The On-Going Conversation

The Nature of Cell Phone Usage

Cell Phone Trends in 16 Countries: Source: Pew Research Center. The median % of people who own a cell phone has increased by 36% since 2002; the current median is 81%.

The Importance of a Social Media Strategy

Social media continues to become increasingly connected to business and the way in which it is conducted. Despite the juxtaposition of social media and social businesses, the phenomenon remains relatively new and wasn’t even part of the picture ten years ago. As a result, it can be challenging to decipher what is to come and where the world of social media is headed.   

Regardless of the implications, I am intrigued by the possibility of what’s to come and where the trends will ultimately lead. However, even with excitement there comes a degree of obfuscation. One can never truly predict the course of time and we will have to wait to see where the developments in digital technology occur.

Nonetheless, social media has already brought about innovation and has even changed over time to become more user-friendly. Individuals now have the convenience of updating one aggregate site, which will post a message on a collection of different social environments.

Who would have thought this could become a reality in the digital world, especially considering the social media advent is to some extent, still in its youth? Even though it may seem unexpected, the ability to cross-post is evident and I don’t believe it’s going anywhere in the near future; at least as far as I am concerned.

For example, I facilitate posts with HootSuite and Ping.Fm, which allows me to maximize efficiency, by taking less than five seconds to express my ideas on approximately fifteen social websites, simultaneously. In my case, the updates generally include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Digg, GoogleBuzz, Delicious, Friendster and LinkedIn, just to name a few.

 Social media has also continued to become more interconnected. This means that most platforms have the option of syncing with other sites. I even have the option of connecting my blogs to HootSuite as well, which can create a haven for news aggregation, information and continual communication.  

Moreover, social media junkies can continue to update their status and post a message on as many networks as they would like. This can even be more beneficial for businesses; they can have one individual responsible for social marketing and allow that individual to do it with utmost convenience and efficiency.

HootSuite even allows you to schedule messages periodically. This means that businesses can determine a network strategy and post messages automatically, regardless of the time of the day. With this in mind, organizations can specifically target messages to individuals that are time-sensitive and relevant to the business itself.

The reason this is so important, is because social media doesn’t necessarily influence sales or participation; it is more of a vehicle to increase recognition, awareness, web-influence and potentially SEO (search engine optimization).

Business can also establish credibility, integrity and a degree of trustworthiness, merely by interacting with a niche portion of the population on-line. Obviously, it needs to be in a positive and helpful manner, to yield the results that companies are striving for. Nonetheless, a companies’ approach is generally dependant on their particular organizational mantra and overall goal structure.

All-in-all, businesses should consider commencing a social media strategy, if of course they haven’t already. The strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be perfected from the onslaught either. Through time and social participation, businesses can literally generate a social prescription for the company, which speaks from experience and contains a frame of reference for comparison.

Basically, this prescription will become a remedy for the company and involve a transformation, once businesses have an understanding of the landscape they are working with. Just remember, there isn’t necessarily an incorrect way to conduct social marketing – just give it a try and see what happens. There are no rules to abide by and the conditions are still relatively new.

 

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Contributing Blogger on Social Email Marketing

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Social Media: Expose Your Company to the Light

As cliché as it sounds, you never know until you try.

This day in age it has become increasingly important for businesses to harness social media. You don't necessarily need a perpetual approach either, but at least give it a try and see where the outreach takes you. It is also relatively effortless and economically feasible as well; it only requires time and dedication. Not to mention, the benefits overwhelmingly outweight the time and energy that organizations must be prepared to devote towards the social ecosystem.

The social media environment is constantly evolving and changing as well. As this occurs, social media continues to become increasingly connected to business and the way in which it is conducted. Despite the juxtaposition of social media and social businesses, the phenomenon remains relatively new and wasn’t even part of the picture ten years ago. As a result, it can be challenging to decipher what is to come and where the world of social media is headed.

Regardless of the direction that social media may travel, I am intrigued by the possibility of what’s to come and where the trends will ultimately lead. However, even with excitement there comes a degree of obfuscation. One can never truly predict the course of time, and we will have to wait to see where the process goes next. Personally, I think that location-based networking services will continue to expand and increase the overall level of personal transparency. For example, Foursquare would be classified as a geographical social media network.

Moreover, if companies neglect to commence a social media strategy, they may be failing to connect with a niche portion of the population. This niche segment could potentially become customers, which may even help cultivate more customers, merely through word-of-mouth marketing.

All-in-all, I believe the benefits of social media are hard to decipher and classify. However, I wanted to showcase an assortment of ways that social networking can benefit companies of all sizes. Who knows, maybe you will experience the benefits first hand and create a tangible way of classifying your own social advantages.

The Three Benefits of Reaching Out -- Socially and Strategically

1. Transparency -- Companies now have the ability to be more open than ever and connect with customers in mere seconds. It can also function in a reverse manner, with individuals being able to communicate with companies online, aside from the barriers of an organizational hierarchy. For the most part, prospective customers want to feel as though companies have the utmost credibility and conduct business in an honest fashion. With this in mind, social media can be an avenue to accomplish this, by opening the gates of communication to any individual that would like to correspond directly with the company.

2. Awareness -- Businesses can build an online identity, which hopefully generates more involvement from ordinary individuals. Social media can also be a primary avenue for news on events, contests and information that correlates the organizational mentality and overall mantra. This will allow companies to control the message and the fashion in which they convey themselves. Ideally companies want to present themselves in a professional manner, plus social media can help document the tech savvy nature of an organization, by showcasing their ability to utilize online avenues of expression.

3. Special deals and contests -- Ann Taylor for example is using Foursquare in a recent effort to harness social media platforms. Their campaign specifically allows individuals that are mayors at specific locations in New York City, to receive 25% off of their total purchase. Depending on the successful of their campaign, they may even attempt to expand the approach to all stores nationwide. Not to mention, there are specific social media programs that will allow to trigger messages at specific times. By having the option to schedule a message, businesses can determine when they would like prospective customers to be made aware of certain information. This means that social media in a sense, is more tactical than ever.

Business can also establish credibility, integrity and a degree of trustworthiness, merely by interacting with a niche portion of the population on-line. Obviously it needs to be in a positive and helpful manner, which will help yield the results that companies are striving for. Nonetheless, a companies’ approach is generally dependant on their particular organizational mantra and overall goal structure.

All-in-all, businesses should consider commencing a social media strategy, if of course they haven’t already. The strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be perfected from the onslaught either. Through time and social participation, businesses can literally generate a social prescription for the company, which speaks from experience and contains a frame of reference for comparison.

This prescription will hopefully become a remedy for the company and involve a transformation, once businesses have an understanding of the landscape they are working with. Just remember, there isn’t necessarily an incorrect way to conduct social marketing – just give it a try and see what happens. There are no rules to abide by and the conditions are still relatively new.

Image Credit: Social Media Marketing -- Enough is Enough by: Jennifer Mattern - July 2009

Re-Evaluate Your Business Mentality

Focus on what you can to set your business apart from the competition.

It is important for each department in a business to understand where they stand in regards to overall business goals. Without having a clear grasp of what their objectives are accomplishing, do their missions and goals truly serve a purpose?

Each department should be able to define their individual goals, which generally fall within the parameters of the overall business goals at each specific company. Obviously varying departments are going to have unique goals that other aspects of the organization don’t have and vice-versa.

However the difficulty can be to define these goals and make sure they are always being strived for. They may not always be achieved with day-to-day projects, but for the most part they should always be understood and transparent to all employees, which represent a collection of business entities throughout the world.

Listed below is an assortment of goals for particular businesses, regardless of their overall concentration. It also focuses on how they can ultimately achieve lasting results and implications with the customers they interact with.

1. Authenticated experience: In a sense, employees should believe that their company is striving to create a “prescription” for specific individuals who access their website, use their services or those that could potentially become customers in the near future. This will help maximize their overall experience and generate an environment that is easy to appreciate. It will also hopefully help align their innate perspective with that of the business and establish an ambiance of comfort. Not to mention, a degree of credibility and honesty that can transform the perception that individuals have.

2. Generate customer-loyalty: Employees are responsible for creating an environment where individuals ideally remain customers and convey their appreciation to their friends and family. This correlates to a quality customer experience that sustains a degree of loyalty and focuses on the nature of customer-centricity.

3. Market the businesses specific resources: You want to present the resources that you and your business have; not only the individuals who already work with your company, but also to those who may prospectively be interested conducting business down the line. Without documenting what your company has to offer, potential customers won’t even be aware of your particular services and may consider other companies from the commencement of your conversation.

4. Business adoption: Companies should allow the capability for people to go paperless and have access to their information with the click of a mouse. This also correlates to the placement of items on a website specifically, which creates an easy to use set of circumstances. This also helps with making items more convenient for prospective customers, especially considering the busy lives that we all seem to have at the moment. Just remember, we live in a digital world that requires instant gratification. A business should try and emulate this high-paced environment, if they want to sustain and continue a level of growth, especially in this technologically driven world.

5. Reach out into the community: Companies of all sizes, mentality and focus should be involved in the local community and promote information that is applicable to their own world. This will increase the likelihood of market awareness and hopefully lead to more individuals recognizing your business through association of ideas. This also involves the interaction with local entities, in an effort to make it easier for people to access your companies’ information. This can be accomplished by utilizing a proactive approach to personal market awareness and can even stimulate a level of intrigue.

All-in-all, companies need to determine what works the best for them. We all need to remember the capitalist system we are a part of. Ultimately the decision comes down to the individuals that live in the market place. Nonetheless, businesses need to do their best to market their products, services or approach, depending on whether or not a company is for profit, not-for-profit or non-profit.

Fast Company: The Influence Project

I am involved with the Influence Project and would truly appreciate your help. The favor would involve going to the link that is included below. Once you access the link, you will have the opportunity to vote for me. As a result, I can expand my influence and hopefully move up the ranks. By no means feel obligated either and please feel free to help at your earliest convenience. Just so you know, the landing page takes a while to load and retrieve the relevant information.

Fast Company: The Influence Project Link — Vote Here

Thank you very much in advance for your help and hopefully everyone has a great upcoming weekend.

Tips for Remaining Professional with Social Media

At some point, I believe we will all be expected to be fluent in social media. From my perspective, this means that we will basically be unable to stay truly connected without it. This naturally leads one to question—if social media is beneficial to those involved with it, or if it will create more of a divide amongst individuals who don’t have access to the Internet on a daily basis.

What do you think? Is social media overall beneficial or detrimental to society as a whole? I guess it may be challenging to draw a conclusion right now, but throughout the course of time, I would have to assume this question will come to the forefront. Take a minute and think about it for yourself, what would you be doing with all your extra time, if social media wasn’t occupying some of it?

This doesn’t necessarily mean that individuals should stop using social media. I just think it is merely important to consider the logistical reasons for a certain behavior, regardless of what it is; especially when the behavior is substantially time-consuming and may inhibit your personal relationships.

I think it will be especially prevalent, considering the vast amount of people who are just commencing social media as we speak. These individuals haven’t even thought of the implications of their networking behavior. Not only could the negativity of social media correlate to privacy issues, but I think it could also be damaging to an individuals’ innate mentality and connection to the physical world.

Hopefully it doesn’t go this far, but the new technological obsession has already transformed the definition of staying connected. At the moment, there is no mechanism or equation for predicting the future of social media and as a result, time will be the only indication about where social media networking goes next.

Not only do I think it will be important for personal use, but I also think it will become an obligation for businesses. I believe it will even become a necessity, regardless of the type of business that an individual is currently operating or working for.

Moreover, I think this will soon become a reality, because organizations need to reach prospective customers where they interact with each other, and for the most part, I would say this interaction is continually growing on social media platforms. I also don’t see the trend changing in the near future, so prepare for the social media landscape to be somewhat constantly present.

This is why I believe it is essential to join the social conversation, because without it, it may become increasingly difficult to stay truly connected. Not only to your close friends, family and loved ones, but also to the businesses that offer special deals online. It may also become more strenuous to find career opportunities and prospective employment, without showcasing your talents, education, skills and goals online.

This day in age, more businesses are utilizing social networks to recruit employees. However, some individuals are eliminated merely based on the information that potential employers discover. Don’t fall into this trap. Make sure if you are going to use social environments, that all of your information is reasonable and work appropriate, pictures included. Employers don’t want to see images of you behaving in ways, which they would classify as immature. Use your best judgment and strive to maintain a degree of professionalism.

With this in mind, a majority of businesses have already made a push to incorporate a social marketing strategy. Depending on the particular organization, it could be a social strategy that yields success or failure. However, one will never know the implications unless they try. It could ultimately enhance business operations and in a sense, be a compliment to the overall business manta and economic condition.

For those who haven’t established an online presence, now may be a convenient time to consider one. Who knows, you may prospectively harness individuals that may be beneficial to you in the long run. As cliché as it sounds, you never know until you try. 

Especially since social media and blogging are instantly available and free; this presents an ideal option for companies to facilitate people, who could become future customers in a mere effortless fashion.

Nonetheless, social media shouldn’t be driven by making more money. It should be viewed as merely a benefit to the business strategies that have already been working. It isn’t that time consuming either and it is easier than ever to cross-post on multiple social networks. So why not give it a try and start reaping the benefits of digital interaction?

Image from socialnomics.files.wordpress.com

A Brief History of Social Media and the Digital Landscape

First it was MySpace. They dominated for years and eventually became isolated from assorted social environments that are more prevalent now. Not to mention, everyone who harnessed MySpace remembers having Tom as a friend.

Eventually the trend arguably withered and gave way to new applications such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Facebook, just to name a few. These environments have seemingly remained relevant, despite the monopoly of social media sites that have recently gained traction.

To some extent, I would even classify YouTube as a social media networking website. The reason – YouTube’s users have the ability to provide feedback and share video resources with anyone scattered throughout the world. Isn’t that basically the premise of social media, to bring people together regardless of location, through digital channels of exchange? They may be networking with different ideas, overall information and content, but on the surface, they are still expressing themselves through visualization and video communication.

Moreover, we have all experienced the joy of YouTube. A friend recommends a video that catches his or her attention and eventually you return the favor to one of your close associates. This could be classified as social networking as far as I am concerned, because there are videos that intermittently trend and experience a large influx of traffic, based on their accessibility.

This accessibility directly correlate to friends recommending videos, and even those that are featured on the landing page. Individuals could also post specific videos via their social networking platforms, which could also influence people into viewing videos on-line. Regardless of the street that directs them to the actual video—it to some extent was facilitated by social media and the influence of other individuals through social means.

Nonetheless, as the road continues to be paved, time will tell what new applications appear and which ones will fail to sustain relevance. I would have to assume they are all vulnerable, considering new social networking programs could rapidly appear as technology continues to expand. This expansion in a sense cannot be predicted and foreshadowed; it eventually takes its course, with the ever-dynamic environment that we classify as the social media landscape.

In addition, social media continues to pave the road of social innovation. It has become nearly impossible to avoid utilizing social media networks. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious, Foursquare or Orkut, it really doesn’t matter. There are so many different options to choose from, that we are all bound to discover one that we align with.

Companies have even extended special offers for individuals that use social platforms. For example, Mashable recently reported that Ann Taylor offers individuals that are mayors on Foursquare a 25% discount in New York City. They even plan to expand the offer to other stories, depending on the successfulness of the campaign in the New York City locations.

If you are unfamiliar with Foursquare, it is a social networking option that allows you to check-in at various destinations throughout the day. Depending on the number of times that you have checked-in, you are awarded different titles. Users are also granted the capacity to recommend different locations in your hometown, which provides personal advice for your prospective, to varying web friends throughout the world.

Not to mention, people can update their social accounts at their convenience, regardless of their location. For the most part, the convenience factor is facilitated by mobile smart phones, which have hypothetically transformed the way that we function.

All-in-all, the changes have enabled people to update their information wherever, whenever and however. It also helps provide a quality user-experience, and eliminates the hurdles of staying in contact with those individuals, which are important to you and require constant contact.

At some point, I also believe we will all be expected to be fluent in social media and basically unable to stay truly connected without it. This naturally leads one to question—if social media is beneficial to those involved with it, or if it will create more of a divide amongst individuals, who don’t have access to the Internet on a daily basis.

What do you think will happen in the world of social media and technology? Would you classify social media as beneficial or detrimental to society as a whole? Consider the questions and share your thoughts with your social friends—start the digital conversation.

Image and Art Credit: Ashley Cecil — the Painting Activist –Ashley Cecil’s Website

The Nature of Social Media Measurement

Unless you have the budgets to use the best web analytics, social media management and social media measurement apps in town and, even better, to couple them with CRM, marketing automation, email marketing etc., it’s often less obvious to find the best way to combine and integrate solutions that enable you to couple online analytics with social media metrics and analytics. And I’m not even talking about customer data. Of course there are several ways to include specific social media metrics within a “free” platform such as Google Analytics. And, yes, there are some free or, at least affordable, social media management solutions that enable you to combine the typical engagement, interaction and other features they offer with Google Analytics. But there is no “ideal” combination. The reason is simple: it depends from what you want to achieve. Take this blog for instance. Our aim is to inform, share and engage, it is not a corporate or “branded” blog that ultimately wants to generate leads. If, however, you are a business and want to combine the data about the interactions people have with your blog and web site, data from other digital channels such as email, social media monitoring and social engagement metrics (starting from simple things such as the number of times a post is tweeted, bookmarked or “liked” and how much clicks these tweets etc. generated), you’re in for a quest. Again, if you don’t have the budgets. Or in other words: when the investment in decent solutions, can hardly result in a positive ROI for your activities, even in the long run. I recently started looking at all possibilities that exist and solutions that don’t exist yet but are in private beta. It is a diverse landscape and integration is not obvious. On top of that, many vendors have their own methodologies to track and calculate engagement and integration with web analytics is often missing. As a simple blogger a lot also depends from the blogging platform you use. What will Google and the social networks do? Undoubtedly the market will evolve. What will Google Analytics do for instance? And, obviously, what will the social networks themselves do? We know what Facebook has been doing and since end of last week we also know a little about what Twitter might be up to. The company has acquired Trendly, a cloud hosted web analytics application from Smallthought Systems. With the acquired technology and team, Twitter wants to provide data and enable businesses to filter the Twitter signals that matter to them from the endless stream of tweets, noise and clutter. Good news: it seems that integration with Google Analytics is foreseen. Trendly: not for you and me (yet?) However, it doesn’t look as if you, me and small businesses will be able to use it to have a better and more integrated view on all online channels. Because for now, the acquisition should be seen in the perspective of Twitter’s promoted tweets advertising solution and will thus benefit the advertisers and media planning people. It seems that the promoted tweets ad solution receives positive feedback from both advertisers and Twitter users. But it also looks as if all the others will have to keep testing and using other ways to have a better analytical view on Twitter in the overall online picture. For all those that try to find an optimal solution for small budgets, like us: let us know what your findings are. We will gladly share ours once we have finished our exploration. Source: Social Email Marketing