Why Google Plus Is Better For Business - The BrainYard. Google social and mobile global marketing director Rikard Steiber comes to the set of InformationWeek's Valley View to explain why businesses should use Google Plus to engage their customers. One of the guests for the February 2012 episode of InformationWeek's Valley View was Google social & mobile global marketing director Rikard Steiber, who came to the show to discuss the applications of Google Plus for businesses. As social networks go, Google Plus has gotten off to a rocky start. Depending on what metrics you pay attention to, Google Plus is pretty much bringing up the rear behind the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and even newcomers like Pinterest.
But, as can be seen in the video below, Steiber prefers not to describe Google Plus as a social network. "[Google Plus is] not another social destination, but it's more sort of bringing a social layer to everything people are doing on Google already today," said Steiber. Attend the March 28 edition of Valley View and you could win! Jive Packages Social Software For Customer Service - The BrainYard. Jive's Customer Service Solution brings internal and external enterprise social networking together, packaged to improve service and support. Enterprise Social Networks: A Guided Tour (click image for larger view and for slideshow) Jive Software has introduced Customer Service Solution, a product aimed at getting its customers up and running quickly on one of the most popular configurations of its enterprise social software.
"Out of the box, we're giving customer service professionals something they can use," said Chris Morace, senior VP of strategy at Jive. Jive is a leader in enterprise social networking, but it got its start as a creator of software for private customer communities. It also adds features for: -- Gamification, through integration with BunchBall, to reward active participation by providing engaging challenges (such as answering a target number of questions in a support forum) and point redemption. [ Good customer service takes a team effort.
Top 20 Apps For Managing Social Media - The BrainYard. Social media from Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn to YouTube creates opportunities for building relationships, cultivating customers and promoting business, but the sea of updates and input awash with data both important and consequential can drown all but the most dogged of users.
Fortunately, app developers have created more than a few devices to make keeping afloat in the social media waters manageable, sane and even productive. Yet even the tools intended to help users navigate social media ar 1 of 20 With TweetDeck, users can customize their Twitter experience with groups, columns, saved searches and automatic updates to help them stay updated about interesting people and topics. TweetDeck, which is free, allows users to track what others are saying about them, and give updates via tweeting, sharing photos, videos and links. There are more than 550,000 active applications on the Facebook platform, according to social media company.
Best Mobile Apps For Busy Professionals More Insights. 14 Leading Social CRM Applications - The BrainYard. Social CRM is a double-edged sword. It gives businesses a tremendous opportunity to easily communicate with consumers, rapidly answering questions and responding to concerns. But it also gives companies more chances to slip-up or to be perceived as being unresponsive or uncaring. That is why a growing number of organizations are stepping beyond the confines of traditional customer relationship management and incorporating social media into the next wave of CRM implementation. 1 of 15 Social CRM offers great opportunity for reaching out to prospective customers -- not just deflecting dissatisfied ones -- using the power of consumers' personal networks to learn more about clients, their passions, and the way they like to shop, communicate, and share information.
Companies should align their social CRM strategies with existing CRM implementations, said Ray Wang and Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group in a report last year. See More Social CRM Rush Projected For Enterprises. Nimble Contact Integrates Connections Across Mail, Social Networks - The BrainYard. 10 Essential Google+ Tips - The BrainYard. Google's new social network keeps changing and growing.
Check out recent improvements and expert advice for Google+ users. 1 of 10 Google's social network, Google+, launched as a field test about a month ago to surprising acclaim. Over 20 million people have joined Google+, through invitations sent by friends admitted to prior testing of the service and by Google employees. Already, Google+ is referring more traffic than better established social sites. To sustain its rapid rise, Google's engineers have been working feverishly to address problems that have arisen and to deploy additional features.
Google recently introduced a What's New? The What's New? Google+ Has 5 Minuses Google Unveils Google+ Social Networking Project Google+ Stops Invites Citing 'Insane Demand' Google+ For Businesses Coming Later This Year Google+ Latest Service To Snub Google Apps Users Google+: We Screwed Up More Insights. PageLines Makes Wordpress Creation Drag And Drop Easy - The BrainYard. Running a Wordpress website can be a snap for even novices, but many users struggle when it comes to custom site layouts and configurations. For those without web scripting experience, Platform Pro offers an appealing option. 1 of 6 PageLines Platform Pro, which starts at $95, runs within a standard Wordpress system and is accessible from a new Platform Pro box displayed in the left-hand management bar of the Wordpress administration interface. Clicking on the Settings link in the box brings up the main configuration options for PageLines Platform Pro. The popular open web publishing system Wordpress can be a simple, as Wordpress makes it easy to not only blog, but also to refresh content on standard websites.
WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race Content Management Gets More Social Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features. 10 Big Tech Ideas For Retailers - The BrainYard. Mobile and social lead the list of hot tech trends for retailers, but they had company at the National Retail Federation's Big Show 2012.
Here's a basket full of ideas to check out. 1 of 11 10 Technologies And Tips For Retailers All things mobile and social took center stage at the National Retail Federation's Big Show 2012. Retailers already live in a multichannel world--counting retail stores, Web sites, email campaigns, contact centers, kiosks, catalogs, and other methods to reach customers. But social commerce and mobile commerce are remaking the way consumers shop.
"It's the biggest change in shopping since e-commerce," according to retail trendwatcher Nita Rollins of Resource Interactive. The Big Show "Engage & Evolve" theme encourages retailers to meet customers on Facebook and Twitter as well as through mobile apps that add brand value and bring shoppers back--no matter where they may be. Augmented reality is another emerging tech theme in retail. More Insights. Enterprise Social Networks: A Guided Tour - The BrainYard. More enterprises are deploying internal social networks to encourage collaboration and improve productivity. Take a tour of the major platforms and see how they are being used by leading organizations. 1 of 12 The common shorthand description of enterprise social networking is "Facebook inside your company"--not literally Facebook (although it's possible public social networks will enter this market) but software that mimics some of the functions of a public social network, while adding features specific to use within a business.
The early adopters are looking to add some of the spontaneous social interaction associated with consumer social networks, but with the goal of business productivity rather than pure entertainment. Enterprise social networks must also meet an organization's security requirements and integrate with other content, collaboration, and identity systems. This is a young market, with many competitors and new ones emerging on a regular basis. More Insights.
Top 15 Facebook Apps For Business -- InformationWeek. While many of Facebook's 500 million users waste part of their days growing virtual crops or committing imaginary crimes, there are many Facebook applications designed to actually improve business productivity. There are more than 550,000 active applications on the Facebook platform, according to the social network, with many designed specifically to improve business practices or better-integrate Facebook into a company's operations. Many business apps are free. Often, fee-based apps offer a bas 1 of 15 RSS Graffiti, originally designed for Facebook page administrators, is useful for anyone dealing with multiple RSS feeds, especially those overseeing Facebook fan pages or multiple pages. The free app, developed by RSS Graffiti, checks user-specified RSS/Atom feeds and posts any new entries it finds to pre-selected Facebook walls. More than 353,000 people are using the app each month.
Top 20 Apps For Managing Social Media Flock Browses All Your Social Connections. 3 Things To Remember Before Investing In Facebook - The BrainYard. Zuckerberg letter makes one thing perfectly clear: Investing in Facebook is about more than business--it's about funding a new worldview. When Facebookâs long-awaited IPO announcement finally came last week, it was accompanied by an open letter to potential investors from Mark Zuckerberg, its enigmatic 27-year-old CEO. This is how he chose to open the account of his company in the IPO document: "At Facebook, we're inspired by technologies that have revolutionized how people spread and consume information. We often talk about inventions like the printing press and the television--by simply making communication more efficient, they led to a complete transformation of many important parts of society.
They gave more people a voice. They encouraged progress. From the outset Zuckerberg wants potential investors to know that Facebook isn't just any company; it's a company on a crusade. [ Are you ready for Timeline? (click image for larger view) Slideshow: Top 15 Facebook Apps For Business. Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. Several savvy organizations use Facebook apps to increase brand awareness and engage new and existing customers. Consider these interesting examples. 1 of 7 With more than 600 million users (and counting) and a planned IPO that values the company at many billions of dollars, Facebook is clearly more than just a place for individuals to post cute cat videos or update their friends with the latest George Takei wisdom.
Businesses are customizing their Facebook presence and leveraging Facebook apps and app development to, among other things, engage new and existing customers, increase their fan base, and drive brand awareness. Apps built on the Facebook platform can integrate with many aspects of Facebook, including the News Feed and Notifications. Also available to apps on Facebook are Social Plugins, the Graph API, and Platform Dialogs. In addition, Facebook recently announced that it was approving more than 60 new apps that take advantage of a more talkative version of the Open Graph API.
Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. Use Facebook Apps To Woo Customers: 6 Examples - The BrainYard. The State of Community Management - The BrainYard. How Social Media Changes Technical Communication - The BrainYard.
Wikis and other forms of social media are turning tech documentation and communications into a two-way conversation. Social media is changing communications, in ways that are both good and bad--but always interesting. I recently spoke to a local chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, made up of people who write documentation, create help systems, edit knowledge bases, and (these days) work to make user interfaces more self-explanatory. I urged them to pay attention to how social media is changing the very nature of communications--much as the invention of writing, or of television did, rewiring our brains along the way--"because I know it's changing my profession and I'm pretty sure it's changing yours, too.
" Technology journalism is not so different from that other brand of technical communication in the sense that we both aim to make complicated information clear. The Web in general has democratized the world of publishing, and social media only more so. 10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter - The BrainYard. From recruiting to keeping an eye on the competition, Twitter can help your company do certain jobs much better.
Check out these 10 tips. 1 of 10 Call it a social network, microblogging platform, networking site--by any description, Twitter is home to a rapidly growing audience. About 200 million registered Twitter accounts exist today. All of this points to major potential for enterprises on Twitter. Twitter, perhaps more so than some other social sites, comes with certain guidelines--and we're not talking about the actual rules, like the 140-character limit per message. Another thing to remember is that Twitter, for the most part, is a conversation, a dialogue. Even the most conservative, laissez-faire social media strategies should incorporate some element of listening.
Why Your Business Can't Ignore Social Networking - The BrainYard. Organizations are skittish about security and productivity, but social media's benefits are hard to discount. Be social--or be left behind. 10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter (click image for larger view and for slideshow) The benefits of social networking for business are becoming more clear, but so, too, are the risks. With that said, it's no longer possible for businesses to hide their heads in the sand and hope social just goes away, say experts. Indeed, said Phil Robinson, director of relationship marketing for TakeThirdStreet.com, at this point ignoring social is like ignoring online would have been a decade ago.
"It can now be said that a successful enterprise has to be social," said Robinson. That expectation for conversation is one of the chief reasons why companies need to be thinking about developing a social presence if they haven't already, said Stephanie Ciccarelli, chief marketing officer at Voices.com. . [ Learn How Social Media Changes Technical Communication. ] 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard. Your company's Facebook and Twitter presence are established, but don't rest there. Consider these other social sites--some familiar, some less so--that you need to have in your sights. 1 of 7 By now, your company likely has an established presence on the 800-pound gorillas of social networking, Facebook and Twitter.
Maybe you have even developed custom Facebook apps or are using Twitter as a customer service tool. You've created policy around the use of social networking and have budgeted staff and other resources around social business initiatives. In short, you've got it going on and can sit back and relax a little. Not so fast. The BrainYard has compiled a list of six social media sites that companies should consider the next frontier of social networking. When deciding which new platform or platforms to embark on, there are some questions you should be asking.
Next, is the platform's community active? More Insights. 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard. 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard. 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard. 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard. 6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge - The BrainYard.