July, 2009

  • Twitter Groups Boost Social Networking Potential

    Posted Jul 16th, 2009 By in Twitter With | 2 Comments
    If you thought LinkedIn was a great invention, then you will love Twitter Groups. All the functionality of the social networking site with the ability to focus on specific topics or interests makes this relatively recent development perfect for networking. After all, connecting with others for business is far easier when everyone is divided into specific areas of interest.
    Why Groups?
    With Twitter, we’re used to responding to one or maybe two people at the most. Unless you DM individuals, all those tweets are public. Now, if you want to communicate with a couple hundred of your friends on Twitter, things get complicated. Unless you have a group set up.
    With Twitter groups, you can message everyone in your group with just one tweet. You also have the option of making your group public or keeping it private, thus allowing secure communication between members of the group, something that simply isn’t available with direct messages. Hashtags allow a bit more functionality, but it still is very public.
    Starting a Group
    There are a number of Twitter apps that allow you to build your own social networking group. We went through and tried more than 20 groups. However, here are a few that we liked:
    Tweetparty: Allows you to send a single tweet and reach everyone in your group. This is very simple to do once you have set up a group. Just DM the group name and everyone you have added will get the tweet direct messaged to them.
    Tweetworks: This application lets you browse groups that already exist and join them. Or you can set up your very own Twitter group. The benefit of this particular site is that you will have all replies staggered below the original query or tweet, making it very easy to keep up with group discussions.
    Crowdstatus: If you are in a hurry, this is the application to look at. Rather than cover every discussion by everyone in the group, this site gives you only the latest activity. You will get the basics faster and in a more stylish environment than most of the other applications.
    TwitHive: This neat application lets you choose from people, searches or any number of specific tweets and corral them into columns so you can see at a glance what is happening in each area. You can use several accounts here, so if you have multiple Twitter accounts, this is a great option.
    TweetDeck: This application allows you to group tweets according to specific people or terms into columns. While it isn’t designed to send tweets to those columns, it does allow you to find things very quickly, even if you have a massive number of Twitter pals.
    Twitter is a useful site all on its own, but the various applications that are coming out to enhance it just make this one of the most useful social networking sites around. Which applications have you tried that work well for you?
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  • Gettn’ The Buzz Goin’ With Social Media

    Posted Jul 6th, 2009 By in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Networking With | 2 Comments

    A quick & easy social media guide to get you started

     

    Last month, we covered the very basics and benefits of social media and why it is essential for every business to be visible across a multitude of web sites. If you did not read last month’s article, please visit our blog. You will want to read it before you continue with this article.
    In this article, we have listed some tools that can help you position your business above competition. Please remember, do not jump into anything before strategizing first. A strategy will save you from wasting time and going in circles.

     

    Social Bookmarking

     

    When you find a great web site that you want to remember in the future, you usually bookmark it, right? Well, social bookmarking is simply sharing your favorite sites with everyone else. There are literally hundreds of sites that do this, but some are more important than others when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and traffic. Popular social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Mixx, and Newsvine allow you to nominate and bookmark your favorite web pages or news events that you think are worthy of attention.

     

    With nearly all of these social bookmarking sites, there is an option to approve or disapprove other people´s selections and comment on pages that others have bookmarked, while adding a plug for your own businesss. The most popular bookmarks get seen more often. This can lead to increased traffic and more backlinks coming into your site; therefore, higher search engine rankings.

     

    Social Networking

     

    Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, and Plaxo platforms are often what we think of when we hear “Social media” and many businesses have made great use of them. However, a surprising number of business owners have still not touched many of these sites, despite the fact they could be of great use in boosting SEO, increasing visibility and the bottom line (SALES!).

     

    There are also virtual worlds, such as Second Life that allow users to socialize with each other in different online environments that resemble little cities. Businesses can meet up with employees and can create stores within these worlds that anyone can visit.

     

    With Twitter and Tumblr, members can follow each other’s activities or posts. Whether personal or business, post about what you are doing and thinking. This allows others to keep tabs on you (only of you want them to, of course ;-) .

     

    Yammer and Jive SBS allow employees to keep up with their colleague’s activities and ask them questions. Orbius is a social marketing platform that provides a set of tools to help brands and organizations set up social networks.

     

    LinkedIn and Ryze offer professionals a place to congregate, find people they know, link up through the recommendations of others, and search for jobs and employees.

    Social Answers

     

    Did you know that asking and answering questions is also another form of social networking, and it is so useful, that we have classified it as an area of its own. Web sites like Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, and Askville are social sites where someone asks a question and anyone can join in and answer. The best answers often get links back to the recommending site. Your profile can also link to your website. When you answer a question, you can offer further information or quote your source, which is where you get to link to your blog or business site.

     

    Also note that LinkedIn has the powerful “Answers” feature too.

     

    Social Content Sites

     

    Social content web sites exist because of their participants. Everyone who joins, adds to the community at large. These are usually excellent ways to increase backlinks to your site and can be very rewarding if you really get into the networking aspect of the content site. Squidoo is Google´s favorite content site where you can create a “lens” or website that lets you earn money, link out and get top place in the search results with your keywords. Wikipedia is an ever growing knowledge site that relies on its users to create new articles and edit the ones that already exist.

    Social Photo Sites

     

    Not all content is necessarily written, so it´s not surprising that photo sites are a great addition to social media. Among the most popular photo sharing sites are Flickr, Picasa, and KodakGallery. On these sites you can share your best photos, comment on other people’s photos and generally make friends.

     

    Social Video Networking

     

    With Internet connections getting faster, more and more people are looking to video to keep them abreast of the latest information. Now you can even create video responses to blog posts and other videos, turning this into one of the most interactive social media types ever.

     

    YouTube is the forerunner video site for posting homegrown videos. Many businesses are using YouTube and similar sites to post videos of product demos and information. Video watchers can comment and interact with a community of other users, exchanging thoughts and ideas about the clips they have seen. Other popular video sites are Joost, MetaCafe, Revver and Viddler.

     

    Blogging

     

    Last but not least, we cannot forget to discuss the importance of blogging for any business. Web logs (known as blogs) are a big part of the social media mix. Blogs should be your hub that you direct people back to from the social media sites. We recommend adding blog posts a minimum of twice per week (3-4x/week is great!) to keep people coming back.

     

    To direct traffic to your blogs, use other social media sites, social bookmarking as well as creating hyperlinks to your blog on other blogs and discussion forums.

     

    There are literally hundreds of social media sites out there! You do not have to use all the above options, but social networking strategies have certainly worked for many businesses. All of the social media sites mentioned here can be excellent ways to not only get links back to your business website, but also to improve your online visibility. Reputation is everything and by getting out there and becoming more transparent, you are going to find your business growing and your reputation improving.

     

    Every business is crying about the economy, but you do not to one of them. The Internet gave us all the opportunity to grow our business in ways that no one thought possible. Don’t procrastinate, get started in putting your social media plan together. If you are still lost and confused on where to start and what works best for your business, please get help from the experts.

     

    Remember, you are never alone when it comes to growing your business!
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  • Chicago Domino’s Owner, @Ramon_DeLeon More Than Gets Social Media…He Breathes It!

    Posted Jul 6th, 2009 By in Social Media, Social Networking With | 5 Comments

    For all the local business owners out there who think social media is not for you, I am about to prove you wrong with this amazing social media success story. You have no more excuses not to use social media for your businesses!

    Ramon De Leon, owner of several Domino’s pizza restaurants in Chicago not only GETS social media marketing, he lives and breathes it! Who do you know that keeps spare batteries in his pockets (at all times) for his cell phone and video camera to be prepared to take videos of any situation?

    A couple of weeks, I met Ramon (@DPZRAMON) at a social media summit where he shared how he utilizes Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to increase exposure for his restaurants and THRIVE in this new economy. Let me tell you, he was the hit of the summit! The whole room was fascinated by his energy, passion and commitment to social media and pizza.

    Since 2005, social media has been an essential tool for @Ramon_DeLeon’s business. He uses social media to communicate with customers, especially in crisis situations. As one example of what Ramon is doing with social media, watch the below video. He not only personally apologizes through Twitter but he also takes a video of a genuine apology to Amy Korin (@interactiveamy) for being one hour late delivering the wrong pizza and more than makes it up to her later — Ramon provided Domino’s pizza for 350 people at a Social Media Club gathering.

    Ramon uses Twitter to listen and monitor what customers are saying – he personally responds to everyone. People tweet to him asking for specials and he either takes the orders through Twitter or directs them with a link to order online.

    Ramon also uses Facebook to engage with high school and college/university kids. He gives them outstanding service & pizza, and builds relationships with these kids that will last past their college years, into their place of business once they start their careers.

    In addition, Ramon engages his offline customers by having the logos for social media sites on all his traditional advertising materials, such as the flyers that are taped to all Domino’s pizza boxes. Ramon is always continuously learning about the trends and best practices of social media.

    So, how is social media marketing impacting Ramon’s business?

    - He is standing above competition. With thousands of pizza places in the Chicago area, you can bet that Ramon is the most well known pizza guy in Chicago.
    - He is building long-term relationships with his customers.
    - And YES, Ramon is increasing his bottom line.

    Is Ramon having fun with social media? You bet! Watch this video and see for yourself!

    Now, that is the power of social media marketing! Who u gonna call next time you’re in Chicago?

    If you have social media success stories like Ramon’s, we would love to hear about them.

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