Small Business News: Social Media and Blogging Basics. Social media and more specifically blogging have become increasingly important to marketing a small business in today’s evolving business world. But probably no part of running a small business has evoked more debate or created more stress for entrepreneurs unsure just what their blogging and social media campaigns should look like. And how can small business owners grapple with a specialization often so distant from their core competency? Still, social media and blogging give small businesses a great reach, a literally global reach. We hope this small business news roundup answers some questions and perhaps raises some for discussion too.
Read on. Tools and Trends Managing your social media. The Old Spice social media campaign: A case study. Tips and Tricks So what do you write in that blog or company newsletter? Building Community You’ve probably heard about building fans and engagement. How many small to medium sized businesses are using social media? The Blogging Zone Video Operations. Top Five Social Media Marketing Mistakes. Social media initiatives have become standard components of companies' marketing and communications strategies. Large or small—from the local bakery to General Motors (GM)—businesses see the value of engaging in online conversations already taking place about their brands.
While social media best practices have emerged, brands still struggle with how best to engage with their consumers. Here are five common mistakes: 1. Not (or Barely) Monitoring: Companies that do not first "listen" and observe how their evangelists and detractors talk about their brand risk jumping into a cyclone of unanticipated activity. Even a well-liked Internet brand can fall victim to lack of social media monitoring. 2. Recently, Nestlé's (NESN) Facebook page erupted in a flame war when Greenpeace staged a protest of the chocolate maker's alleged use of palm oil from deforested areas in Indonesia. 3. 4. 5.
At the end of the day, brands must earn their "social currency. " Utah firing squad death announced on Twitter. 18 June 2010Last updated at 11:38 Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff uses Twitter to get his message out It was a very modern way to announce a very old-fashioned death. Shortly after midnight in the US state of Utah, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff picked up his Apple iPhone, opened up a Twitter "app" on his handset and began tweeting. But Mr Shurtleff's 134-character composition was no ordinary post. Instead, Mr Shurtleff used Twitter to announce that most important of all things: the death of a human being, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner. "I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. The message would have been seen by the 7,000 or so users who "follow" Mr Shurtleff on Twitter. But thanks to the exponential way in which messages are spread on Twitter - being "retweeted" by those who find them interesting - the Utah politician's words soon found their way to a wider audience. 'Final nod' "A solemn day.
Gatorade Mission Control. Case Study: How LightViper Leveraged Facebook To Promote Busines. Get advice from qualified sources. Plan well. Start small. Check results and tweak the plan. Be persistent. Watch for orders. Those were the steps taken by niche B2B data transport company Fiberplex when it decided to advertise its LightViper brand on Facebook. Buddy Oliver, the company’s director of Business Development, was motivated to try Facebook advertising from ideas gathered at a Salesforce.com Dreamforce conference late last year. In determining targets for the ads, Buddy looked at Facebook pages of relevant trade and interest groups, other manufacturers and similar pages where his customers where likely to be fans.
The campaign started in February and the ad directed to LightViper’s Facebook page. In advance of the recent InfoComm10 trade show, LightViper ran a campaign promoting their booth at the show, again linking the ad to their page. Are the campaigns working for LightViper?