Archive for the 'Social Media' Category

Get Down to Business with Social Media

Published
by
Todd R.
on September 22, 2008
in Social Media and Tutorial
. 0 Comments

There are new websites, technologies and online offerings cropping up almost daily. There are social networks that cater to moms, video sites that allow users to determine what’s funny and what’s just stupid, music sites that let users discover new acts based on their favorite artists and much, much more just waiting to be explored in the wild, untamed Internet.

Because there’s so much out there, it’s enough to make someone unplug and ignore all those new fangled sites those crazy kids are visiting. But for business owners, that’s a dangerous and costly option.

People are spending less and less time watching TV, listening to the radio and reading newspapers. Instead, they’re surfing the web – some studies show up to twice as much time spent online than watching TV. Videos on YouTube are seen by more people than Monday Night Football. More than 70 percent of Americans ages 15 to 34 are actively using online social networks.

While individual sites like Facebook and YouTube and Twitter, a micro-blogging platform, might prove individually to be passing fads, they’ve permanently changed peoples’ expectations for attaining information and, more importantly, interacting with their favorite brands. So what do we recommend for our clients who are uninitiated into the social media world?

Dive in.

If you need a little more guidance than that, follow these simple steps to begin your exploration:

  1. Listen In
    See what is being said about you, your organization and your industry. It’s incredibly easy to get up-to-the-minute alerts about when a subject near and dear to your heart is mentioned online. Simply go to Google Alerts, enter the terms you want to be notified about and click submit. Be sure to put quotation marks around the query if you have more than two words.
  2. Join In
    Join a social network. There’s a social network for everyone. The most popular are MySpace and Facebook, but if you’re looking for something a little more professional and business-oriented, check out LinkedIn. You create a profile based on current and previous work experience, background, professional organizations and more. You’ll then see a list of people you might know and you can add them to your network. After they’re in your network, you can send them messages, write recommendations and connect to more people with whom you may have lost touch. It’s all about being ready – “linked in.”
  3. Read Up
    Start visiting and subscribing to some blogs. There are more than 70 million. Don’t let that number scare you. It’s easy to get to the blogs that matter to you and your industry. Visit Technorati, Digg or Reddit and search for topics of interest that you’d like to read about. Once you’ve found your blogs, find an RSS tool (essentially a website or piece of software that alerts you when your favorite blogs and websites are updated) such as Bloglines or Google Reader and start subscribing. For more on getting started with RSS, check out our cleverly titled tutorial “Getting Started with RSS.”

That’s it. Well, kind of. There’s a whole lot of other stuff you can do – keep customers updated with Twitter, create opportunities for your brand evangelists to create videos on your behalf and build a platform for your supporters (and detractors) to post ideas to help you improve your business, to name a few.

After you’re familiar with the tools, it’s time to figure out how you and your business can take advantage of them.

The world of social media really isn’t as scary as it sounds. Sure, there are black holes, bear traps, guard dogs and hoards of angsty teenagers, but the potential of this medium outweigh the dangers – especially when you have an experienced entity to guide you.

What do you think?
That’s how we recommend getting started. What else would you add to our list?

Social Media Tweetup

Published
by
Todd R.
on July 24, 2008
in Social Media and Tweetup
. 0 Comments

This morning, several of us attended the inaugural “Tweetup” – a gathering of professionals fascinated by the social media world. We enjoyed delicious Panera bagels and soufflés, and excellent discussion about Twitter-adoption, personal vs. professional uses of social media and some of the ways we’ve benefited from using the tools.

There were representatives from several ad agencies, the nonprofit realm and an independent communication pro. The turnout was modest, but anticipation is already high for the next Tweetup as the RSVPs have already started rolling in.

If you’d like to check it out, we’re planning on meeting next Thursday, July 31, 6:00 p.m. at The Anchor. We welcome all ages, backgrounds and social media IQs. If you have any questions, shoot me an email.

Hope to see you there.

You take the good. You take the bad.

Published
by
Todd R.
on July 14, 2008
in Social Media
. 4 Comments

Last week, Sonia Greteman, our president and creative director, had a nice feature article in The Wichita Eagle, highlighting her outlook on a healthy work/life balance and Greteman Group’s new Altitude Attitude brand.

The afternoon the article was published, it attracted a number of positive comments – and a couple of false comments were also posted online. Being the gallant, honor-filled, truth-loving man that I am, it went against every fiber of my being to allow the rumors to go uncontested.

Fortunately, before firing off a retort, I talked it through with some members of our team. We eventually arrived at the consensus that there was very little to be gained by entering the fray.

Making this decision wasn’t easy. We didn’t want to start an online brawl. We just wanted to add our perspective to the conversation. We recognized that most people would probably never read those comments or automatically believe them, but worried about those who did.

As more and more companies enter the new media world and start paying attention to what’s being said about them, it’s going to be a constant challenge to discern when to engage and when to stay the heck away. I’m not sure there are any blanket policies that provide a simple solution, but here are three simple guidelines to keep in mind:

  1. Only deal in facts. If factual errors are leveled against your company, organization or person, address those facts logically, concisely and, when possible, with supporting evidence.
  2. Be careful when dealing with anonymous posters. If people aren’t willing to affix their name to their nasty comments, there’s a good chance fruitful, beneficial dialog isn’t going to happen. On a side note, one of the benefits of hosting your own blog is the ability to disallow anonymous commenters.
  3. Remember that opinions won’t be changed with a single, brilliant, logical, true comment. Be prepared for your thoughtful response to be met with hostility, ad hominem attacks or accusations of being an unbiased corporate stooge. When that occurs, you’ll need to evaluate again whether or not it’s worth your time and energy to respond.

So what do you think? What tips do you have for discerning when to jump in and when to stay away?