the next stage of development? The one after that? The key is matching up a great idea with even better planning. Check out this story and other nifty links, culled from the awesomeness that is SmartBrief on Social Media.
Posted by Merritt Colaizzi on June 29, 2009
An article by Kermit Pattison in the Small Business section of New York Times last week got us thinking. It’s about the trend in small businesses toward outsourcing data entry, writing, Web design, accounting, HR and payroll to remote, “virtual teams”. That all seems moderately reasonable. This sentence, though, stopped us in our tracks: “Some businesses even are hiring freelancers to set up and manage their corporate profiles on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.”
Hold it right there. 
“Outsourcing traditional media is a great cost-saving idea (in fact, I am a freelance radio buyer if you need one) but having an outsider do your social networking is a big mistake.” says Stacey Kane of Washington D.C.-based Mexican restaurant chain California Tortilla.
Entrusting your brand’s voice to a bunch of strangers-– or anyone not directly integrated and passionate about your brand-– is risky business. The idea behind social media is to be authentic– for it to really BE YOU. (Faux celeb Tweeters anyone?) Your own voice is what wins cred with your customers.
We understand the time sink social media presents and the significant issue of scalability. The trick is to figure out which channels are the most productive for you and to focus on those.
If your customers have opted in to receive e-mails from you, work on that. If you have a brand people know, Facebook is a great place to be. If you’re trying to establish your brand as a leader, blogging might be the way to go. If you’re trying to drive foot traffic, Twitter is proving to be a great way of doing that.
Keeping your social media activities in-house is worth the investment. “ Our co-founder Pam spends hours writing our monthly newsletter, ‘Taco Talk,’” continues Stacey Kane, “and I concentrate on Twitter and Facebook. Our customers feel like they are part of the brand, we aren’t talking at them but with them. This has created a super-engaged customer base that translates into a lot of burrito sales.”
Posted by Jesse Stanchak on June 29, 2009
Making the leap to marketing via social media can be tricky, even for an experienced entrepreneur. It’s not just that social networks can be labor intensive, they can also be deceptively difficult to use. While getting a Twitter or Facebook account is a snap, there’s a steep learning curve for figuring out how to get the most out of the technology. Experts recommend business owners try to establish subject-matter credibility with customers and hone their writing skills before taking the plunge. Of course, signing up for social media tips and tricks from SmartBrief on Social Media couldn’t hurt either.
