Tag Archives: new media

Using Twitter & Facebook for Business

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New media enthusiast/guru/blogger Brian Solis offers 21 tips from his book, Engage, for using Twitter and Facebook for business. As we all attempt to meander through the ever-changing world of social media, it’s easy to develop bad habits and/or practices that may not be most beneficial to your business. The entire post is interesting, but here are a few key tips to help you turn those hours at the computer into actual revenue:

Number 19. Research and Intelligence

The Social Web is a real-time collective and assembly of valuable information that mostly goes unnoticed. A few existing services are dedicated to applying a magnifying lens into the dialogue that leads to insight, direction, creativity, and inventiveness.

For example, celebrity.peoplebrowsr.com provides real-time insight into the most actively discussed celebrities on Twitter at any moment in time, while also revealing the sentiment that is most associated with each. If you notice at the top, you can also view the latest on Airlines industry or stock market sentiment and associated tweets.

StockTwits provides an open, community-powered idea and information service for investments. Users can listen to traders and investors, or contribute to the conversation. The service leverages Twitter as a content production platform and transforms tweets into financial related data structured by stock, user, and reputation.

Number 20. Fund Raising

This is a big opportunity and one that will yield amazing stories on how people are using Twitter and social media to raise money for charitable causes and capital for projects and companies. It’s the art of spurring contributions through information and education, not solicitation.

When it comes to social media for Social Good, we don’t have to look much further than anything Beth Kanter touches or spotlights. She’s one of the most influential people in using social media for raising awareness, support and money for causes. One of the projects that she remains dedicated to is helping orphans in Cambodia and, to date, it has raised over $200,000. She has also used Twitter, Widgets, and other social networks to help many other organizations and causes. In one live demonstration, which still leaves me in awe, she raised over $2,500 to send a young Cambodian woman to college while she was on stage at Gnomedex in Seattle.

Number 21. Words of Wisdom

As reiterated throughout these top tips, listening and responding is helpful and efficacious in luring new customers, empowering advocacy, and instilling loyalty.

Serving as a resource for your community or industry positions, proactively responding to online users who are posing questions, and assisting those who are seeking advice and guidance can garner trust, respect, and camaraderie for you and the causes you espouse.

There are measurable and also incalculable benefits to dedicating resources to lead individuals and organizations to resolution.

For example, @homedepot monitors dialogue related to the company, but also those individuals who are tackling home projects and seeking tips and instructions.

BestBuy’s @Twelpforce has authorized its entire staff of trained employees to seek out discussions related to consumer electronics, home theaters, gaming, music, appliances, and technology, and to answer questions, whether or not they’re directly tied to the BestBuy brand.

New Media = New Way for Your Business to Reach Customers

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Some interesting statistics were recently released that show just how critical it is for companies to have a strategy in place to interact with existing — and potential — customers online. What may have seemed like an added convenience in the past may be becoming a downright necessity for businesses hoping to develop a sound reputation. MediaPost writes:

A just-released study from Cone Inc. reports that among new-media users, a staggering 78% of them interact with companies or brands via new media sites and tools — up from 59% the year before. And these users are conversing with brands more often: Some 37% say they do so at least once a week — up from one in four when Cone did the study last year.

It’s not enough to simply have new media presences (although 95% of users expect it.) Increasingly, they are looking for companies and brands not just with Web sites (58%) and email (45%), but with involvement in social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace (30%) and online games (24%).

Surprisingly, given their loathing of pop-ups and other intrusive ad methods, 43% say they want to see companies advertise online, up from 25% last year. And women are especially enthusiastic about offers that include freebies, coupons or discounts (58%).

Perhaps the most intriguing part of Cone’s data, however, is that consumers strongly believe that new media is a two-way street, with 62% saying they can influence business decisions by voicing their opinions through new media.

New Media Requires New Plan for Businesses

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Entrepreneur.com recently offered instruction regarding how small businesses can engage potential customers and stretch ad dollars as far as possible. The site offered three key points to keep in mind, and for further elaboration, read the entire piece:

Want to know how to spend your marketing dollars this fall? Here’s a hint–throw out last year’s plan and start fresh. The economic downturn coupled with the rise in social media and the full-bore acceptance of an internet that’s accessible virtually everywhere has forever changed the way customers shop.

Rather than rely solely on media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, it’s time to allocate a larger percentage of your budget to less traditional tactics. Winning and keeping customers now calls for innovative marketing that engages prospects in more direct ways. As you plan your holiday marketing tactics, be sure to factor in these three critical elements for a campaign that will work in today’s socially and economically altered marketplace.

  1. New Media Has Taken Hold
  2. One-on-One Communication Builds Bonds
  3. Consumers Expect to Be Engaged and Understood