One of the biggest challenges in monitoring and measurement of social media for companies is how much efforts are increasing mentions of the brands. And then knowing whether those mentions are generally positive or negative. It’s fairly easy to get a snapshot at any point of time of how many mentions have happened in the past 24 hours using searches and some tools. What’s difficult to get a feel for is how mentions of a brand are trending over time. Actionly looks to fill this gap with trending information for keywords over time pulled from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Blogs and News.
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Jan
31
2011
Review: Actionly for Social Media Monitoring & Measurement
Jan
28
2011
Thoughts on the History of Social Networking [Infographic]
Social networking has been around for longer than Twitter and Facebook (one could argue that social networking has been around longer than computers, but we’ll save that argument for another day). Digital social networking started the day that two computers could communicate with each other and send messages between people. Onlineschools.org has created an infographic of the history of social networking (digital), which does convey that social networking has been around longer than Twitter and Facebook, but missed a few key events:
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Jan
27
2011
Social Media is a Marketing Tool
Lots of “social media gurus” like to talk about how social media is all about “joining the conversation” and “listening to your customers.” While these are definitely true, social media is just another marketing tool which means it needs to show the same value and measurement as other marketing tools. Bazaarvoice has a survey of chief marketing officers and their expectations for the use of social media. Jason Falls over at Social Media Explorer breaks the survey down into nice bite-size chunks. My favorite:
CMOs are more clear than ever before that they want to measure sales conversion and revenue drivers. When you add the word “marketing” to “social media” its about business. Draw that line to the bottom line, or go home. – What CMOs Think About Social Media by Jason Falls | Social Media Explorer
What are your thoughts on the importance of measurement in social media?
Jan
26
2011
Why Marketers Should Care About the Rise of the E-Book
Unless you’ve been asleep for the past few years, you’re probably aware that the demand for e-books (and e-book readers) has increased tremendously (see infographic from The Next Web). Consumers have been moving towards consuming more and more of their content digitally online and the rise of e-books shows that consumers are also reading books digitally (though not necessarily online at the time of consumption). These trends are very important to understand as a marketer to figure out new ways to interact and engage with consumers. Here are some of my thoughts….
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Jan
25
2011
Content Curation vs. Content Creation
Just like anything in business, people expect value from their social media relationships. An important way to provide value to your network via social media is through a content strategy. A content strategy can include content that you create, as well as content you curate or share from other sources. How much content should you create versus curate? It’s up to you, but here are some things to consider:
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Jan
24
2011
Small Business Help from The Visa Business Network
Starting and running your own business can be a daunting task. You have to be CEO, VP of Sales, VP of Marketing, CIO, administrator assistant AND actually get some work done. Visa recently created a network and website, The Visa Business Network, to help small business owners get the answers they need so they can get back to work. I was asked to take a look at the network and give some feedback (I have not received any compensation or guidelines/requirements for this feedback). The Visa Business Network does have some valuable information, and can be a valuable resource, provided it’s just one in a larger toolkit:
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Jan
21
2011
The “ME” in Social Media is not about You
While social media may give power into the hands of individuals so everyone is a publisher, businesses often forget that social media is not about them. The “ME” in social media refers to individual consumers, not to you personally. Social media allows every consumer to have a voice, to tell their story, to be heard. By respecting the “me” in social media to be individual consumers, companies are more likely to be a part of an engaged and interactive community.
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Jan
20
2011
Should You Use Facebook for Your Business?
You might think it strange that I’m asking a question about whether your business should be on Facebook. Many businesses just assume that they should be on Facebook because everyone else is there. While that may seem like a good case for being there, it’s certainly not the only thing you should consider. As popular as it is, Facebook may not make sense for every business. Here are some things to consider when deciding whether it makes sense for your business:
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Jan
19
2011
State of the Social Web from Dave Linabury #smcd
Social Media Club Detroit had the honor of having Dave Linabury give his take on the current state of the social web and up and coming trends. Dave is Executive Vice President, Director of Social Media at Campbell-Ewald in Detroit (connect with him on Twitter). Here are my notes from his awesome presentation last night:
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Jan
18
2011
Finding Keywords for Social Media Content & Monitoring
As I mentioned yesterday, in 7 Social Media Monitoring Essentials, fortunately or unfortunately, keywords are a part of life on social media (and the Internet). Keywords are how search engines provide results and keywords are how we find what we’re looking for. On social networks like Twitter, where you’re limited by the length of the post, keywords are vital for targeting the right audience. So how do you go about finding the right keywords for your content (and to monitor)? Here are a few suggestions…
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Digital Marketing & Strategy
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