Many of us have become well versed in the various social networks. Whether for fun or business, the amount of time spent on social networks continues to grow. Companies, both large and small, have gone from a slight toe dip in the water, to swimming laps in Olympic sized pools. Though the number of social media channels continues to grow, this blog post will focus solely on Twitter.

Twitter defines itself as “a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.” This translates into everyday people being able to “follow” their favorite actresses every move (no kidding, some celebrities have been known to tweet on a minute to minute basis) and keep anyone interested aware in real time of hunger pangs, the difficulty of a spinning class, getting cut off in traffic, that they are at Starbucks, where they are going to dinner, etc.
So I guess that’s considered some of the fun stuff Twitter is known for, but what about the business component?

For some organizations, Twitter has taken the term customer service to a whole new dimension. This goes beyond setting up a company page, which every business ought to do, by the way.

A friend of mine recently tweeted, Oh Zappos I hate you!! Why don’t you have my size?!?!?! Within 30 minutes, she was contacted (via Twitter of course) from @Zappos_Service with: Oh no! We want to help you find perfect shoes. What size/style were you interested in? Maybe we can find them elsewhere. This is a perfect example of a company that is truly on their A Game. Personally, I think Zappos rocks in every capacity, so it is not shocking that they are savvy in Social Media.

How did Zappos know that my friend was tweeting about them, when she does not follow their company? They more than likely have some sort of “Twitter Alerts” (think Google Alerts) in place to monitor what is being said, as well as to protect their brand. Tweet Beep and Tweet Alarm are two of the many services you can utilize for this effort.

It is safe to say that customer service as we once knew will soon become obsolete; the days of sitting on hold with a representative are numbered. We are a society that is consumed with instant gratification and Twitter and other social networks provide us with the immediate support we crave.

With Social Media on every marketers’ mind (and if its not, may I suggest you start thinking about it?) it’s actually hard not to easily come up with really cool ways to get more Twitter followers, increase your number of Facebook fans, as well as acquire new connections on LinkedIn. There are all sorts of ways to get more eyes to your pages and profiles; many companies (both large and small) are coming up with enticing promotions and special offerings.

Before you launch all of your brilliant promotions in an effort to grow your existing social media circle, STOP! Why not first take the time to reward your existing social media family? After all, they are the ones who are already supporting you and they deserve a little special treatment.

So how can you show them your appreciation? Perhaps you can offer incentives solely for your existing social media base.  Sort of a” Thank You for Your Ongoing Loyalty” promotion and offer a discount, perk, free service, or free gift with purchase. It does not have to be anything fancy or even costly. The goal is quite simple: make your existing social media base feel like you truly care; that you value their ongoing loyalty and support. This will not only make them feel special, but will also make them want to tell their friends about your company, which in itself is helping to grow your fan base.

Once you have extended your gratitude toward your current fans, it is the perfect time to start to work on expanding your current followers, fans and connections.

There’s nothing quite like a trip down memory lane. Sadly, my uncle passed away not too long ago and my brother and I have shared the difficult task of going through his belongings. Boy was he a pack rat! He had saved everything from his kindergarten report card to this Howdy Doody Collector’s Pin from 1947, which I might add, is in mint condition. I took a closer look at the post card that accompanies the pin and was amazed at the verbiage on the card. Obviously there was no internet back then, but that did not stop them from taking their best shot at creating as much buzz as possible. Tell All of Your Friends about the Howdy Doody Club…Don’t forget to watch me on NBC Television, etc. …It got me thinking about how businesses utilize Facebook and Twitter today; we are essentially doing the same thing, however, in a much more sophisticated fashion.

Although Facebook originally launched in 2004, followed by Twitter in 2006, Social Media is not “new” by any stretch. According to Answers.com, “Although social media as a term is relatively new, many experts cite its origins to the development of ArpaNet - the predecessor of the Internet.” 

Without even realizing it, we have been utilizing components of  Social Media for many years and with the constant media buzz surrounding it, I do not see it going away anytime soon, if ever. If you have a website and are not actively promoting your company/brand/products services, etc. through the various Social Media channels, you are missing out on opportunities galore.

With over 321 million users (and growing) Facebook has become the most visited social networking site. People all over the world are sending friend requests, rekindling with bunkmates from summer camp and classmates from high school/ college. They are sharing pictures and videos of their children, sending out party invites, taking quizzes; the list goes on.

As fun as Facebook can be for many people, the notion that Facebook is just for fun and personal use could not be farther from the truth. Facebook can help your business in a variety of ways. Think of it like this: Your potential shoppers/clients/ leads are spending a considerable amount of time on Facebook. Therefore, you should be there, too. If your company does not have a Facebook profile, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to find new business.

Here are some tips on how to effectively manage your Facebook business profile:

• Create a separate business account, which has different functionality than a personal account.
• Completely and accurately fill out your profile; this will help to add creditability, as well as earn trust.
• Post professional pictures of your business and employees. Ensure that all photos are “business appropriate”. This means no happy hour pictures!
• Customize your tabs with relevant options for your business (Free White Paper, Events, Newsletters, etc.).
• Don’t get lazy! Update your business profile on a regular basis with current industry news and events. If your site has a blog (and it very well should) you can repurpose content directly from your blog or your other social networks to your Facebook profile. This can be done through an RSS Feed or a widget. In addition, Facebook has a plethora of applications that can be utilized.

Employing the above tips can help get you on your way to a better business profile. Make 2010 your year to get social!

The holiday season is well underway! With decorations galore and festive music playing almost everywhere, you can feel it in the air that Santa will soon be here! I can’t think of a better way for Online Retailers to get into the holiday spirit, other than by playing Santa with their loyal customers (aka fans, followers, connections).

Social Media Marketing affords you (both literally and figuratively) the opportunity to reach out to your existing fans on Facebook, followers on Twitter, connections on LinkedIn, etc. to offer special discounts, incentives, free gifts, free shipping, etc. You can make them feel extra special by rewarding your loyal social media network participants. This will also get them in the habit of visiting your pages more often, as they will not want to miss out on future specials.

It is advisable to use a specific promo code; one that is different than anything else you may be promoting. This is a great way to see how your social media strategy is performing and make optimization adjustments as necessary. The holiday season is a better time than ever to utilize your social media channels to say thank you and happy holidays to your existing fan base. In addition, you can suggest that they pass your special offers along to coworkers, friends, family members, etc. You will be building your current fan base and generating more eyes to your site.

If you are reading this blog and thinking to yourself I do not have social media channels in place so I cannot offer these incentives to my consumers… Well, shame on you! It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon and I strongly encourage you to do so. Visit our website to learn why social media is anything but a fad; it is mission critical.

Tis the season to wish your fans, followers and connections a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY and a GREAT BIG THANK YOU for being a part of your social media existence!

If your website is missing a blog, you are not taking advantage of valuable opportunities like branding, achieving additional organic results, an increase in site visitors and the list goes on.

I often hear from clients that they just do not have the time to maintain a blog. At the risk of sounding impolite, this is simply not a good excuse. There is always time to write a blog post, especially being that it can be on any topic which is relevant to your business or industry. Let’s face it; you know your business better than anyone! Here are some questions I commonly get asked when the subject of blogs is brought up in conversation:

How Often Should I Update My Blog? It is recommended to update your blog at least once at week with original content. This is basically how it works: Search Engines love new and fresh content. The more updates your blog has, the more often the engines will come back to crawl it. The more often the engines crawl your blog, the more organic results you will potentially garner. It’s as simple as that.

In addition, updating your blog frequently will ensure that your visitors/readers have fresh content to read and also makes your blog (and your site) appear to be more credible.

How long should my blog post(s) be? This answer is somewhat debatable. Some experts will say anywhere from 250 to 500 words. We typically suggest approximately 250 words. You want the blog to be short, sweet and to the point.

Does it matter if my blog is onsite or offsite? It does; especially from an SEO perspective.  It is preferred that the blog be placed within your domain to achieve the best results possible.

What type of blog software is recommended?  There are several blog software options available depending on your specific site setup. We typically recommend Word Press and utilize this solution on our own blog.

Implementing a Blog is a fairly simple and fast way to start generating new and relevant content to your website. Happy Blogging!

A friend of mine was recently looking for a new workout routine. She went to Google and typed in the phrase leg workout video. The very first organic result was a YouTube video which she found to be very useful. She particularly enjoyed the user reviews written about the video and even wrote one of her own. As she was sharing this information with me, I found it interesting (but not at all a surprise) that the video ranked #1; higher than any other natural search results. Google’s Universal Search, which was first rolled out in 2007, displays not only website results, but also videos, images, etc. Basically, if a video is properly tagged with relevant keywords, there is a good chance the video will trump an organic website result.

Another friend of mine is getting ready to take a cruise vacation with her family. She also went online, but chose Yahoo to research shore excursions. She discovered a travel forum where fellow vacationers’ were blogging about their travel experiences. Before she knew it, she had been online for over an hour, collaborating with people on the travel forum. She gained helpful insights that will save her both time and money and promised to write about her own travel experience.

Both of the above examples prove the fact that even if you think you’re not a social media user, the fact is that in one way or another, you probably are. You don’t need a Facebook page, nor have followers on Twitter to engage in Social Media. Social Media, defined by wikipedia as online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies, is being used by almost everyone, in one way or another. Collaborative content is all over the internet and even if you aren’t looking, you will find it or rather, it will find you!

From time to time clients express to me that they are scared of social media. I am not kidding. They have literally said those words to me. Either they do not know enough about it, or it’s the exact opposite; they know too much and recognize how much time, effort and manpower it takes to establish an effective social media strategy. The key word here is “effective”. Anyone can join Facebook, or Twitter. Uploading images on Flickr is simple enough and writing a blog is also relatively easy. That being said, what many companies seem to have issues with is doing the above mentioned social media platforms correctly for businesses.

Even the most savvy social media user can become overwhelmed by all of the options available and the list is rapidly growing. Here is an idea as to how you can implement a social media strategy correctly, without becoming overwhelmed and the best part is that it won’t break the bank!

With summer upon us, a large percentage of college students are available and willing to work as interns. Why not employ a few to manage/maintain your social media efforts? If you utilize this cost effective approach, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you ought to have a game plan in place. A few things to ponder: What will your interns be doing exactly? Who will oversee their efforts? How often will they tweet? What will your Facebook corporate page/profile look like? Will a knowledgeable person train and guide them to ensure that they are well versed? Just because they know all about Facebook from a personal and/or social perspective, does not equate to them having knowledge from a business standpoint. All of that being said, it will be money well spent to engage in a social media training program of some sort.

It doesn’t have to be scary to dive into social media, although, it is mission critical to make sure you are doing it right! Good luck getting social!

Not buying into the Facebook Frenzy? Sick of being asked to follow your friends on Twitter? Feel like you might burst if one more person tries to connect with you on LinkedIn? Don’t know or care what a blog is?

Even if these questions apply to you on a personal level, the truth of the matter is that now, more than ever before, large and small companies are testing out the waters with the implementation of a social media strategy

In this tough economic climate, social media is a cost-effective way to get your message out to prospective customers. Whether we are talking about a YouTube video, Facebook Profile, Twitter page, or an onsite blog, social media is sizzling hot right now and is literally all around us. Many clients I speak with are allocating a respectable budget for social media efforts this year. According to a recent article by the Aberdeen Group, a leading provider of fact-based research, 21% of best-in-class companies are looking to increase their social media marketing budgets more than 25% in 2009.

A concern I often hear from clients is that they do not fully understand social media enough to invest the time and/or budget to focus on it; especially when they do not utilize these networks on a personal level. The unknown is always a bit scary, but diving into social media and embracing the unknown is well worth it. MoreVisibility ran a social media boot camp series last month, which highlighted: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and YouTube, all of which are being professionally utilized by a growing number of companies. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the webinar series.

Don’t be such a skeptic. Embrace the art of “collaborative content” and experience all of the benefits! Let social media work for you the way it is working for a growing number of companies, large and small.  Then, you can even “tweet” about it on Twitter!

With all due respect, you pretty much have to be living under a rock if you have not at least heard of one or more of the following Social Media sites:  Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. There’s also Friendster, Multiply, etc. etc. The list is endless.

Social Media is literally all around us. Your elementary school boyfriend (or girlfriend) wants to be your friend on Facebook. You can log on to check your Yoga studio’s schedule, even view your kid’s baseball practice updates. The talk show host/comedian, Ellen Degeneres, is asking you to “follow her” on Twitter and became a “fan” of her Facebook page to win exclusive prizes. Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva recently got into trouble for Tweeting (making a post in Twitter) during half time of a tie game. Need I say more?

Social Media has not only caught the attention of celebrities, NBA stars, tweens, teens, twenty, thirty and forty something’s; even Senior Citizens have taken notice. That’s right; your very own grandma is getting social!

OK, so she may not be sending you a friend request on Facebook or asking you to follow her on Twitter, but she could very well be on sites specifically tailored for seniors and baby boomers alike. These channels are an easy way for seniors to be active participants in the online community without feeling like they do not belong there.

Some of these sites include: Genkvetch, Seniorocity, ThirdAge, Eons and SeniorPeopleMeet. Genkvetch just enjoyed some nice PR in the Fort Lauderdale  Sun-Sentinel on March 23rd. Their home page targets seniors by asking, “Out of place at Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster? Then this is your space!”

I think it’s wonderful that elders have a myriad of choices with respect to social media networks especially targeted to them. They can read and discuss topics of interest with people of similar ages. If the desire is there to engage in social media, there are channels available to suit all ages and interests!