Posts Tagged ‘social networking and business benefits’

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Social Networking and Business Benefits in a Tough Economy

Monday, March 1st, 2010

searchcircusfacebookAre we living in a new entrepreneurial era? Economic conditions have forced many to rethink their career path. As a result, many people are transitioning into consulting careers, freelance careers and entrepreneurial careers. According to WorkXpress CEO Treff LaPlante, now’s the time to start a technology business.

And many are finding that social networking and business benefits abound. New, small businesses are taking the lead when it comes to thinking creatively about using services like Facebook and Twitter as low-cost methods of getting their brand out into the public eye.

A great example is Coolhaus, a new ice cream business started by a former architect and a former realtor. They realized potential social networking and business benefits by establishing Twitter and Facebook accounts. Social media promotions included giving followers a link to a famous architectural photographer Julius Shulman. If customers came to their roving ice cream truck and said his name, they’d get a discount.

Thanks to fun ideas like that, the social networking and business benefits have led to Coolhaus gaining nearly 8,000 Twitter followers and 1,300 Facebook fans. And according to a recent Rice University study, having more fans and followers really does matter when it comes to social networking and business benefits. Fans of a small chain of cafes visited the business 20 percent more often and spent 33 percent more money than other customers.

Looking at social networking and business benefits goes beyond the low costs. Social media marketing reaches consumers where they communicate. It’s a way of getting in on the conversation.

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Posted in Business Social Networking, social media marketing | 1 Comment »

3 Easy Ways to Use Twitter Lists for Social Media Marketing

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

socialmediamarketingIf you’ve been using Twitter for business, then you may have noticed that the past couple of weeks have brought some changes to your Twitter home page. Perhaps the most notable of these changes has been the addition of Twitter Lists. Twitter lists are, quite simply, a way that Twitter users can group other Twitter users into groups. That means you can create a group for your school friends, one for your family, and so on.

There are several reasons to create lists. You can create a list of everyone living in the same city, or you can create a “most recommended” list of users that you think other people should follow. But can these new Twitter Lists help those who are using Twitter as a part of their social media marketing campaign? Of course they can. Here three ways to harness the power of Twitter Lists for a great social media marketing impact.

  1. Create a list of everyone at your company—If your company has more that one person tweeting, then you can create a custom list as a part of your social media marketing program that makes it easy for others to follow everyone at your company by simply following your company’s Twitter list.
  2. See tweets of people you aren’t following—Twitter can be a great social media marketing research tool. It’s easy to find out what people are saying about your brand and your industry. But it can also be a pain to follow every single person in your industry, or every single client or potential client. But now you can enhance your social media marketing research by creating a custom list of people you want to follow, but do not want in your main tweet stream. Simply create a Twitter List and populate it with those Twitter users.
  3. Use third-party applications—It should surprise no one that there are already apps popping up that make Twitter Lists even more valuable. Listorious is a site that lists every Twitter list. TweetMeme Lists ranks Twitter lists by popularity. These are two more social media marketing tools with enormous information-gathering potential.

Since Twitter Lists is still relatively new, this is hardly the last word in how to use Twitter Lists for social media marketing. Expect more resources and more useful tools to pop up in the future. We’ll keep you updated on any new Twitter Lists features.

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Posted in social media marketing, social networking trends | No Comments »

Make a Better Online Social Networking Impact with Less Effort: A LinkedIn Guide

Monday, October 26th, 2009

onlinesocialnetworkingWith over 46 million members, LinkedIn has become the online social networking hub for professionals. If you aren’t yet on LinkedIn, you may have already heard that from others as a reason to join. You may have heard that getting on LinkedIn is absolutely essential if you want to keep your professional identity up to date. Many people simply use LinkedIn to keep up with their closest business contacts and to keep their professional information online. And that’s fine. But the truth is, it’s rather easy to use online social networking services like LinkedIn for a lot more. And it won’t take up a lot of time, either. Here’s a quick guide to creating a LinkedIn online social networking profile that’s optimized for maximum exposure.

Step 1: Create a Profile

The very first step of joining the LinkedIn online social networking service is to create your own profile. This is a pretty straightforward affair, and LinkedIn offers a lot of help for those who aren’t used to creating online social networking profiles and accounts. But there are a few things to remember if you’re interested in optimizing your online social networking experience. First, you want you and your business as easily-findable as possible. If there isn’t one already, you can create a separate profile for your business and include appropriate keywords. In your personal and business profile, you want to be as descriptive as possible when listing what you do. That will help your profiles rank higher when people search LinkedIn for relevant keywords.

Step 2: Connect

The first thing that most people do on LinkedIn is to connect with the people they know.  That includes people you may have worked with in the past, people you went to college with and people in your area that are involved in the same industry as you. It’s a great way to keep in touch with people, but remember that you aren’t using LinkedIn for selling. LinkedIn is for making connections and exchanging knowledge and ideas. When you’re helpful and you contribute to discussions, your network will grow. If you go in for the hard sell, then you’ll likely see your network shrink.

Step 3: Find and Join Groups

One benefit of online social networking that many people ignore is the chance to join groups. And at LinkedIn, there are groups for every imaginable industry. You can join as many groups as you like, although some groups will want to approve you beforehand. If you’re a local business, you can use the online social networking advantages of LinkedIn to find locally-focused groups. You’ll also want to join groups where you’ll find potential customers. But remember that the hard sell isn’t appreciated in the culture of online social networking. Don’t comment or post anything until you’ve been a member of the group for a week or so and are familiar with what topics are popular and what ones aren’t. That will help you find more connections.

Step 4: Interact

Many professionals only spend between 15 to 30 minutes a week on online social networks like LinkedIn. Really, that’s all it takes once everything’s set up. Check in weekly and see what is new with your connections. Ask questions in groups and answer ones you can. The truth is that some people take to LinkedIn more eagerly than others. But if you’re weary of dipping your feet into the world of online social networking—you’re probably worrying too much. Once you’re profile is setup and your primary connections are made, then effective regular maintenance is a rather simple affair.

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Posted in Business Social Networking, Online Social Networking | No Comments »

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