Social Media Marketing Book

Author Archive

Last week to help promote voting for Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media and The Last Original Idea: A Cynic’s View of Internet Marketing we lauched a contest for everyone that voted for the books to have a chance at winning signed copies of each book.  Today we announce our winners!

However before I do that both Alan K’Necht and I want to extend our sincerest thanks to all of you for voting for both of our books.  With your help, both Alan’s book and Social Media Marketing ended up in the top 10 list for the Small Business Book Awards of 2010!

Now onto our winners!

Scott Cowley & Michael Smith are our winners! Each of them will get a copy of each book signed by Alan & me respectively.

Again – thank you, all of you who helped out!

This is a quick note to say “Thank You” to everyone out there who voted for Social Media Marketing:  Engaging Strategies for Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media.  While currently it’s not “official” yet, with all of your help the votes came in to put us in 1st place in the Social Media category and 2nd place over all at the Small Business Book Awards.

@SmallBizTrends is saying in the next 24 hours the official announcements will be made, we’ll follow up when we get the “official” word.

Thanks for all the love & support!  I really appreciate it all!

Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media and The Last Original Idea: A Cynic’s View of Internet Marketing which are both nominated for the Small Biz Book Awards, have joined forces!   We’re offering our two of readers the chance to win a copy of each book (signed by each author) just by casting a vote for both books!

Just like we mentioned yesterday about voting, we’re just joining forces to help out The Last Original Idea as well!

You can vote 1 time in a 24 hour period from 1 IP Address for both books (that means your home computer, work computer, cell phone can all vote!) until 2 a.m. EST on December 16th, 2010.  After you vote, just fill out the Entry Form with the vote numbers & your contact information and your entry is cast!  Click the links below and you’ll be taken straight to each books voting page.

There’s a book awards contest happening until December 15th and Social Media Marketing: Engaging Strategies for Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media is up for the Small Biz Trends Small Business Book Award of 2010!

But here’s the scoop.  We need YOUR help to win!

You can vote 1 time in a 24 hour period from 1 IP Address (that means your home computer, work computer, cell phone can all vote!) until 2 a.m. EST on December 16th, 2010.  If you vote, you have a chance to win one of two signed copies of Social Media Marketing! After you vote, just fill out the Entry Form with the vote number & your contact information and your entry is cast!

So please consider clicking the button above or here to cast your vote today!

Are you looking to enhance your marketing education?  Want to get into the nuts and bolts of what all this Social Media Marketing “stuff” is all about?  Well, if you are in the New York, New Jersey or even Pennsylvania area, I might have the ticket for you!  The Rutgers Mini MBA Program is offering an accelerated Social Media Marketing Course from December 6 through 10, 2010, on the Piscataway campus.

While this class is near and dear to my heart, because I teach one of the classes and the Social Media Marketing Book I wrote is part of the curriculum, I truly believe that this course is something that is worth the investment of time and money if you want to take your career to the next level in online marketing. My fellow colleagues and friends such as Cindy Krum (author of Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are), Greg Jarboe (author of Video Marketing an Hour a Day), and Matt Bailey are just a few of the professors in the curriculum.

The Rutgers Mini-MBA program is designed for executives or professionals working in marketing, advertising, branding, communications, or sales as well as individuals seeking to use social media to further their careers. Participants receive a certificate at the completion of the course and those passing an optional exam earn three credits toward a full-time MBA degree.

All of the students enrolling in the Social Media Marketing Course will receive Apple iPads. Now, you can learn social media marketing without a tablet computer, but a couple of iPad apps are an integral part of the 30-hour Rutgers Mini MBA Program which provides new career skills in a field that is defined by social media technology and change.

As Eric Greenberg, the Faculty Chair of the Mini-MBA: Social Media Program at the Center for Management Development (CMD), says, “A paradigm shift in marketing today stems from technology advancements that are producing a new class of super-informed, highly empowered consumers. As products like tablet computers increasingly shift people away from traditional media and untether them from their office and home PCs, marketing professionals at all levels are seeking to update and refresh their skills sets to stay current.”

Greenberg adds, “From Facebook to LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube – firms and individuals are embracing social media platforms at an ever-increasing pace. This program addresses the many issues surrounding this new phenomenon and provides a roadmap to help individuals and firms navigate social media to gain a competitive edge.”

The cost of the Social Media Certificate Program is $4,995, which includes all instructional materials on a pre-loaded Apple iPad and fees. The Rutgers Mini MBA Program may qualify for corporate tuition reimbursement. This Social Media Certificate Program has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Labor for workforce training grants. Funding may be available for those receiving unemployment benefits.

The course is limited to 30 students. Space at local hotels will be available for those requiring overnight accommodations, including international participants. A 12-week program (one evening per week) will be held on Tuesdays, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. starting in February 2011. For more information, contact Greenberg at 732-445-5639, or go online to the Center for Management Development.

Two articles this morning got me to thinking about privacy online and in social media. The first article came from eMarketer that featured a study that privacy concerns fail to slow the growth of social media.  Even privacy concerns, threats of boycotts of Facebook, and sites like PleaseRobMe.com which expose social media sites for ulterior purposes haven’t slowed the growth of social media.  People just have this “want” to share, and boy are they ever because communities like Facebook and Foursquare make it very easy to share personal experiences with your network of friends, family and colleagues.

But really, how much is too much to share with your networks?  Does it depend on your age? Your title or position at your job?  Where you live? Your personality? Actually anyone of those things can be a factor.  Take age for example.

Kids Are Oblivious to Privacy

Kids these days (I’m talking about those under 18) have grown up in the world of MySpace and Facebook and see absolutely nothing wrong with sharing where they are going with their network of friends on Facebook.  The only problem with that is, they forget to lock down their profiles (for privacy) so that the entire world can see what they are doing and where they are going – including sexual predators.  Contrary to popular belief sexual predators don’t just hang out on MySpace anymore.  Parents who don’t realize that their children are sharing things like their daily routines with their friends, and unaware of changes in the TOS on Facebook might be shocked how much “private” information is out there about their children, potentially placing them in danger.

Sharing Too Much With Your Job

Then there’s how much is too much to share if you are in a particular position in your company.  The second article that I read this morning comes from Crisis Blogger about a Washington Post Conservative Blogger and what he shared via an email listserv in the way of his feelings towards “big wig” conservatives. Now while email is private, listservs aren’t exactly as private, plus the person in question was a blogger, a social media butterfly or maven of sorts.  By sharing his thoughts via email, it cost Dave Weigel his job at the Post.

There’s many other examples out there, one of my favorites is highlighted in Social Media Marketing:  Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media.  Just over a year ago an employee of the Philadelphia Eagles expressed his extreme dislike of the Eagles decision to not offer Brian Dawkins the same amount of money the Denver Broncos did to keep the fan favorite in Philadelphia.  He posted his feelings on Facebook.  The Eagles management subsequently called him up and fired him for posting those remarks.  They didn’t take into account this man was a long time worker at the Eagles west gate, won many “employee of the month” type awards and also had a disability.  The Philadelphia Eagles also did not have a social media policy in place.  The only thing the Philadelphia Eagles had was that Pennsylvania is a “Right to Hire” state which means, they can pretty much fire you for anything.  What ensued was a firestorm of controversy for the Philadelphia Eagles from both angry fans and upset media, which continues to plague them even today, especially when Brian Dawkins comes to town to play his old team.

Are You Planning Policies & Teaching Your Employees About What Not to Share?

So as a company are you planning social media policies that include how much is too much to share?  What will be tolerated and what is unacceptable actions (vulgar language, opposing views, etc.) for your employees engaging in social media?  Have you taken the time to consult not just legal counsel, but human resources and your marketing teams about the policies?  Do they make sense?

Understanding how social media is affecting not just your company but your employees’ everyday lives is important, because as humans we all crave to share and connect and with the internet and social media communities that become increasingly easier to do.  Preparing for that is tough, but not impossible.  Teaching your employees about social media and the affects it can have when they share too much (or even too little) can go a long way to ensuring your company has a successful venture into social media.

Today’s three tips come from chapter 16, “Everyone in Your company Has a Stake in Your Social Media Strategy” in the book, Social Media Marketing:  Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media.  It’s not just your marketing team that is going to determine the success or the failure of your social media marketing strategy, even the person who sorts the mail in your mail room can have some kind of an affect on your efforts.  This is a very important thing to keep in mind, social media is affecting everyone’s lives who has a computer and access to the internet because they want to share & engage with others in their networks.

The three tips from chapter 16 in today’s video only brush the surface of the full chapter, there’s a lot more discussed in the chapter about what to look out for, how to plan and deal with the fact that your employees will talk about you after they leave the office and get home and log into Facebook, Twitter or even an online forum.  Lets take a look at today’s three tips:

1. Not All Users Are From Generation Y or the Millennials
2. The C-Suite Needs to Be Involved
3. Any Position Within Your Company Can Have an Adverse Affect on Your Social Media Strategy

Full video transcript after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

I read a rather interesting piece on eConsultancy about the world of online dating and how the free sites, such as Plenty of Fish and Mingle2, are likely winning the war of attracting singles to their sites versus their paid counterparts such as Match.com (which just recently paired up with Yahoo Singles), PerfectMatch & EHarmony.  With the economy in a downturn and keeping steadily in that range, online users are looking to save money where they can, even when they are looking for love.

Now, throw social networks into the mix.  On Facebook a member has the ability to change their relationship status and announce to the world that they are looking for a potential mate.  If someone else in their network is also looking, they can get a much better picture of how that person really is, in “real life”, on a social network like Facebook because people are much more willing to share information with their “Friends”, than complete strangers on some dating site.

So what are industries like the online dating industry suppose to do?  Especially when all of a sudden your biggest competitor just came out of left field and sucker punched you with their vast amounts of members, and free information about them, plus allowing them to communicate for free?  All the stuff that the big paid sites are charging their members to do.

You change, you adapt and you give your audience what they are clamoring for.  You need to up the anty and give them more for their money, otherwise, Facebook and your free counterparts who are becoming more and more like a social network, are going to overtake your audience.

Look at how the cable news networks have adapted as opposed to their floundering counterparts, the news papers.  Cable news as made their online sites major hubs of interaction.  CNN has integrated the “like” or “recommend” feature everywhere on their site.  They’ve embraced Twitter and adapted their real time reporting to include iReport, which has become a major hub for citizen journalism.  CNN has adapted, CNN has changed, and CNN is flourishing in the online news world where others are merely scratching their heads wondering how in the world they are going to keep treading water.

Even the travel industry has adapted and changed.  Notoriously “hands off” with customers before social networks and ratings & reviews came into play, the travel industry had to change due to people not only using ratings and review sites, such as TripAdvisor, to share their experiences but people who actually using those sites to make their decisions whether to stay someone, take a particular airline or other mode of transportation.  The travel industry had to adapt to become more social with their audience.

So is social media changing the way your industry is interacting?  Has your marketing changed?  Has your outlook or your marketing plan changed because of social media and how your customers are sharing their experiences?

Chances go by every day to turn pissed off customers into raving fans, and companies continually miss these opportunities because they are very fearful of the answer to “Why Don’t You Like Me?”.  Actually, lets face it, everyone doesn’t want to hear about all of their flaws, so it is just common nature.

Chapter 32 “Ask the Audience” in the book Social Media Marketing:  Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media, explores reasons why and how you should go about asking the audience questions.  If you are going to be successful in social media marketing you’ll have to break out of that mold of avoiding asking why, and start asking it and truly listening to the replies.  What will happen when you do and actually act upon those reason will surprise you, you just might find yourself with a few evangelists on your hands.

Today’s three high level tips are:

1. Don’t Avoid Why They Don’t Like You
2. Ask How You Can Improve
3. Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Full video transcript after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s jump into that hot tub time machine for a moment, shall we?  Back in the 90′s I use to work for Cellular One. The company I worked for was a franchise sort of like McDonald’s, that eventually sold out to the bigger companies like Vanguard Cellular One who eventually sold to AT&T, who then sold to someone else, and they turned back into AT&T. I know I’m probably dating myself now, but, this is back when a cell phone was a bag phone, or a phone installed in your car. We were just migrating from the infamous brick phone into the Motorola Flip. Hand held cellular phones were pretty “iffy” on the reception back then too. At this point in time the Internet was just starting to grow as well, I was very proud that I upgraded from a 14.4 modem to a 28.8!

Back then, I only dreamed about the cellular phones I sold being able to connect my computer to the internet, let alone it connecting all by itself and allowing me to access my social media communities (back then that was web based chats and forums!).

Here we are, over 15 years later and not only can I access my social media communities from my phone but I can play podcasts, I can not only watch videos, but record and upload them too. I can put applications on my phone that make it easier for me to find places to eat, hotels to stay in and find out what movie is playing at what location that’s closest to me. I get my email to my phone, text messages, I can have my phone function as my alarm clock and even tell me how much of a tip I need to leave the waitress for my dinner.

I use to think I couldn’t live without my computer (I probably still can’t), but now I look at everything I do with my smart phone, and I wonder, “can I live without my Droid”? I’m finding it increasingly difficult to see my life functioning easily without it. I’m not alone either.

I’ve written about how companies need to think beyond the web browsers and how social media communities are constantly trying to make it easier for its members to connect via cell phone applications. I was investigating some statistics and I was really blown away to see just how much society is relying on their cell phones (and that’s just in the U.S. – in Asia, it’s overwhelming).

• Social Networking via applications has grown over 240% in the past year
• 80% of Twitter’s usage is via mobile phone
• More than 65 Million users access Facebook via their cell phones
• In just 1 year the Mobile Social Network Foursquare (primary usage is via smart phones & applications)
  1. Has acquired over 500k users
  2. Users have created over  1.4 million venues
  3. Users have logged over 15.5 million check ins
• If Yelp is any indication of the power the smart phone holds, look at this iPhone applications stats for the site
  • Over 27% of the searches were done from the iPhone app
  • Over 500,000 calls were made to local businesses directly from the iPhone App, or 1 call being placed every 5 seconds
  • Nearly a million people generated point-to-point directions to a local business from their Yelp iPhone App in May 2010

There are dozens of other statistics out there that continually point to the rise of the smart phone as an essential tool in people’s lives.  From finding restaurants to keeping up with email, the cellphones with web capabilities are not just a passing fad, they are here, they are evolving and when you pair them with applications that allow people to connect and share in social networks, they are a force that marketers can no longer passively ignore.

Making sure that you are planning for Mobile Marketing as part of your social media marketing strategy is now becoming essential if you want to really reach out and engage with your audiences.  Social media marketing doesn’t operate in a vacuum, social media and email, social media and search marketing, social media and offline marketing all need to be taken into account.  However, even more important is social media and mobile marketing, people leave home without their computers, but they are rarely leaving home without their mobile phones these days.