The Think eBiz Blog

Social Media : A two-way street leads to success.

Recently I encountered Facebook fan pages for brands that left me feeling flat about their online social intent. My concern was that they did not allow their visitors (fans) to post on their wall. In other words, they presented themselves with the privilege to start the conversation; yet not allowing others the same accord. They do allow comments in their posts however. One of these is Quaker Oats.

A very good example of social intent on Facebook is Best Buy. When I had problems with service for a digital camera, I posted my complaint on their fan page. I stated my concerns clearly and received a helpful response. Best Buy monitors their fan page and responds. In the end, their response helped to satisfactorily resolve my issues (and I posted my appreciation on their fan page). Quaker does not allow for this level of interaction and therefore, their social conversation is one sides and unsatisfactory for a consumer brand.

Consumer brands can learn much from their "fans"; whether from positive or negative comments. The value of this interaction can be powerful. In the case of Best Buy, turning a negative situation into a positive experience.Coca Cola recognizes this power as well and openly shares their Online Social Media Principals.

We recognize the vital importance of participating in these online conversations and are committed to ensuring that we participate in online social media the right way.

Company's that care about their consumer audience can learn from Coca Cola and Best Buy. Are you listening Quaker?

 

 

Facebook: Privacy and 350 Million Connected People; a real challenge

Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday that "It has been a great year for making the world more open and connected. Thanks to your help, more than 350 million people around the world are using Facebook to share their lives online.". He does on to discuss privacy, a real challenge when you manage a community of this size. How to you maintain an "open and connected" society yet place rules to protect ones privacy?

One thing is for sure, Facebook need to implement the ability to control privacy in an easy to  understand - intuitive manner. This is not as easy as it may sound, as this community has highly advance technology people - and those far less so. Yet online privacy is critical to the success of this and other social platforms. failure to secure personal data could be crushing to a social platform.

Currently, we can control who has access to our Facebook page and we restrict access to the content and images from 3rd party entities. The question; is it working? How do we know if the security structure we setup is actually what we intended and is correctly in place. To this; we suggest a privacy wizard that, after making your selections - it provides an easy to understand report and analysis. Further , we suggest the use of a graphical representation of your privacy settings; so it is clear who is in - who is outside.

We personally use Facebook for fun and pleasure (which is why we don't publish our Facebook page here); and yet we believe this is a highly strategic social media platform for B2B and B2C organizations. We will explore this aspect further in the coming days. Add your comments and concerns about privacy n Facebook; we'd like to hear from you.

SEO, Blogs and Social Media: Creating a killer online strategy

The potential audience reach online has expanded exponentially in the last five years, primarily due to  Web 2.0 and the social aspects of the web. By focusing primarily on an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy to build your sites awareness and ROI, your online success is doomed to fail.

Search Engine Optimization, in its purest state of meta tags, site design and site-based content management is only a one dimension strategy; in a multi-dimensional world.

Blogs, as we know, are great for linking building for a web site, yet many people leave money on the table when it comes to their blog management. Blogs have the potential of very rapid top ranking, especially in lucrative long-tail keywords. We have seen articles ranked high within 15 minutes of release - yea really!  Think about your content and links when creating blog articles - especially in terms of your anchor tagging.

Social media completes the strategy by providing a wealth of link building and brand visibility potential. Twitter (Bing scans, Google will soon), Flickr, YouTube, Linkedin and much more should all be including in your overall plan. Be sure to review these and implement a strategy that makes sense for your site and business objectives.

To learn more about building an effecive multi-dimensional online strategy, please read Lee Odden's "Social Media and SEO: 5 Essential Steps to Success" article. 

 

Think through your optimization strategy

Build it and they will come; Not without a social marketing plan

In the web "0.0" days, we built web sites and the people came. We used to report to our management how many "eyeballs" we had on our site today (major Payroll company). We bought keywords (pre-Google) and congratulated ourselves when more people came to visit our humble web site. Today - you need to do much more to draw attention. Dare we say - even more than Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Click to be heard above the Web 2.0 noise level.

Consider this: How would you bring people through the door of your "brick and mortar" store, which is located on a quiet side street in a small town? Perhaps by attending social events, advertising in the newspaper, developing word-of-mouth/viral campaigns, standing on main street with a large sign.  All of these offline means are a form of social marketing. Attracting people to Ttoday's web site is not much different.

We are working with a client that sells professional business PowerPoint templates, managing their paid click and SEO. Both of these mainstream online marketing programs deliver results. Yet to deliver stronger results we recommend a social marketing plan. For this specific client, we are recommending a newsletter/blog and possibly incorporating videos on "how to create and give highly effective presentations".

Give to get...  

By giving of your expertise, you will develop a reputation that will come back to you in terms of real revenue. At least, that is the plan.

Think outside your website to bring more traffic to your website. Build a socially minded marketing plan and they will come - delivering real results for your business.

Trends in eCommerce: Social Networking & Mobile

What's next in eCommerce? We've discussed Rich Internet Applications featuring the highly engaging and efficient Flex UI - but what do the consumers want?

I think we'll see the conflux if Social Networking and Mobile technology - taking the eCommerce game to an exciting - beyond Web 2.0 level. Consumers want to talk with each other, to learn from each others experiences with a product or service - and they want to do it anywhere...anytime. That means social networking and mobile technology - and eCommerce.

And if you present a Rich Internet and Mobile experience, I believe you will take a leadership position in your market segment. Much more on these topics in upcoming blog entries.  and please -  your comments....

Six Degrees of Separation - Busted by #Twitter (#networking)

In Networking, as the theory goes, you are (up to) six degrees separated from anyone else in the world. Experiments have played tested this theory and we have written about this in our Business Networking Blog. Need to speak with John McCain or Steve Case (ex-AOL)?  You should be able to find someone in your close network that knows someone in their network... and so on.. that could lead to an introduction. All within up to six steps.

Six Degree's, in fact, has been the mantra of Business Networking. In the social networking sphere, there is no better platform than LinkedIn. This business social platform is based on the six degree concept.

Then along comes Twitter... a networking game changer.

Twitter is an open social environment made up of “followers” (who see your valuable 140 character musings) and those that you “follow” - to see their words of wisdom. Some top twitterers have 100,000 and more followers. Shaq has (as of this writing) 644,038 followers, CNN Breaking News is about to achieve over 1 million...  and your humble blogger has...  just over 200!

So let's say you want to reach Steve Case for a business deal. You would have to do some homework, to locate AOL or Time Warner Management, and work your way through the business networking food chain... eventually (hopefully) gain an audience. Yet on Twitter - just “follow” him - he Tweets often. And respond to him with a well worded attention getting "reply" to one of his writings. If your peaks his interest, he might reply back to you (or “reTweet your comment) and even “follow” you...   then shoot him a "direct" message...   and who knows what that could lead to.

There are no guarantee of success, as he receives 100’s of replies – but if you are successful - you just skipped the '6' degree step process.

Of course, your intended target has to be in Twitter.

Twitter vs Facebook: My Viewpoint

I admit it -  I Twitter (sph001) and Facebook too.  However, I treat each of these social platforms differently - just my viewpoint. For me, Twitter is business and facebook is social fun. You can disagree.

On Facebook, I know that business has begun to adopt this as a social platform to reach their "fans", with dedicated "fan" pages. Do  you enjoy Starbucks or Pizza Hut, join their Face page - and receive targetted messages and offers. Yet for me, I use Facebook to stay socially connected with friends, new and old. Co-workers are generally not invited. Here, I can type "what's on my mind", such as funny muses or non-sensical deep thoughts... or notes about where we are right now (and happily receive same from my friends). In fact, right now my Facebook page says I am at Starbucks writing in my Blog and enjoying a Cafe Latte. You need to know that right? But it is fun. And I have reconnected with many of my high school classmates and distant friends.

Yet on Twitter, it is about business. In the space of 140 characters, we exchange thoughts on eBusiness, Politics, the mobile and internet retail market place and more. I follow Steve Case and John McCann and some guy named Bryan and SEOGuru. I have asked for - and received information on Mobile eCommerce Research and insights into the SaaS marketplace. Non sensical dribble - I prefer to ignore... on Twitter.

And of course, I use LinkedIn for my business connection platform...   and that's it...  Myspace need not apply.

Influencer's: Enabling Brand Building and Sales

What makes online marketing so vibrant and exciting is all the new "buzz words" that come into play. The latest that I have latched onto is called - "Influencer's".

"Influencer's" is one that we at Think-ebiz believe represents a major aspect of Web 2.0. Simply put, Web 2.0 is about fostering a conversation and relationship with your customers and prospects online. Influencer's is how one person can affect the branding and buying power of another person through web site enablers.

Recently, I began working with an innovative start-up called StickySurf, where we defined the value proposition as being an "influencer" for B2C (and even B2B) web sites. StickySurf is a tool that can be added to an existing web site that enables easy and efficient conversations with your friends and co-workers.

The premise is simple: You are visiting a web site and notice a product or service that could benefit a friend or co-worker. A digital camera, a unique European Travel Tour, or a new software product that could benefit your Mfg group. StickySurf or a viral enabled web site can help enhance the purchase power of the web site by bringing new visitors onboard - with a friendly recommendation.

Influencer's can exist in other more traditional mechanisms, such as forums and eCommunity advice and image sharing. A web site that enables the visitors to share experiences could increase awareness and sales. A travel web site that allows people to share pictures and advice, and experiences could influence others to sign up for the next tour.

We all know the power of a personal recommendation. Web 2.0 is enabling this capability online, and this is exciting and powerful. Hopefully I am influencing others to consider enabling this capability on their own web property.

I am Time Person of the Year, and so are YOU

Thank You - Thank YOU for this great honor, being named Time Magazines 2006 Person of the Year. And congratulations to YOU too. For this year, the person of the year is YOU.

What Time Magazine observed is just how active on the web we are. Whether it is blogging or MySpace/FaceBook'ing or YouTube'ing - the social aspects of the web are intense and incredible. This social aspect is referred to as Web 2.0, the social interactivity of the web between me and the web masters - and each other - YOU.

And while this honor was being bestowed on us today - there was also an article about how MySpace has unseated Yahoo as the most visited web property (page views/web traffic). Social networking overtakes the old guard.

What will be the affect on web based advertisting? We already see how online ad dollars are benefiting at the expense of traditional offline platforms. Online media will need to transform to meet the needs of the web 2.0 masses - social advertising? We'll explore this in upcoming Think-eBiz blog articles.

The online space is getting more and more exciting every day. 2006 Time Person of the Year, wow what an honor. I can't wait to tell my mom (via email), she'll be so proud!

Thank You - Thank YOU for this great honor, being named Time Magazines 2006 Person of the Year. And congratulations to YOU too. For this year, the person of the year is YOU.

What Time Magazine observed is just how active on the web we are. Whether it is blogging or MySpace/FaceBook'ing or YouTube'ing - the social aspects of the web are intense and incredible. This social aspect is referred to as Web 2.0, the social interactivity of the web between me and the web masters - and each other - YOU.

And while this honor was being bestowed on us today - there was also an article about how MySpace has unseated Yahoo as the most visited web property (page views/web traffic). Social networking overtakes the old guard.

What will be the affect on web based advertisting? We already see how online ad dollars are benefiting at the expense of traditional offline platforms. Online media will need to transform to meet the needs of the web 2.0 masses - social advertising? We'll explore this in upcoming Think-eBiz blog articles.

The online space is getting more and more exciting every day. 2006 Time Person of the Year, wow what an honor. I can't wait to tell my mom (via email), she'll be so proud!