Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Over this last year, we’ve seen the explosion of social media onto the “big screen” of businesses. Many have scrambled to create Facebook pages and put their customer service online while hearing constantly of the death of print media. Lots of businesses have pulled their traditional advertising to the point where many print media have folded, shrunk or downsized. We seen the complete acceptance of wireless / mobile devices and understand that there is no message downtime.

As the dust settles on this year we see the frantic scramble to get into social media normalizing. More businesses understand the new conversation channels or are at least trying to incorporate them in their mix. We understand that television and print media while changing will not go away. We understand that there is a conversation and that the customer truly owns the brand.

What do you see in your crystal ball for 2010?

We recognize that the U.S. is composed of a diverse population, with 38% of us being over 44 years of age; 37.4% of us being 18-44 years of age and the remainder under 17 years of age.

As marketing and business communications professionals, this means we comprehend each audience segment has preferred information channels. As we promote our services and products, we understand that a 21 year old will get their news from Google reader and that at 58 year old from most probably from either TV or print media. That there are some of us who, while in the older segments, use new technology, embracing mobile media as much as the younger generations. We also understand that not only younger generations care about social responsibility; that social responsibility is a required part of being in business. That when it comes to media relations, the media are just as stressed as other business segments and are trying to do as much with fewer resources. That our job is to work in tandem with them by supplying truly interesting information and sources to help them do their jobs.

2010 promises to be rich with opportunity for small businesses to act like big corporations when it comes to reaching customers through all the channels with a straight to consumer approach that is more about what the customer wants in their lives.

In summary:

• Marketing Communications
  • More segmentation of message—We’ll use Twitter, Facebook, the local newspaper as well as television, and increasingly, mobile technology.
  • Social media acceptance as one of the major message delivery vehicles
  • Social responsibility as a requirement of doing business
  • Blurring of the difference between advertising and public relations
• For PR
  • Video pitching
  • Social media acceptance as one of the major message delivery vehicles to media contacts and the consumer
  • Increasing message delivery direct to the consumer
  • We’ll turn more to multi media releases, using the power of video sharing, and pod casts to enrich press releases
  • Public relations professionals as major advisors for not only publicity but for advertising and marketing messages.

Share your prognostications with us. We look forward to learning from everyone how they see the new year shaping up for them.

In this very well written article from The Washington Post and PC World, small businesses are counseled to “set up a Twitter account, establish a Facebook page, and start talking.” Unlike some articles I’ve read, this one is on point with a good explanation of how to establish goals, listen to the conversation and gain results.

So far in 2009, 66 percent of marketers used social media in some form, according to the Association of National Advertisers. That’s up from just 20 percent in 2007.”

The article brings together the latest metrics and good case studies about how several businesses use social media. The article also mentions several of the best of class tools for using social media and tracking results.

This morning at my referral group, I presented an impromptu social media overview to members. A good number of members have personal facebook pages. Several had facebook business pages and three had twitter accounts.

There were some who are just learning about the conversational aspects of how to use social media and those who were already savvy. All were interested in the opportunity to increase their business using social media.

How can you use social media to grow your business? Here are some excellent ideas from David Hale on Examiner.com.

They are as varied as the businesses represented and all feature some great ideas for inspiration.

Establish a social media account if you don’t have one. Find others with similar interests, follow or friend them and read their tweets and posts to facebook. Add your own in response to theirs. Get a feeling for what interests them. When you are comfortable, you can begin to initiate conversation about subjects of interest to you. As you continue to find followers, you will gain followers. Then you can find opportunities that will allow for the right opening for inquiries about doing business together.

Just remember, the emphasis is on social, not media and you’ll be on the right track.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons pthread

“The number of US women over age 55 using Facebook grew by 175.3% since September 2008, making mature females one of the fastest growing demographic groups on the social network, according to usage statistics released by independent blog Inside Facebook.”
It’s interesting to note that teens, formerly the largest component on facebook are now the smallest component.

How does one use facebook as a marketing tool? Many small business owners are successfully creating fan pages and friends groups and posting exclusive offers for members of the group. Facebook is one way to market socially at very low cost. Some have created applications to drive interactivity with items linked to their products or services. Creating applications has a higher cost than the old fashioned friend / fan page.

Best facebook marketing tips:

1. Post exclusive events to your fan page
2. Make sure your friends invite their friends to your group
3. Post a flickr stream to your facebook page and be sure photos from your recent events are there for tagging
4. Interact with the memeber of your fan group, noting their changes and updates and commenting on them to create a tighter sense of community.

When it comes to reaching women, it’s time to face facts; it’s facebook!

A decade ago, I was so proud that I knew what ping meant. I learned to use pings to determine whether other desktop systems were talking to mine. Now comes the new way to ping, but with similar meaning.

I have become addicted to Twitter, Linked In and Facebook. Just today I found (through a connection on Facebook) a former frat member from my college days. However, what’s even more wonderful is a new app that I’ve learned about that is helping me keep all my status and blogs up to date. It’s Ping.fm and this update just posted from there.

Now I can post to my blog, update my status, tweet –all with one online application–but wait, I can also use my phone to update and can ping from it.

Now with Jott, Ping and others I feel as if I have an entire staff.

Peter Shankman has a good idea. He started a group on Facebook “If I can help a reporter out” that out grew Facebook and has gone to the internet. It’s a simple idea really, publicists are frequently charged by our clients to gain them press. We in turn create story ideas which we pitch to reporters. Reporters are charged by their editors to write stories. Stories are better with first hand accounts and supportive information. But how is a reporter in Rochester to get to Ray in Reno? It used to be through large syndicated services. But social networking has triumphed and now we have Peter Shankman who is connecting the dots.

Shankman begins his thrice daily e-mails with humor or insight into his schedule. Then gets down to the business of relaying queries from reporters. I’ve already found a couple that I’ve forwarded to colleagues who can reply to the queries.

So, I’m inviting all the rest of you to join the group. I know, that if I can help a reporter out I will!