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Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors – Stock Markets Review

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:36:35 +0000

Simply Business knowledge Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors Stock Markets Review You might not know anything about Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn , but social media marketing is here to stay with powerful tools to generate leads and ... Why Social Media Really Is Worth Your Time Inc.com Small-Business Owners Cite the Benefits of Social Media Marketing Entrepreneur (blog) Work the social networks ... before you need work Computerworld (blog) Media Buyer Planner

How I Started Blogging. What’s Your Story?

BlogPostman — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:48:35 +0000

While today’s online media are abuzz with the latest and greatest social media tactics and tools, for many of us that have been around a little while, it was blogging that started our social media careers. It’s funny to think that in 2002 a type of site called “blog” came up on my radar as a possible marketing tool. At the time, many blogs were personal diaries posted anonymously or by people with a little tech savvy and plenty of opinion. Writing personal thoughts on a public web site was absolutely the last thing I would ever consider doing. However, it was a curious thing and I started a few blogs anonymously to see what it was like. Unfortunately, the excercise was so foreign, poorly executed and without feedback, that I deleted them. In mid 2003 I began looking for online content outside of forums and started reading several SEO blogs including Search Engine Blog (Peter Da Vanzo), Search Blog (John Battelle) and Search Engine Lowdown (Andy Beal). Interestingly, only Search Blog remains what it was. In December 2003 after using Blogger.com as a group blog software for a few collaboration projects I finally decided to start a blog under the blogspot.com domain for TopRank Online Marketing , which by then, had been in business about 2 years. As you can see from my “ Hello World ” post in Dec 2003, I had humble goals to post news and information related to online marketing. We had a web site that pulled in a lot of search traffic, why would we need a blog? The reason was simply to see what blogging could do to get the word out about our expertise and to share information. Blogging was very new territory and there wasn’t anyone to demonstrate best practices, so I set out to find what those were while sharing links, news and resources. I suspect there are a good number of companies that treat other social media services the same way, whether it’s Twitter, Foursquare or building a social mobile app. It’s new territory and they want to find out whether those applications or sites would make sense in their marketing mix. The problem with that perspective is that it’s about the most inefficient and unproductive way to go about finding the right online marketing channels for a business. The biggest mistake I made 6 plus years ago when I started blogging was not creating a strategy. As a marketer, I knew better than to chase a tactic, but I had no idea at the time how much of an impact blogging would have on our business. In other words, despite a lack of strategy, we were able to use our marketing savvy, curiosity and interest in connecting with the online marketing community to achieve many of the goals we set out to reach in our business. It just took a lot longer without that strategic plan. Companies starting down the path of becoming more social in their culture to better connect with customers and to realize the marketing, PR, and customer service benefits from social media participation don’t need to waste that time. Doing the homework of researching customers, setting goals and developing a strategy are essential steps towards a successful social media marketing experience. Back to why I started blogging. The SEO community was a lot smaller in 2003 and 2004. Writing a post about anything to do with search engine optimization would be noticed and commented on by the small number of SEO bloggers. There were plenty of cross links and “hat tips” (whatever happened to those?) and openly shared opinions. Blogging even made a number of SEOs very popular, very quickly. Blogging to get popular is the goal for some people and there certainly is some relationship between notoriety, awareness and credibility with the ability to attract sales. The key (for me at least) is that creating awareness of oneself is simply a proxy to gaining visibility for your business. It’s not a goal in itself. As a result, Ive been open about using visibility to help others and make connections. The turning point for me in blogging was due in part to learning to liveblog at conferences. Steve Hall of AdRants provided my first opportunity to liveblog at a ad:tech event - an absolutely humbling experience for anyone that isn’t a natural writer. I met people like Frank Gruber and David Berkowitz at that event in 2004. I did some liveblogging for Barry Schwartz and Search Engine Roundtable after that which also provided great exposure and connections. Matt McGowan brought even more exposure opportunity by having Online Marketing Blog as a media sponsor for SES conferences . There’s a huge list of people that have been very helpful over the years, especially our longtime readers. Since then we’ve published a lot of content and provided a lot of insight into holistic SEO and online marketing topics. During that time I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to find your voice and stick to it. Don’t try to be what you’re not. It simply doesn’t resonate with readers or with the goals you’ve likely set. Whether it’s blogging or other types of content and networking, I think the real value from online publishing in a social context is of course, being social. Blogging has been a great experience in terms of developing relationships with people I would have never connected with otherwise. It has definitely served as a platform for making connections in the industry that have led directly and indirectly, to a lot of new business. I started blogging personally as an experiment and found a process and strategy along the way that has helped grow our business and the online marketing/sales performance of many of our clients. Long time blogging provides ample opportunity to make and learn from mistakes. Blogging also allows us to continue to be a resource while sharing our expertise with potential customers, partners and employees. We’ll be going through yet another evolution with Online Marketing Blog in the next month or two and I wonder about the experiences of our readers that also blog: If you’re a blogger, why did you start? What’s your blogging story? Did you start as an experiment? Did you start with a strategy? What was your biggest mistake? What have you learned? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | How I Started Blogging. What’s Your Story? | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:07:48 +0000

As companies that realize the value of online marketing understand the need to publish engaging content, one of the most common considerations is a company blog. Blog software is fundamentally one of the easiest content management software systems to install and use. Of course the software isn’t magic. The content and ability to reach and engage with customers is a big part of what makes a business blog successful. For those companies that are thinking of starting a blog or reinvesting resources into a company blogging effort that has gone stale, some of the most important questions to ask are: Have you identified specific goals for the blog? How will you measure success? In sports you can’t score if there isn’t a goal and it’s no different with business blogging. There are a variety of reasons why publishing ongoing communications that allow readers to interact adds value to a business. Add to that the distribution via RSS that extends the reach of your message and it’s easy to see why so many companies start blogging. The failure for many business blogs is centered around not making a connection between business goals, blog specific objectives and most importantly, how meeting customer needs leads to the first two. Here are three key questions to consider as you design your plan for business blogging success: Why start a business blog? What end goals or outcomes can you reasonably expect? There are many good reasons to start a blog. But are those reasons good enough to start and stay blogging for the long haul? Our survey on blogging and SEO showed 90% citing blogging as important, significantly important or a primary SEO tactic. 94% of bloggers reported seeing measurable SEO benefits from blogging within 12 months. Initiate and foster customer engagement Improve coverage by media and bloggers Improve search engine visibility Increase mentions on other blogs, social networking, news, bookmarking and media sites Build thought leadership Provide an informative communication channel Recognize employees, clients, marketing partners and especially brand evangelists How will you know your blogging efforts are successful according to those goals? How are you measuring blogging success? We ran a poll last year with our readers that ranked their most important measures of blogging success. Here is the distribution: Engagement: comments, links 36% Improved brand recognition 31% Build thought leadership 31% Search engine rankings 31% Better communicate with customers 30% Traffic to the blog 27% Coverage by media and other blogs 18% Traffic to the corporate web site 16% Sales leads 16% Industry Recognition 13% Sell products 2% Improved customer satisfaction 11% Page views 9% Time on Site 6% Ad revenue on the blog 5% What tools are you using to measure blog performance? Goals for business and the blog are great but it’s essential to have the right tools in place for analytics. One of the biggest mistakes is to rely on things like Google Alerts. Web analytics (Google Analytics, Woopra, Clicky, etc) Feedburner Social media monitoring tools Link analysis tools Comment tracking tools Clipping services Forum conversation tracking tools It’s fundamental, this notion of setting goals, understanding outcomes and the tools needed to measure. But you know the saying, “Common sense is the least common thing on Earth.” Companies can achieve great return on investment with the right plan and leadership in a blogging effort. The key is to do the baseline work to build a foundation upon which it can grow and succeed. Stay the course and leverage both listening and engagement tools to guide content. Develop networks and distribution channels to grow readership and reach. Take the time to really understand the impact of data provided by reporting tools and create reports for executives that highlight business goals. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced with setting, measuring and reaching business goals through corporate blogging? Have you started a business blog only to shut it down? Have your company blogging efforts been successful beyond expectations? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging | No comment | http://toprankweb2.mn2.visi.com

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Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

5 steps to building a companywide social-media plan

BlogPostman — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:17:47 +0000

Like many progressive marketers, you believe that social media has the potential to propel your business to the next level. You discuss its merits with your friends and your co-workers — but you just can’t seem to get things moving. Maybe the executive team isn’t listening, or maybe you just haven’t done what it takes to be heard. Ever since we touched on DuPont’s social-media evangelist’s recommendations for selling social media to executives, I’ve been keeping a list of tips about what has worked within companies — including ours. Start small and test. Regardless of what your job function is, find a piece that you think may benefit from social media. In sales? Prospect in LinkedIn or Twitter. In HR? Build out your presence and post open positions on Facebook. Just make sure to keep close track of the time that you spend — as that will undoubtedly be asked of you. Record victories. You’ve been keeping track of your efforts and now have made progress. Anecdotal wins are great, but hard data is what is going to resonate with the most senior of audiences. Document any numbers you can: page views, conversions, leads, hires, sales, etc. Communicate . This is a critical juncture. When enough victories (and the accompanying data) have been amassed, it’s time to let key people know. Start with your boss– mentioning the wins and focus on efficiency. Think, “I spent an extra two hours this week networking and sharing information on Twitter, and I have landed three new, strong leads.” While you may be excited and want to go direct to the C-Suite with this information, I caution you to communicate in ways that show you’re in this for the long haul. It’s important to generate as many allies as possible– and your boss is key. Assemble an interdepartmental team . Meet individually with the heads of each function/group/department. In all conversations, try your best to leave out the phrase “social media” if at all possible. The point of these “new strategies” is to help meet existing goals. If you introduce the group you’re assembling to senior leaders as a “social-media team,” they might assume it’s an experiment of sorts. This is about using new channels to achieve company goals, not about trying to get more fans on Facebook. Allow the heads of each department to select his/her own representative on the team. If you align the team with core goals, department heads will be less likely to appoint junior staff members. Produce . Now that you have a interdepartmental team, the collective voice is stronger, and “vetted” projects can take shape. This team should continue to test, record and report victories — now with the attention of the C-Suite. One final piece of advice: Check out the upcoming Social Media Success Summit — which SmartBrief is helping to organize — where you can learn business tactics for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more. The summit is entirely online, so there’s no travel expense, and for the next week or so, registration is half off . It’s the best $297 your boss will ever authorize.

How To Leverage a Relationship with Your Shop’s Foursquare Mayor – Fast Casual

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:58:26 +0000

Fast Casual How To Leverage a Relationship with Your Shop's Foursquare Mayor Fast Casual Take the time to connect with your mayors across other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn . If they blog, read it and maybe even leave the ... and more

How to Become a Link Magnet – SES NY 2010

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:04:44 +0000

Links are the lifeblood of the web. Without fresh links, your website has no authority in the engines or consistent referral traffic. Some companies and individuals appear to attract links without really trying. Others struggle and never break through to the point of building links at increasing velocity. We’ve shared plenty of linkbuilding tactics at Online Marketing Blog, and it’s an ongoing popular topic for search marketers. In addition to direct and mechanical tactics, becoming a link magnet in your own right is an indirect yet powerful strategy to attract organic links. The rise of the social web has set the idea of personal branding on fire. By developing a brand for yourself, your company and even the individuals within it, you can build an army of advocates ready to link to everything you post. How can you develop your personal brand so that you only have to publish that sticky idea and links occur as a byproduct? During SES New York 2010, Greg Jarboe, President & Co-Founder of SEO PR, moderated a notable group of linkerati: Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org Jennifer Slegg, CEO, JenSense.com Aaron Kahlow, Chairman & Founder, Online Marketing Summit Jennifer Slegg, CEO, JenSense.com Jen started things off by talking about the building blocks to creating a personal brand with the goal of link magnetism: First, ask yourself, “What an I doing it for?” Rankings Clients Job opportunities Stardust Recognition Figure out why you want to be a link magnet before anything else. Next, consider your name. Personal name Is your name fairly unique? If not, you may have a difficult time building a personal brand. Are there others with similar names? If so, there is the potential for confusion, and you’ll want to consider developing a handle. Is the domain name available? This is vital for your blog, and you’ll want your domain name to be your personal brand if possible. If you use a handle, does it narrow your focus too much? I.E., if your name was “content queen,” you may limit your appeal. Company name This is potentially problematic in that you and the company brand are forever merged. This can create potential company marketing conflicts in the future. Consider using a spin on a company name (i.e., GoogleGuy or Company CEO). Remember company name and your name will always be tied together. What if the company gets sold? Setting the groundwork Whatever name you go with, register it everywhere . Then, set up your blog on your site – everyone who wants to develop a personal brand needs a blog. Create a unique design/logo and ensure it is just as brandable as the name you use. Define your personality People link to personalities as much as quality information. What do you want to be? Helpful – Great way to start if participating in forums is key to your branding. If you show knowledge, people will follow and then link to you. Informative/expert – The most important thing is, you need to know your stuff. If you don’t consider yourself expert quality, start researching and learning now. You’ll get called out if you post bad info. Try these ideas: Guest blogs Speak/participate in events (offline/online) Answer questions via Twitter Controversial – Take the opposite stance on any popular industry topic. If everyone is singing praise about a company, look at the negative. If a company makes a move that everyone loves or hates, take the unpopular view and run with it. But tread carefully – you could develop a reputation for being “anti” or “pro” on a topic. Being a jerk – This is very difficult to pull off, but those who are successful can be extremely popular. This gets you noticed, but you live with the rep. It could prevent you from being an authority. So if that’s your goal, this route may not be the way to go. The key point to remember is the entire world is a stage – everything you say or do will help or hurt your brand. Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz.org Rand started his presentation with the notion that link magnets are the new paradigm of link acquisition. How is a link magnet different than linkbait? Linkbait = Content that’s built to attract links (but not necessarily reward their creation). Link magnets emotionally or physically reward the linker, creating an incentive. Why is this so powerful? Overall, the web has become jaded. Previously, we used to get plenty of legitimate blog posts/links due to great content. Now this has shifted. With a great post, we’ll get tons of Facebook status updates, Tweets, etc. There was a golden era of linkbait where people loved and supported great content. Now we’re too sensitive; “The fish have figured out that there is a hook attached to our content.” This suspicion has created difficulties in attracting linkbait. But people still link when it benefits them. Savvy marketers are rewarding linkers in non-financial ways. For example, Yelp created a digital badge version of “People Love Us on Yelp” that restaurants could use on their websites. This made the most relevant pages on the web link back to the Yelp site. There is the notion that great content earns links. According to Rand, this is a myth. You could post the absolute best piece of content on a subject on the web, and people will not link to it just because it’s good. It’s like saying, “The best ideas in politics are supported by the voters.” Instead, it’s branding and marketing to sell a concept that has an impact on where content goes. The new bait is an emotional and obvious hook. Linking to content should do something for the people linking to it. Play to a linker’s psychology: Self-fulfillment Satisfaction Efficiency Effectiveness One of the most beautiful things about the concept of link magnetism is that much of the time, especially when it’s embeddable, you have control of targeted links and anchor text. You need a strategy for promotion & spreading of links. You need to create a distribution mechanism and a way to attract people, or it will never work. Examples of great link magnetism: Vimeo – When you click the “share” button on a video, it creates the overlay box to copy-paste the code and share it. By embedding the video, Vimeo also gains three links. OKCupid – They create trends all the time using their data to help market the site. Their blog is frequently an example of both linkbait and a link magnet. By sharing the information on the blog, users are rewarded by sharing something interesting. Techmeme – When they launched the learderboard, more than 30 of the top 100 bloggers linked to them. Simply Hired – They publish the data/stats/salaries behind jobs. It is both interesting and useful data that frequently acts as a magnet for media. Aaron Kahlow, Founder, Online Marketing Summit Aaron decided to be interactive and not give a presentation. He gave just a few tips before turning over the panel to an audience Q&A. Content – If you don’t have great content, there’s no reason anyone should link to you. Personas/branding – If you don’t have a personality or aren’t comfortable with yours, you’ll never form the affinity necessary to gain links. Social – Every time you create something, ask yourself if your colleagues/constituents would share. Friends – Make sure you build relationships with those who are link magnets. Suggestions: 1. Decide who your target market is, and then address them appropriately. For example, you can’t “geek out” and get technical if your audience is not. 2. Make sharing simple and easy. For example, if your audience is active on Twitter, leverage the Tweetmeme button on your blog. 3. When you find things you like, say something about it and link to it as opposed to always linking to the source.

Social-media rockstars’ best practices: Part 1 — Attracting an audience

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:42:16 +0000

Social networks have caused a huge shift in how companies frame and execute their business. The success of Best Buy’s Twelpforce blurred the lines between marketing and customer service, using videos that feature the 1,000+ Best Buy employees on Twitter offering efficient, direct service. Dell’s Outlet on Twitter earned $9 million in sales . Is there really ROI in the social-media space? Yes, there is. Yet without expertise, this social business culture can be challenging — perhaps even becoming a time sink rather than a profit center. We’ve contacted the speakers and panelists of SOBCon2010 — a yearly think tank of the top social-media strategists, thought leaders, and practitioners — to ask their advice on social-media best practices. Our questions were aimed at how to get the best return on social-media resources in raising awareness and building customer relationships, as well as in direct returns. – Liz Strauss These interviews appear as part of our upcoming special report, “ Driving Your Bottom Line .” The first part of the report publishes on Tuesday, March 23, and the second part will be sent out on Thursday, March 25; if you’re not already a SmartBrief on Social Media subscriber, sign up today so you won’t miss them! What does a company need to do to build thought leadership, awareness and community in the social-media space? Liz Strauss : It seems like every leader has his or her own special way of saying it, but in the end, doesn’t it all come down to relationships? In 2007, the year we started SOBCon, I wrote a post about it that included this sentence, “Every business is relationships, and relationships are everyone’s business.” Without leadership, awareness, and community, social media is tools. Tools are only as good as the people who use them. Hank Wasiak : First, companies have to make a fundamental change in the way they see social media. Social media started out as being viewed as another form of promotion … part of the media mix. Social media has morphed into the fifth pillar “P” of the marketing mix: People. Next, companies must place a priority on developing a people strategy that is viewed as importantly as the other four “P”’s in the marketing mix: product, price, place and promotion. Then, make the necessary systemic changes that will affect everything, including how business planning is approached, marketing departments are organized and integrated marketing programs are created and executed. Finally, adopt new metrics of success that reflect these new rules of engagement. Alexandra Levit : Taking the time and having the patience to build authentic relationships is the name of the game. You have to be out there offering helpful content and resources for free for a long time before you will develop a following. And you have to understand that of the people who follow you, only some will actually buy products or services from you. Companies have to be willing to openly engage with community members via blog comments, Twitter responses, etc. Putting your messages out there without regard to community reaction will simply not do. Lisa Haneberg : The biggest reason internal social-media efforts fail is that they remain a push [system] versus a pull system. In other words, those that think these tools are a great idea convince stakeholders to give them a try, they launch the tools, they beg people to participate, and then they continue to beg people to participate. If the system continues to be driven by a few evangelists, it may never become a real community. To create more pull — users willingly and passionately using the social-media tools and wanting to learn more about how they can affect their work — the community needs to tap into what we know builds adoption and ownership in other aspects of our businesses. This includes that the tools are highly helpful, challenging, interesting, easy to use, flexible and that they allow for users to customize the environment to suit their needs. Early adopters must put their tendency to try and control the social-media environment (fueled by well-intended passion for the tools) in check or they will push their way into irrelevance. Chris Garrett : First, they need to be visible where their community hangs out, and secondly, they need to contribute. It is very important this contribution is seen as valuable and adding something worthwhile, rather than simply broadcasting talking points. The company also needs to be seen to be listening and open to conversation, as being in social media raises the expectation that a real human being is behind the social-media account. L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine : Before they even jump into the social spaces, they need to listen. Listen to the conversations of their targeted audience, understand their habits to understand how to engage them, then figure out how they can join the conversation — and once they see a bridge from them to the conversation, they need to know what they’re going to say after they cross. Drew McLellan : That’s, of course, a loaded question. Let’s assume the company does, in fact, possess the expertise to be leaders in their field. That’s [a] given. Unfortunately, many companies believe that’s all it takes: Be smart and spew your smartness. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work in any space, but it definitely would not fly in the social-media realm. I think to create and maintain a genuine position of thought leadership for the long haul, it starts with a servant’s heart. You have to truly believe that someone’s world (personal or business) would be better if they just understood and could master (fill in the blank here with your expertise). So you want to figuratively climb the highest social-media mountains to shout the good news. And you are willing to freely share the information — just because you believe that people will benefit from it. I’m not naïve enough to think that’s the only reason. Of course, it’s good for business as well. But the good for business has to be the “as well” or it won’t work. It comes off forced and manipulative. You build community and awareness by reaching out to people. By inviting them into your social-media spaces (blog, Facebook, Twitter … whatever) and you visit them in their social-media spaces. You create relationships, not just between you and them but also among them. And then they tell other people about the community and it grows and flourishes … as long as your intentions stay genuine. Terry Starbucker : If a company is going succeed in this medium, they need to look at it as a process of hitting “value targets” — a progression that ultimately gets to revenue generation. The process, as I see it: Polite and respectful engagement, which I call “reaffirming our faith in humanity.” Injecting humor, with a willingness to be self-deprecating. Providing pertinent and timely information. Acting as a teacher. Inspiring and challenging. This builds the kind of transparency and trust that should allow for directly asking for the sale. Want more? Be sure to check out Part 2 of the interview! Contributors : Chris Garrett is a professional blogger , Internet marketing consultant, new-media industry commentator, writer, coach, speaker, trainer and Web geek. Lisa Haneberg is the vice president and OD consulting practice lead for Management Performance International , where she manages the planning and growth of MPI’s organizational development business unit. Alexandra Levit is the author of “ MillennialTweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Managing the Millennial .” Drew McLellan created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine, is the chief evangelist for leading news-aggregation site Alltop and the founder of Hawaii-based media marketing company Pono Media . Terry Starbucker is a service-company executive and a founder of SOBCon and author of Ramblings from a Glass Half Full . Liz Strauss is the CEO and a founder of SOBCon and author of Successful-Blog.com . Hank Wasiak is the co-founder of The Concept Farm . Wasiak is also a best-selling author, keynote speaker, teacher, an Emmy-nominated producer and three-time Emmy award-winning television host. Image credit, YellowPixel , via Shutterstock

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Social-media rockstars’ best practices: Part 1 — Attracting an audience

Is Social Media Worth Your Time? – Inc.com (blog)

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:14:15 +0000

Dynamic Business Is Social Media Worth Your Time? Inc.com (blog) Check out Inc.'s guide on How to Use Social Networking to Drive Business for more strategies to implement through your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. ... Social Media: Foul Ball To Home Run Minneapolis Star Tribune Use of Social Media in Event Management Grows Earthtimes (press release) Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise Knoxville News Sentinel

Andy’s Answers: What makes communities work?

BlogPostman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:10:43 +0000

I love hearing stories of brands that have built successful, vibrant communities that — while thrilled they’re successful — still aren’t sure why exactly they work so well. Community members aren’t paid, they aren’t being showered with gifts and incentives, and there’s a million other places they could be spending their time. So why are they helping each other so much? What motivates them? Why are they showing up at all? Behind all great communities are forces similar to those that drive great word of mouth. And while just building it doesn’t guarantee they’ll come, the more you can embrace these natural human tendencies the better odds you’ll have of creating something meaningful. Three reasons communities work: People are naturally good . It goes against most of the cynicism we’ve all been taught since Marketing 101, but the vast majority of people in the world are inherently good. They’re not out to tear things down, cause disruptions or break your forums. A handful are, sure — but empowering the good guys in your community makes it easy to drown these idiots out. People love to help others . Call it karma, call it altruism — whatever term you prefer, people love to help strangers. Even though we all feel it, we’re continually surprised to see this quality in others. People like to be connected. Humans are social creatures. We’re driven to build connections, to join groups and to extend our networks of “people like us.” Communities created around specific topics help us find others who share our interests.

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Andy’s Answers: What makes communities work?

Time and ROI are the greatest social media marketing concerns

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:28:15 +0000

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Last week’s poll question: What is your greatest concern regarding the use of social-media marketing? Time it takes to manage all points of engagement. 44.68% Its return on investment. 24.26% Daily volume of information; lack of content filtering. 21.28% Privacy concerns. 4.68% Time needed to learn about new tools/apps. 3.40% Cost to hire someone to manage it. 1.70% One of the greatest concerns over the use of social media is the amount of time it takes to create proper engagement. If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Some automation systems do exist to help reduce the time investment. But the hard truth of the matter is that, if done well, social-media marketing takes time. But, that’s not really the issue. Lots of marketing activities take time. (Many can be quite expensive, too.) The issue is whether the time required results in a reasonable return on the investment. Isn’t that the issue for any form of marketing outreach? More and more, social media is proving its worth from a PR standpoint, as well as in generating revenue. Certainly, we’re still in the experimental stage with this young medium, but I contend that the more we work with it, the more efficient and effective our efforts will be.

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Time and ROI are the greatest social media marketing concerns