Building Your Version of Facebook (or LinkedIn, for that matter)

Engaging your customers in a dialogue is what social media is all about. ENGAGEMENTdb ranks the world’s top brands and their measures their ability to leverage social media to interact with customers. As consumers gain more influence through user-generated media and has expanded their own individual reach in their personal networks, the need to connect through this medium effectively will soon be a requirement for effective marketing.

There are two ways to approach social media marketing though. First, is by being a participant. You can leverage the tools offered, or made available by third-party developers, to connect with your consumers. The fan pages of Facebook and the array of tools, from HootSuite to SocialOomph, for Twitter enables you to measure, track and penetrate the current base of the two most famous social networking sites.

The second way, however, is to build your own social network. For example, Ning let’s you create social networks while allowing you to join the many social networks available, while SocialGo does the same while also offering a concierge service where they will design, configure and customized the network for you.

The benefit here is you’re not only able to engage into conversations but actually controls the platform where the conversation happens. By doing so you allow your company to capitalize on the viral spread that can occur in a social networking site and serve as a starting point for dialogue on matters relating to your niche or core competency.

Filed under: Information, Social Media , Brand Engagement, Branding, customer dialogue, customer engagement, Facebook, HootSuite, LinkedIn, Marketing, Ning, Social Media, social media engagement, social network development, social network marketing, SocialGo, SocialOomph, viral marketing

Recession, social media adds risk on companies’ data loss issues

Now that there are more ways for employees to casually interact online, companies cites an increasing risk of exposing sensitive data to the general public. A recent study shows a more than 10% increase in the number of companies “impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information.”  Although email is still the number one source of data leaks, social networking sites like  Facebook,  YouTube, blogs and Twitter contribute to the risk of company employees divulging proprietary and confidential information  online.  

Aside from the technological aspect, the current economic state brings risks to companies’ data concerns. Data leakage caused by the recession have been attributed to layoffs, budget constraints and resignations. 

Full article

Filed under: Information, Networks , Company Security, Data Leakage, Privacy Issues, Social Media

Tracking your Twitter marketing efforts

Tweeting all day as a marketing activity continues to require the development of great metrics. Although measuring social media marketing activities does not yet have ’solid’ rules compared to traditional marketing strategies, Jennifer points out a couple of ways you should measure the impact and reach of your Twitter activities.

Full article

Filed under: Market Research, Marketing, Social Media , Brand Engagement, Marketing Metrics, ROI measurement, Social Media, Twitter

How to make friends via carbon footprint reduction!

You can now meet new people by discussing how to make the world a better place by reducing your environmental impact. First, you’ll have to measure your carbon footprint. Then you either find ways on how to reduce it or learn from your peers.

BrighterPlanet is leading the way in applying social media to the sustainability lifestyle mix by allowing you to share your experiences in how you’re making your life more eco-friendly. Currently, the site claims that it has “measured 13,494 carbon footprints, completed 324 conservation tips, and offset 135,192,910 pounds of carbon emissions.”

The site is planning to integrate Twitter and Facebook on its platform so that its users can share to the bigger social media community how they lower their emissions.

Check out their website

Filed under: Sustainability , BrighterPlanet.com, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Footprints, Social Media

Facebook, soon to be in Hollywood..Good or Bad?

“The Social Network” coming soon in theaters near you! That’s the working title of the movie that West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin is busy developing a screenplay for. The film is about the social networking giant Facebook, which began in the Harvard dorm room of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

Critics say that Sorkin, who has only recently been exposed to the social networking world with his Facebook fan page created by his researcher, can’t possibly write anything interesting about the site. Possibly, the multi-faceted nature of FB makes it a complicated subject to pin a good story to.

But just like the world of social media, entertainment is full of surprises, which makes us wonder if a Twitter reality show is in the works.

Full article

Filed under: Social Media , Facebook, Facebook movie, Hollywood, Social Media, Social Media and Entertainment

Social Street Cred

There are 14.7 million people in the USA who are currently unemployed (June 09 statistic). That’s enough to keep any jobseeker awake. Well in addition to late nights perfecting the perfect resume, cover letter and (hopefully) outfit for the interview, now you’ll need to start worrying about perfecting your “social street cred” in order to land the job.

It’s old news that employers will Google you, check you out on LinkedIn, see what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter – we’ve all prepped ourselves for that. However, Best Buy have taken this to the next level and actually set social media criteria that a candidate for Director of Emerging Markets must meet. They require a minimum of 250 followers on Twitter. This is highlighting a new trend of organizations putting emphasis on hiring candidates who not only fit in with their corporate culture, but who also have a great understanding of social business.

To improve your “social street cred”, it’s important not only to have an online presence in the aforementioned social media sites, but to think about your consistency of image across the sites. How frequent and effective are your threads? And how does your content reflect the type of roles you’re applying for? Address these questions before applying and you have a good chance of being ahead of the game.

Full article

Filed under: Social Media , careers, recruitment, Research, Social Media

Corporate motivation for correcting mistakes

Companies make mistakes: They launch offensive ads (Motrin anyone?), they omit declarations on packaging, they might even sell a faulty product. Like humans (well not quite) they are not perfect. An interesting post today from Jason Bear about a customer service experience with Nissan.

In short Jason buys car, car does not have roll over sensor as advertised, Nissan sends Jason letter offering $2,000 or to buy the car back, Jason blogs about Nissan’s motivation for the “bribe” or if it might be a social media experiment (we are talking about it aren’t we?) Peter commented on Jason’s blog and we are posting the comment below (for the record – we are not currently employed by Nissan):

Jason,

Having had some experience working inside and consulting to several of the Japanese OEMs I think what you saw was a sincere effort. Yes – we live in a litigious society and so companies want to protect themselves. But, the key here is they got to you first.

Let’s say you had an accident and a roll over sensor might have avoided injury to you or your vehicle. What are the chances that you would think of that, find out about it online, sue, etc. They are present, but in reality not something firms take a proactive stance on.

Nissan happens (like some other firms) to keep good tabs on who buys what and so are able to send you offers to buy more later. Nissan and a few others we know of are more focused on giving you a great customer experience so you come back voluntarily (which ends up being less expensive for them as well in the long run).

Most people do not blog about good experiences with companies and brands – so I commend you for doing so – and your points are relevant – what was their motivation? I honestly think they wanted to do right by their customer first and safeguard second.

Filed under: Automotive, Information, Legal, Marketing , Customer Service, Nissan, Social Media