With so much hype surrounding the enormous benefits for businesses to  reap with social media, many have eagerly (and expectantly) jumped into the social landscape with a Twitter account and maybe even a Facebook profile or fan page built around their brand or business.  The problem happens when these expectant businesses look around and say, “Now what?” How do I get followers? How do I use these sites to generate leads? How do I justify social media? How do I find the time? What else is there? Why are we even here? …and so on.

If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, or are less than enamored with the success of your social media campaign, try these social stump-blocker solutions below:

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In the world of social media marketing, we often hear of the importance of monitoring as the first actionable item. Although social media monitoring has numerous benefits to a businesses, both large and small, it may be unclear as to how to use monitoring. A recent study reveals that close to half of businesses surveyed don’t know how to use monitoring effectively for marketing purposes.
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A recent study by HubSpot concludes that the cost per lead for inbound marketing is dramatically lower than the cost of lead acquisition through outbound channels! That’s great news for businesses suffering due to the economic downturn. What’s more, the effectiveness of the leads does not end there. The organic leads that you acquire through social media, blogging and other inbound channels are also of better quality in terms of loyalty, referrals and bringing repeat business.
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While on the hunt for meaningful metrics tools, Erwin Hendriks, creator of Social Website Analyzer, brought his insightful resource to my attention.

Simply put, Social Website Analyzer is a one-click snapshot of the state of your website’s or brand’s social media presence across the top 20 social media sites.

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Being prolific in social media, I am always on the prowl for useful tools, resources and social media platforms to expedite the time involved in producing and sharing relevant content across the social universe. I’ve recently discovered Amplify.com. Amplify is, in my opinion, one of the most useful, powerful yet simple to use free resources available.

A hybrid between Twitter and a blog, Amplify allows you to easily highlight or clip content (up to 1000 characters of text and images &  video) you find relevant, add in your own opinion if you wish, then amplify it to your friends and followers across the internet! Amplify is especially convenient for those who wish to further their cause or share their passion, yet have little time to consistently produce original content.

To Clip or Not to Clip:
Viewers always have the option of clicking through to the original post to read the entire article.  And if you simply cannot choose highlights from the post and want to share the entire article, Amplify gives you the option to “amplify” an entire URL.

A Unique Social Community
Amplify is also a social media platform.  Just sign in with Twitter or Facebook and begin to share content.  Like most social media platforms, you can create a profile, follow sources, view your newsfeed from those sources, recommend clips, comment and share.

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This blog post is the second in the 2 part series on brand monitoring. In case you missed the first blog post,  here is the link: Monitor Your Brand Online.

Online Reputation Monitoring can be as simple as creating alerts on Google or as comprehensive as subscribing to a syndicated monitoring service like Radian6 that  gives you a complete platform to listen, measure and engage with your customers across the entire social web. You can hire a Social Media Monitoring company who will not only use syndicated or subscription tools like Radian6 and employ a combination of techniques and report on what’s being said but will also formulate effective response strategies and implement reputation management techniques.
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As the saying goes…if you’re going to do something, do it right.

This tried and true philosophy rings just as true today for any businesses entering into social media marketing.

For small businesses and entrepreneurs, it is not uncommon to find the owners and employees wearing many hats – from new business development to accounting to customer service. And now, if they don’t also dawn the social media marketing cap…they’ll be left behind.

According to Maria Veltre, Executive Vice President of Citi’s Small Business Segment…

“While social media can provide additional channels to network and help grow a business, many small businesses may not have the manpower or the time required take advantage of them.”

Social Media Marketing is more vital than ever for businesses of any size to gain exposure and compete in the marketplace. When a business attempts to undertake this type of marketing themselves, they can set themselves up for failure and summarily dismiss an impactful, powerful marketing tool.
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Writing effectively for online media and social networks is an evolving art.  As print becomes redundant, social media emerges to fill the gap with its short form communication style that is meant to engage non-readers.  There are numerous articles with tips on writing for the web and writing-guides and rules for individual platforms like Twitter and Blogs.  But there is definite dearth of information on the actual process of writing:

OK, so you have set up a Twitter account.  What next? What should you talk about 4 times a day? What language and style should you use? Where do you get the ideas?

Instant messaging. Twittering. Facebook updates, Blog posts, all  provide social platforms for businesses to communicate with their customers in a more informal environment while effectively promoting their cause.  For the social media writer it can be an onerous task to consistently deliver such effective messages  in a conversational style.  Here are some tips on making the process a little easier.

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What are the top five things beginners should know about social media?

The question was asked in one of the social media groups that I belong to on LinkedIn:

“I’m giving a speech for … and would like to know five hot topics you think
beginners would like to know.”

This is a very good question which got a lot of response from many members (me included). Following are some of the more insightful responses:

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If you’re using Twitter as a tool to promote your brand or products, it’s crucial that you write retweetable tweets. The shareability of your message makes it viral and extends the reach of your message beyond your own Twitter followers. The trick is to make sure that the content you are writing provides immediate payoff by entertaining, giving useful information, provoking or sharing experiences that help your followers. If your tweet provides some kind of value and is not another “me-too” , it has a good chance of being passed on. Once it’s passed on, your message gains momentum through a wider audience and increases your influence. If you use your 140 characters wisely you can compel your followers to spread the message and help you develop your following.

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You may be familiar with Dell, Starbucks and Jet Blue…a few well-known brands that have been trumpeted for their brilliant use of social media. But what about lesser known and smaller businesses? Does social media marketing “work” for them too?

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