Digital Branding and Social Media

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Digital Branding and Social Media

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Basics Of Social Media

Olivier Blanchard Basics Of Social Media Roi

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Facebook becoming big friend of small businesses

The L.A Times just published a great article about why so many small businesses are turning to Facebook – for their own needs. Here's why small businesses spending money building a presence on Facebook and social media sites are much better than them spending money on Google and search: Facebook and social media sites are giant word-of-mouth multilpiers that support people sharing referrals and other information about who they know, like and trust. Before Google, people always turned to who they know, like, and trust to decide who to hire and what to buy. They still do, but now, people can do it online, instantly. Think about it: If you are looking for a new dentist, or doctor, or accountant, or auto mechanic, would you rather find them searching Google, or ask your Facebook friends? Would you rather sort through their websites, or through their Facebook fan pages, where you can see which of your friends are 'fans', what your friends and others have written about them in reviews and on the Wall, and how else your friends have interacted with them. Mark Zuckerberg clearly has a vision for the Facebook platform – which includes not only Fan Pages and Profiles but Facebook Connect. His vision is to connect people to other people, businesses, and organizations worldwide- large and small. In a few years (maybe a few months, with the current pace of social media growth), people will be able to instantly find dentists, doctors, accountants, auto mechanics and more that their friends know like, and trust – not just ones that have spent the most money on paid search and SEO. That's a good thing for all of us.

How to "Effectively" Use Social Media to Grow Your Business

By Patrick Daugherty The rise of social media has been quite remarkable in the last 5 years. Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, My Space and more recently Twitter have established their value to empower social networking and are here to stay. So much so that entrepreneurs have flocked in mass to use them as another way to market the products and services their business provides. Shortly thereafter there was a flood of instructional social media "secrets" being marketed which has in turn trained many internet marketers how to unintentionally to tarnish the system. Unfortunately, many of those individuals are now jumping on the social media bandwagon with the desire to gain as many in their network as possible for the purpose of shoving their marketing down their throats. Many are using social media but far less are using it effectively, which prompting the writing of this article. The Cause & Affect What originally made these sites so unique was that it allowed others to connect together and routinely share information that appealed to the common interest. Those connected were then compelled to comment and share often since the dialogue appealed to them. Instead of one way communication, this enabled two way conversations. This is even more the case with the emergence of Twitter. These were intended to be considered "safe" places to interact on-line, away from spam emails and unsolicited pop-up windows. Social Media is not intended to be the place where someone continuously hammers their network trying to hustle their products. The"I Made 45K in 30 days!" and "New Business Opportunity In Pre-Launch. Jump Aboard!" do not bring value nor do they motivate the recipient want to do anything other than delete it upon viewing the headline. Making matters even worse is the rotating automation software which automatically sends these messages out every 30 minutes everyday. The issue is that no one is behind the keyboard sending anything of value and as a result, no one is listening. Be Affective: Brand Yourself As An Asset The best way to use social media to grow your business is to provide value, which is to say; connect, listen and give. Social Media Guru Chris Brogan the author of "Trust Agents" verbalized it well when he said "Give and provide value. Connect those that can help each others business. Be on the elbow of every deal being made. Give, give and give some more. It'll always come back to you. If you don't get that, then you'll never be a trust agent". The point is that if you want to gain viable connections that will funnel traffic to your site or customers to your business you need to be seen as an asset in meeting their needs. That takes asking and listening. The beauty of social media is that you don't necessarily have to be the smartest person in the room to do that. You just need to be connected with the expert and put them together to mutually meet their business need. You can also find purpose if you refer them to internet sources of information that can meet that need as well. It Doesn't Take A Large Network: Quality Over Quantity Many talk about the tens-of-thousands of connections needed in order to get your message out and benefit your business. That is true if no one is listening and you're only getting a response-rate equal to that of a mass mailer or telemarketing call. You see, it's not necessarily about the number but rather about the quality of those potential internet business relationships that matter. It comes down to how well you've branded yourself and as a result, how much you can leverage that solid reputation to be able to help others and in turn help reach your goals as well. It takes far fewer social media connections if they are people that know you well enough to refer others to you or recommend you to their tight knit group. It also takes far less if you are more discrete about those that you connect with. Find out before hand if they are a spammer or if they fit your prospect/customer demographic or the profile of someone with a like mind. When they see a message you've sent, you want them to sit forward and read through it because they know you're a trusted source and have sent something that will help them. Remember, your goal is not to purely "get more people" but rather to forge an electronic business relationship that is solid enough for that person to recommend you to someone else. Application Now make no mistake, I'm not saying that you have to take a long time to do cultivate your branding or reputation. Just a personal message every once in a while which can be something as basic as: "Since I know some key people in your industry, I would feel comfortable referring you to anyone if you let me know what you need. So I was wondering what challenges you're facing this week? Is there any way I help your business be more successful?". I've had people come back with "I just wrote a blog post and was wondering if you could read and comment on it". What's incredible is that if you start, it tends to be contagious. When your connection hears of someone that has a need, you want them to think of you and tell them, "hey, I know a person who might be able to help you out, let me put you two together". Now you've empowered that connection to feel like they brought value to their network and helped someone too. Conclusion Always bear in mind that no one appreciates being regarded merely as a number and everyone places value on being asked questions and listened to. So take a slice of time out of your day to be more deliberate with who you connect with and how you are developing your personal brand. Cultivate a network that you can leverage because, like any relationship it takes an investment before you can assume to ask for something in return. You'll find that as soon as you do, they'll welcome the chance to return the favor. It's what social media was intended to be. R. Patrick Daugherty The Biz Coach Check out: http://TheBizcoachBlog.com Get free coaching and resources for your business from "The Biz Coach" at: http://Learn2Earnitnow.biz Mr. Daugherty is known for having a passion for coaching business executives and entrepreneurs in the art of identifying, attracting and retaining top talent while effectively communicating, mentoring and coaching them to reach their personal and professional goals. Over his 15 year career he has been fortunate enough to have consulted and coached leaders in a wide range of industries from international technology firms and large insurance conglomerates to numerous staffing & recruiting firms as well as state & local policy makers and grass roots organizations. He is now utilizing that wealth of experience to help entrepreneurs of small and home-based business. Patrick is married to his beautiful wife Diane and live with their three children in central Pennsylvania. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Daugherty Learn more on branding with social media at http://FootprintStrategies.com

Changes On Facebook

NEW YORK — Worried about missing a birth announcement, or details on what your portly uncle had for lunch?

Facebook is tweaking its home page yet again in hopes of making it easier to find information. Among the latest changes is a list of items you might have missed during those rare moments spent away from the online hangout.

The changes are being rolled out Friday.

When you log in to Facebook you will see what the site deems the most interesting things that happened in the past day in the "News Feed." These could be photos, status updates or other items. As has been the case previously, what Facebook deems interesting to you will be based on what updates are popular with your friends or how close you are to the person giving the update.

"If the content has comments or 'likes' by 10 of your mutual friends, it's something that is important to you," said Peter Deng, a Facebook product manager.

After you've caught up, you can click back to the "Live Feed" you've had before and read updates from everyone on your friends list in a constant stream.

In another change, Facebook is integrating its "Highlights" feature from the right hand side of the page to the "News Feed" in the middle. The space it frees up will be used to feature birthdays and events more prominently – something Facebook says users had asked for.

And the site is restoring some features it had gotten rid of, such as posts on when your friend adds a new friend or becomes a fan of a brand or a celebrity.

"Nothing is going away," Deng said. "We are just moving things around."

That's important, because if past redesigns are any indication, change doesn't always go over well at Facebook.

Facebook has more than 300 million active users worldwide and about half of them log in every day. For many people, the site is becoming an important social hub for keeping up with friends and family.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/facebooks-news-feed-revam_n_332160.html

10 Ways To Build A Brand You Can Be Proud Of

Tip 1: Use A Consistent Design

A large portion of branding is about image and that image is portrayed through your design. It can be the logo, a set of colors, or simply a consistent look and feel. As Jared Spool states in his article, “Determining How Design Affects Branding“, “Brand elements, such as names, logos, tag lines, trademarks, and packaging are shortcuts to” the perceptions of the consumer. If you tightly integrate your design into your product or service, the design can begin to evoke the emotions and perceptions that the consumers experience when interacting with your product or service.

Tip 2: Determine Your Brand Personality

While brands may not be people, the personification of brands helps consumers to connect with them. That’s why it’s important to determine what your brand’s personality is. Much of that personality can come through your own voice since people like connecting with other individuals but you should be able to define the overall personality of your brand as well.

Tip 3: Have A Consistent Dialogue

Whether you are having a conversation on Facebook, Twitter, or during a presentation, it’s important to have a consistent message. While you can engage in different conversations, it’s important that your conversation is most frequently about similar ideas or concepts. For example Oprah would not have a conversation with her viewers about computer programming. Maybe that’s an extreme example but the main point is that there is a consistent dialog that you should have with your consumers.

Tip 4: Define Your Target Market

Who are you selling to? That’s a question that many brands fail to answer and in the end they become so broadly focused that they end up selling nothing. I’ve made this mistake before and the results can be extremely painful. You invest months building something only to find out that you didn’t target a specific market and in the end nobody ends up making a purchase. As Wikipedia states, your target market “is mainly defined by age, gender, geography, socio-economic grouping, technographic, or any other combination of demographics.” Figure out who you are targeting. This is also extremely important for when you begin running ad campaigns on Facebook (which we’ll be explaining later). Figure out your target market and you are well on your way to 3,000 fans.

Tip 5: Know What Your Brand Is Selling

You’ve selected a target market but do you know what your customers want? While you can pick out a segment of the market to go after, providing them with something that they truly want is a whole other challenge. Often times companies will spend months preparing for a product launch only to find out that nobody ended up purchasing the product. Sometimes brands will launch a product or service only to find out that their consumer is using it for another reason than it was intended. If you don’t understand how your customer is interacting with your brand then good luck developing a Facebook public profile that’s going to rapidly attract thousands of users. Once you have determined your target market and you know what your brand is selling, you can proceed to build a large fan base.

Tip 6: Figure Out The Terms That Drive Action From Your Market

This is more about sales and marketing then it is about building your brand but at the end of the day, there’s no point in building a brand if you don’t plan on using it to sell something. While an attractive brand can build you a large fan base, selling is much more challenging. Each buyer has their own psychological triggers that will drive them to make a purchase and often times, there are words that will drive an entire market to make a purchase. That’s why you need to invest the time to test out various forms of copy and see what works with your market.

There are actually words that will make it more likely for your fans to take action. By discovering these words/terms you can associate them with your brand and increase the bond with your fans.

Tip 7: Listen To Your Target Market

Social media is much more about listening than talking at people. Honestly, the old direct methods of marketing are now dead and instead marketing has become a conversation that brands have with their customers. Thankfully, this new model presents many new opportunities and those brands that are quickest to adapt will reap the rewards. Some of your customers will want to engage in a dialogue with your brand and Facebook public profiles are a great place for that to take place. Did someone post something negative about your brand? Publicly acknowledge their criticism and then proceed to offer a solution.

If your brand is willing to publicly acknowledge weaknesses and address them, it will build trust with your brand for existing and future customers. Many times your fans will actually tell you what they’d like your brand to provide. This is gold to any effective marketer. Spend the time to listen, don’t just speak at your fans.

Tip 8: Provide Relevant Content That Amplifies Your Brand

It’s difficult to consistently come up with original content. As someone who has written over 2,000 articles in the past two years, I can attest to the challenge of developing original content. Thankfully, in social media (and on Facebook public profiles), you don’t always need to come up with original content. As you browse the web, share content that is relevant to your brand directly from within your Facebook page. This way you can keep your fans engaged with ongoing content and you don’t need to always be the one producing that content.

Tip 9: Create Great Content

While sharing content from around the web is always an easy way to get your fans engaged, it’s always better to create original content. It’s possible to provide original content which rehashes existing content but the best content is truly original. One of the best forms of original content is educational guides. Educating your future consumer is always a great way to build trust and to build an ongoing relationship. That’s not to say that the only content you should create is educational content. Content that entertains, engages, informs, or simply makes the reader smile is great for keeping their attention. If you want to learn more about creating great content I highly recommend reading Copyblogger on a regular basis.

Tip 10: Leverage Multiple Branding Channels

No, Facebook Pages are not the end all, be all of your branding strategy. People regularly ask what the best site is for building their brand and generating new business. The response is always the same no matter who you ask in the industry: go to where your customers are. If your existing or future customers are on Facebook (there’s a good chance they are there with over 250 million users) or even MySpace (GASP!), your company should be there. Wherever your customer is, you should be there.

For More Info Visit Ron Mills http://FootPrintStrategies.com

Wikis in Plain English

Stop Using Banner ADS

Do YOU actually click on Internet banner ads? According to the "Natural Born Clickers" research conducted with Starcom USA and Tacoda, the number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32% of Internet users in July 2007 to only 16% in March 2009, with an even smaller core of people (representing 8% of the Internet user base) accounting for 85% of all clicks. The argument for still running banner ads is that "click throughs" are not an accurate gauge for measurement, and that advertisers should be evaluating campaigns based on their view-through impact. I think that's a pretty tough nut for advertisers to swallow. Although the data also showed a direct correlation between online banner campaigns and lift in search of the advertised product…it may be that online advertising is headed in the direction of traditional advertising. In other words, it's all clutter, it's all annoying, and users resist it. Our advice? Start a dialogue with your targeted customers, rather than holding up (digital) signs in their face. If you are to advertise, consider linking to your social spaces, where you can capture a customer and engage in conversation with them. CRM trumps advertising, any day of the week. Listen to my news Podcast http://RonMills.us/news Visit My Social Media Blog http://ronmills.us/ Visit me on twitter http://Twitter.com/RainbowUSA Visit Me On Face Book  http://RonMills.us/facebook My Biz on Twitter http://Twitter.com/theRbuzz