The cat is out of the bag and… into the garbage bin? Word to the wise, someone is always watching so be good. And off we go with the Digital Influence Weekly!
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! This isn’t soccer. This is deciding how one measures a success in social media and it’s just as exciting. Social Media Today has a great post on how to help identify the needs of the client and what it amounts to. Sure, someone can say that we can do everything like create a blog, Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. However, if it doesn’t meet their goals, then it’s not what they need. Each social network serves a different purpose and function determining how goals are met.
If you could follow just one person on Twitter for 30 days who would it be and why? The Social Media Club asks this, but for our purposes let’s expand it to all networks. How would you make yourself or a client be the one person someone follows on their network? Going back to the topic of social media goals, think about what you want to accomplish in being online and who you want to hang on your every word. When creating content for relationship building, pretend as if you’re talking to just one person rather than trying to build a relationship with multiple people at once. That connection you make with a reporter, influencer or curious individual may result in extra exposure in ways you had not anticipated. Hopefully the good kind. J
One last thought for today. Numbers are not goals. Increased sales, establishing thought leadership and improved customer relations are goals. Getting 1,000 unengaged connections means nothing to the bottom line.
Social media is loaded with options, and automakers are coming along for the ride. The auto industry will spend about $1.2 billion in 2010 on social media, according to research from Ad Age Insights and Automotive News. And that number is projected to grow to $4.6 billion by 2015.
Is it appropriate for dealers to put information on Facebook? Are people actually tweeting about Jaguars, Beetles, Rams and Mustangs? And does it really help sell cars? Yes, yes and yes.
Leading up to the U.S. launch of the new Fiesta, Ford created the “Ford Fiesta Movement.” From thousands of submitted videos, the company selected 16 teams based on the entrants’ reach – looking at the number of their Twitter followers, Facebook friends and YouTube views. Each team had its own web page, displaying a stream of tweets, blog posts and an integrated video player. The program adopted an artsy, homemade feel by tying team missions to local artists and filmmakers.
To attract potential buyers, car manufacturers are enlisting bloggers to test-drive cars and document their experiences. Consider the North Texas father who started
www.traverseadventures.com, a blog devoted to family trips in return for the use of a Chevrolet Traverse. Even more, Ford launched the latest Explorer model on Facebook rather than just unveiling it at an auto show. Chevrolet showed off its much-anticipated electric car, the Volt, at the popular South by Southwest® Conference & Festival in Austin. The company even invited fans to the Chevy Volt Recharge Lounge, which provided “juice for both your body and for your electronic devices.”
For marketers and public relations professionals, the emergence of new communication channels offers exciting opportunities. We are keenly aligned with how to determine what will resonate with buyers. It is about listening and understanding what will impact consumers. Traditional media still is vital to the communications mix, but social media should be part of your “surround sound” integrated strategy. Social media expedites conversation as opposed to traditional media, which delivers information but doesn't allow readers, viewers or listeners to participate in the content creation. Everything is smarter, faster and cheaper, as opposed to dumber, slower and pricey.
Fueled largely by the growth and success of Twitter and Facebook, these are now common tools used by major brands. With an estimated 150 million active Facebook users in the United States and more than 500 million worldwide, social media is going places.
Here are six things your business could start today:
1) Create a LinkedIn company profile
2) Add your profile to Wikipedia
3) Establish a Facebook fan page
4) Start a Twitter account
5) Upload your videos to YouTube
6) Start a company blog
Whether it is Vroom-Vroom-Vroom or Clunk-Clank-Sputter, you can bet that among other things, social media is hitting the road and not looking back!
While searching for another book, I picked up 25 Ways to Win with People: How to Make Others Feel Like a Million Bucks, a follow-up companion to John C. Maxwell’s lauded Winning with People. As someone at the beginning of her career, I’m building a professional network and I thought a book about creating and maintaining successful relationships would be a great read.
The book is written by two well known authors: John Maxwell, known for his bestselling leadership books, and Dr. Les Parrot, Psychology professor and author of several relationship books.
The layout of the book makes it easy to follow and easy to reference back to specific sections to reread the chapters. Both John and Les make good use of stories to describe the ideas. These stories are often entertaining, memorable and show you how their philosophies are applicable in real-life situations.
The main reason I enjoyed 25 Ways to Win with People is because it provides readers with actionable steps on creating and maintaining relationships. Each chapter is about a specific actionable idea to improve your interpersonal relationships with others, and they all end with a summary of four short points to drive the idea home.
So what can you take away from this post? A main theme throughout the book, and the first chapter’s focus, is to start with yourself. According to Dr. Parrott, “If you want to win with people, you’ve got to be a winner yourself – or at least on your way to becoming one.” It is a fact that you cannot give others what you do not have or enjoy others until you enjoy yourself. To start with yourself the book encourages you to recognize, accept, increase and believe in your value.
John and Les understand that you cannot completely change the way you interact with people in one day, so they encourage you to select one or two of the practices, do them every day and add other practices as you become more comfortable with them.
Social interaction and communications skills are some of the most important skills for success in business and life. This book helps readers understand and act on ways to improve these vital skills. I recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their networking and their outlook on relationships.
To encourage your personal interactions I will leave you with a practice that you can start using today, John’s 30-Second Rule. When we are around people the majority of us seek ways to make ourselves look good but the 30-Second Rule seeks to reverse this habit. Next time you are spending time with people search for ways to make them look good. Within the first 30 seconds, provide those around you with encouragement, recognition or a compliment. Doing so empowers them and ultimately raises their opinion of you as well.
If you’re a fan of Mad Men and marketing, this Mad Men Webinar from Hubspot is for you. It provides an interesting look at online branding and compares campaign lessons from the 60’s to modern times. Fun story: The show takes place in the 60’s but the Mad Men characters are on Twitter. I once asked @Don_Draper what he thought of social media. He replied to me on Twitter that it sounded like something for communists! – I don’t think so.
WordCamp Houston was this past Saturday and a few Pierponters attended to boost our knowledge and capabilities on Wordpress. A full write-up about what we learned will be coming soon. In the meantime, you can get ahead by getting up-to-speed with tips on corporate blogging. You should always be prepared with what to expect and what questions to ask when talking to someone about creating their blog.
Holy Cartography Batman! If you’ve wanted to get your head around Twitter geographically, Mashable has the news you can use. This article offers five tools for mapping Twitter accounts and trends. TrendsMap is pretty interesting as it allows you to zoom in on areas to see what terms or people are trending on Twitter the most.
That’s it for now, but we’ll be back next week. Same Bat-time; same Bat-channel!