Keeping track of everything that’s going on can be a challenge — especially with social media which moves at the speed of light. Netvibes is a great way to get an eyeball on what’s going on, all in one dashboard. Plus, it’s super easy to set up and also offers customization options if the default isn’t quite what you want. Better yet, you can easily setup a dashboard for each subject you want to monitor, making it simple to switch between. Here’s how to setup Netvibes for your own social media monitoring…
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Sep
21
2010
What is a Twitter Hashtag?
If you’re on Twitter you may have seen people put a # in front of a word in their post. That’s what’s called a hashtag, and it makes it easy for other people who are interested in a topic to follow all the posts about it. Hashtags are similar to tagging a photo in Flickr… they help other people understand what the tweet is about, as well as applications that try to help make sense of the overall Twitter stream. How can you use Twitter hashtags for your business?
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Sep
17
2010
Twitter Measurement Tools
It’s important to measure your social media efforts so you can find out what’s working and how they’re helping you reach your business goal. If Twitter is part of your social media strategy, then there are a number of tools which can give you some Twitter statistics and measurement. Take a look to see if any of these can help you measure success in your social media strategy:
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Sep
13
2010
How-To: Setup Monitoring in HootSuite
A vitally important part of achieving success with social media is responding when someone does reach out to you. When you’re just starting with social media, this may seem like a pipe dream, but if you’re not watching for responses, you may miss them when they happen. As your social media presence grows, it’s equally crucial to monitor for mentions and responses so they do not become lost. I use HootSuite as my main Twitter application, which not only has monitoring, but also stats and scheduling. Here’s how to setup HootSuite to monitor Twitter for mentions, responses and keywords…
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Sep
08
2010
Social Media in an Hour a Day
You’re busy. You’re trying to run your business and you probably are wearing multiple-hats — marketing, accounting, sales, operations, etc. You want to use social media, but you don’t have a lot of time to spare. While social media can take a lot of time, you can get quite a bit out of it just by devoting an hour a day. Here’s how…
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Aug
24
2010
Social Media Must Align with Customer Service for Success
You may be doing a great job with social media for your company — creating great content, having conversations and really engaging with your customers. But, if your customer service doesn’t align with the expectations set by your social media interactions, your success will only be short term. Eventually customers will experience your customer service and if it doesn’t align with expectations built by social media, all your hard work will be for naught.
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Jul
12
2010
Social Media Insights from a Newbie
As a digital strategist, it’s important to not only understand how to use social media for business, but also to understand pain points when business people go to use it for the first time. Just watching and helping a client struggle with learning how to use social media offers a lot of great insights.
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Apr
30
2010
Identify Your Ideal Customer Before Implementing Social Media
Knowing your target audience is vital to any social media strategy, which requires identifying your ideal customer in very specific terms. Many businesses try to target anyone who they think may be even remotely interested in their product. This can lead to social media presence that is spread way too thin for the company resources (this isn’t a good branding or product strategy either). It’s best to concentrate on the ideal customer and find the most appropriate 1-3 places online to connect.
To identify the ideal customer, think of job titles or occupations they may have. Try describing an individual that would purchase your products. What do they like to do? What interests them? Why would buying your product solve a problem or provide a benefit?
Once you have your ideal customer in mind, it will be much easier to investigate places they may already be online. Look for discussion groups, industry associations and publications that may interest your audience. We’ll discuss finding your audience in more depth in a future post.
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Technorati tags: customer, social media strategy, social media, marketing, business
Mar
24
2010
Small Businesses Using Social Media for Real Results
Many small businesses want to use social media, but they may be unsure of how to best use it. Most examples of businesses successfully using social media tend to be large companies with entire departments dedicated to campaigns. Seeing some examples of small businesses using social media may be helpful:
The most obvious benefits are increased customer loyalty and engagement. Less obvious but just as important: Your business will gain exposure not through your own advertisements, but through folks who’ve already been patrons. We’re more likely to trust a Facebook update or Yelp review from a friend than from the business itself. – How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media for Real Results (Mashable)
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