Social Media from an Intern’s Point of View

Social media is a full throttle expanding industry. You close your eyes for a good night’s sleep and wake up to find Facebook has a new look or new updates, Twitter has new features or hashtags, or there is a new sensational video on YouTube that has the world talking. Facebook now has more than 600 million active users and continues to expand globally. Facebook was first used to find friends and today has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Companies create fan pages for customers to visit and learn more about the company and products or services offered. The marketplace is an online store for Facebook users to post items they want to sell or give away or buy items. Facebook statuses are being used to inform customers of promotional events or giveaways. It is rare to find a company that cannot be found on Facebook today. Even though Facebook is increasing among companies, it is constantly growing for personal use. People want to connect with their friends and Facebook helps keep in contact with friends in a timely fashion. Twitter is utilized as status updates to keep customers engaged in what is new or developing with a company. Companies are coming up with creative ways to keep customers “following” their Twitter page. For example, Best Buy uses their Twitter for customer services, E! News tweets all the latest Hollywood gossip, and politicians are getting involved to increase interaction with their followers. For personal use, Twitter helps keep followers updated on their daily lives and is a convenient way to share pictures, websites, or recommend virtual and real places to visit. YouTube is a video-sharing website that users can upload, share, and view videos. Once you sign into YouTube, time flies. The videos are addicting and make you never want to log off. Companies are reaching out to their customers by getting involved in video marketing. The social media trend is ever growing and continues to transform the Internet age.

I use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to get more involved with companies and to follow my friends. Today’s technology is rapidly advancing and it is harder to manage my life and keep in touch with companies and friends. Facebook helps me engage in conversation with my friends by posting on walls, commenting on pictures, and updating my status. Twitter keeps me knowledgeable about the latest companies’ news and my friends’ daily outings. YouTube helps time fly when watching videos that capture the mind of millions, it helps build brands and promote individuals. Social media is a tool to manage your time and life. While social media networks serve their own niches, many companies and individuals use them to drive traffic to their website, so we recommend remembering that it is your website that sells you and shows you off to the world, so make it a good show when visitors arrive.

Editing Your Facebook News Feed

In trying to keep up with the ever-changing Facebook, here’s a tip to help restore a setting you may not realize has been changed in your Facebook news feed.

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The Nuts and Bolts of Social Media & Public Relations

Web presence is more than just a website these days.  Making your content shareable and participating in the conversation through social media is part of the ever-changing face of public relations in 2011.

Managing Social Media Channels. Did you ever wish you could be in more than one place at the same time?  As far as I know science has yet to master that phenomenon; however your “voice” CAN, and should be in more than one place at the same time.  Centralized campaign management systems (i.e., HootSuite and TweetDeck) enable a manager to listen, aggregate, publish, and manage multiple social media distribution channels all from a single portal.

The Consumer. Remember that by making your customers cheerleaders for your brand, you create a win-win situation. Bonus!  Social media extends an indispensable tool for gauging audience opinion by way of a two-way conversation in which both sides (customer and company) can exchange views.   Business Intelligence (BI) refers to the gathering, storing, and analyzing of data to help business users make more informed and therefore more advantageous decisions.  In an article published in 2006 (“Social Network Analysis and Business Intelligence”), Dr. Ramon Barquin, president of a consulting firm since 1994, wrote, “Stay tuned, social network analysis and business intelligence travel in lockstep these days.”  Now five years later we enter 2011, and there is little doubt that his words held up.

Networking With Influencers is 100% simpler today than was before.“Influencers” can be journalists, reporters, bloggers, or anyone of influence who covers topics in your industry.  By establishing relationships with these influential people you may find that you’ve snagged your business a mention and maybe even a feature story.  MuckRack.com is a free website that enables you to search for and locate journalists.

Sharability is a must!  By creating something interesting that grabs your audience’s attention people will naturally want to share it with their friends, and even comment or blog about it (further increasing your exposure).  To help them out, each social media site has its own share buttons (i.e., Facebook’s “Share” and Twitter’s “ReTweet”).

Multimedia, such as mobile marketing, photo, video, and file sharing, can work within the social media arena to spread the word and help build brand awareness. Check out Windows Movie Maker, or iMovie for Mac users, and note that by publishing videos or photos somewhere on your own website and then linking them in your press release, you’ll drive traffic to your website (the centralized hub for your business).

Consumers “Pull” Themselves to Your Media Message. More and more today we see a shift in the way society accepts and digests brand messages.  It’s becoming commonplace for consumers to “pull” media messages in their direction (i.e., RSS Feeds and Google Alerts).  As a voluntary recipient of your brand message, this type of consumer is ultimately more responsive.

 

As you can see there are various ways to increase your public awareness. Public Relations is a vital part of any business, big or small. Your company is only as good as its word of mouth, so share it with the world and get your company social today. If you need help with your online presence contact the staff at Social Media Platform and they’d be more than happy to help. You can contact them at http://smp4you.com, http://facebook.com/smp4you or http://twitter.com/smp4you.

Public Relations and Social Media

As consumers, wouldn’t most of us be more likely to trust the endorsement offered by a family member, a friend, or even another consumer we’ve never even met over a company’s endorsement of their own products/services?  Undoubtedly.  By leveraging the power of public relations and social media you have the awesome capability of building buzz for your business while attaining third-party credibility.

The traditional press release is evolving and although print media still has its place, social media is taking center stage.  The major difference between a traditional press release and a press release embraced by social media outlets is the exceptional capability social media has as a viral marketing tool.   It only takes the click of a mouse and your message can spread like lightning from one person to another.  Consumers have always shared with friends, family, neighbors, and the like — the good the bad, and the ugly about a brand.  Social media has simply created a premier platform to spread the word.  Having a presence for your business on popular social media networks such as Facebook is becoming increasingly compulsory.  The relatively new phenomenon offers word-of-mouth marketing on steroids.  Think smart!  Create a win-win situation by making your customers cheerleaders for your brand.  They’re truly the best sales agents a company could ask for.

social media and pr

The Value Social Media Brings to PR?

• Easily distribute through various channels
• Embrace the power of the consumer
• Get the conversation going! (2-way communication)
• Grab the attention of journalists and/or bloggers (they may write about your company’s story)
• Sharability (use a “Share” widget and allow readers to post/share information at lightning speed)
• Multimedia capabilities (i.e., YouTube videos, surveys, links, etc.)
• Ability to build inbound links and backlinks
• Pull PR makes it easy – the media and your intended audience target themselves for you!  They find and pull themselves to your news (i.e., RSS feeds).

What One Thing Do People Associate With Your Business?

It may not be what you think, such as your main product or service. It might be something seemingly insignificant to you, but particularly memorable for them. It may not be as simplistic or as silly as associations children may have with a place (e.g. “the red store” or the bank where “the nice lady gives out candy”). However, remember each interaction a consumer or prospective client has with your business, whether it be in person or online through social media, can have a direct impact. Your business may stand out from others simply because your tweets or Facebook updates feed them valuable tips or make them laugh. Your business might stand out in their minds from your competitors if you went above and beyond your normal business routine to give them exceptional service or follow up to see how they are doing some time after the sale or time of service. The good news is, through social media, you can tailor your message daily to help sculpt the positive experiences and interactions with your customers and seek their nearly immediate feedback as well.

Social Media’s Immediate Feedback Saves the Gap

Okay, “saves” may not be the right word, but thanks to social media, the Gap realized very quickly how dissatisfied fans and consumers were with their recent logo change. One such story regarding this week’s gaffe can be read at Mashable.com. Kudos to the Gap for listening to their followers and reverting to the former, well-loved logo.

We realize that not every business decision can be submitted to all your supporters for their approval, but I think this example illustrates the value of listening to their opinions nevertheless.

2 October blog post ideas Inbox X work X Reply | Melinda Jones Here are two ideas for October blog posts, the first one of more immediate re… Oct 13 (2 days ago) Melinda JonesLoading… Oct 13 (2 days ago) Melinda Jones to Sonja show details Oct 13 (2 days ago) Here are two ideas for October blog posts, the first one of more immediate relevance, and the second one could be used at any time. Let me know what you think.     *jumping on checking on all those SMP accounts now…* — Social Media’s Immediate Feedback Saves the Gap Okay, “saves” may not be the right word, but thanks to social media, the Gap realized very quickly how dissatisfied fans and consumers were with their recent logo change. One such story regarding this week’s gaffe can be read at http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/gap-logo/. Kudos to the Gap for listening to their followers and reverting to the former, well-loved logo. We realize that not every business decision can be submitted to all your supporters for their approval, but I think this example illustrates the value of listening to their opinions nevertheless. — What One Thing Do People Associate With Your Business? It may not be what you think, such as your main product or service. It might be something seemingly insignificant to you, but particularly memorable for them. It may not be as simplistic or as silly as associations children may have with a place (e.g. “the red store” or the bank where “the nice lady gives out candy”). However, remember each interaction a consumer or prospective client has with your business, whether it be in person or online through social media, can have a direct impact. Your business may stand out from others simply because your tweets or Facebook updates feed them valuable tips or make them laugh. Your business might stand out in their minds from your competitors if you went above and beyond your normal business routine to give them exceptional service or follow up to see how they are doing some time after the sale. The good news is, through social media, you can tailor your message daily to help sculpt the positive experiences and interactions with your customers and seek their nearly immediate feedback as well. — Reply Forward Reply | Sonja Dyess to me show details Oct 13 (2 days ago) I saw that about the GAP and was thinking the same thing!!! These are both good. Go with it. Don’t forget to fill out the tag section and categories when posting on the blog. Make sure you did those with the other postings you have done. J Great job as usual!!! Sonja Dyess “I’ll Tweet You Right” Social Media Platform 904.429.7519 www.smp4you.com www.facebook.com/smp4you www.twitter.com/smp4you From: Melinda Jones [mailto:melindaj7@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 1:07 PM To: Sonja Dyess Subject: 2 October blog post ideas – Show quoted text –   Here are two ideas for October blog posts, the first one of more immediate relevance, and the second one could be used at any time. Let me know what you think.     *jumping on checking on all those SMP accounts now…* — Social Media’s Immediate Feedback Saves the Gap Okay, “saves” may not be the right word, but thanks to social media, the Gap realized very quickly how dissatisfied fans and consumers were with their recent logo change. One such story regarding this week’s gaffe can be read at http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/gap-logo/. Kudos to the Gap for listening to their followers and reverting to the former, well-loved logo. We realize that not every business decision can be submitted to all your supporters for their approval, but I think this example illustrates the value of listening to their opinions nevertheless. — What One Thing Do People Associate With Your Business? It may not be what you think, such as your main product or service. It might be something seemingly insignificant to you, but particularly memorable for them. It may not be as simplistic or as silly as associations children may have with a place (e.g. “the red store” or the bank where “the nice lady gives out candy”). However, remember each interaction a consumer or prospective client has with your business, whether it be in person or online through social media, can have a direct impact. Your business may stand out from others simply because your tweets or Facebook updates feed them valuable tips or make them laugh. Your business might stand out in their minds from your competitors if you went above and beyond your normal business routine to give them exceptional service or follow up to see how they are doing some time after the sale. The good news is, through social media, you can tailor your message daily to help sculpt the positive experiences and interactions with your customers and seek their nearly immediate feedback as well. — Reply Forward

Even the experts don’t know it all

Being an expert in your field doesn’t mean you will always know ALL the answers. Clients and prospects want to know your company has a vast knowledge, but oftentimes they also appreciate it when you admit when you don’t know the answer. The most important thing, however, is to take the time to find the answer so you and the client can be the better for it.

Several years ago, an expectant mother about to have her first child was asking friends, family, and her midwife about recommendations for a pediatrician. One name popped up several times for a variety of sound reasons. In her prepared childbirth class, a couple added their recommendation of the same pediatrician because he had been stumped by the set of symptoms exhibited by their older child. The pediatrician honestly admitted he wasn’t sure and took the care to research it further to reach a conclusive diagnosis. Because of that honesty and research, they vowed he would be all their kids’ pediatrician. The new mother chose him and when her first-born had a slightly common condition that children sometimes outgrow, the pediatrician didn’t dismiss it and chose to have it checked out more thoroughly in case intervention was needed. Since then, she has chosen him for all her children.

Social networks serve to increase the scope of where customers and clients seek these recommendations. Today, the expectant mom may seek these recommendations from her friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances near and far through Facebook, discussion boards, local blogs and websites.

Being well-known as an expert is great, but being well-known AND willing to continue advancing that expertise to benefit your customer is even better.

The “Social” in Social Media

The phrase “social media” brings up a lot of ideas (and online links when you search the phrase). Because social media incorporates a vast array of marketing tools at our disposal, many think of the “media” aspects first. The media aspects include how to use platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others on how to “get the word out” about your company, but don’t forget the “social” aspects.

The current marketing climate indicates consumers are looking to trust those with whom they do business and this includes small companies. There is a general mistrust of marketing strategies that blast consumers with their products or services without any regard to the true needs of consumers. And many people refer to “the media” in very negative terms. Many are now looking for socially responsive and responsible companies. Practice good social skills and etiquette as you would when dealing with consumers in person including listening, responding and exhibiting authenticity and generosity in order to add value to their lives.

By listening and responding to their needs and moods, and not just the ones your product or service directly addresses, your sensitivity will produce more valuable and stronger connections than any targeted hard-sell tactics will. Allow feedback and discussion on your website and fan pages where consumers can exchange information with each other and get feedback about concerns.

Be generous. Share not only the wealth when able, but also time and knowledge to keep up the conversation. Social media’s two-way communication should allow an exchange of ideas, even if that includes giving credit and praise for others’ good ideas. Honest retweeting is a great way to share these ideas and positivity. Be open to your customers’ good ideas and suggestions. It fosters a sense of community.

Most of all, be yourself. People are skeptical by nature and one of the most positive things one can do is to be genuine. Maintain authenticity and positivity in your interactions.

Practicing these social skills will help instill confidence in your audience and enrich the lives of those involved in the interaction.