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7 Tips for Succeeding as a Social Media Strategist
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. The role of social media is expanding rapidly and many organizations of all types are trying to stay afloat amidst the changes. Meanwhile, a small group of innovators pulls the industry onward. In the past few years, the social media marketing role has become increasingly present, leading the way to more strategic social media programs. Enter the social media strategist. Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst at Altimeter Group, a digital strategy consulting firm, recently spoke at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit about the career path of the corporate social strategist, touching on current responsibilities and challenges, as well as the future of the role.Much has been written about social media strategy for small business . It's a personal medium, and a few employees engaging directly with customers on Twitter and Facebook can be a natural extension of a small biz web presence. But things can get complicated when you extrapolate engagement over the multiple departments, offices, and countries of a large corporation. Do you centralize your social message with a few managed accounts, or do you empower every employee to be a social representative of your brand? How do you manage the hundreds, if not thousands of daily mentions and messages directed at a global company while still keeping it conversational? We spoke with the architects of some leading social media enterprise strategies for their takes on this evolving field.
HOW TO: Define a Social Media Strategy for Enterprise
5 Website Features You Can Easily Offload to Reduce Costs
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum , where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. The term "offload" or "offloading" in information technology and computer science refers to the transfer of something from your system to an external system. In the context of websites, your system is your website (and your web servers/web host), and the external system consists of third-party web services such as Google Analytics or Shopify .
Matthew Latkiewicz works at Zendesk.com, customer support software. He writes for and edits Zengage , Zendesk’s blog about customer engagement. He also writes about wine for McSweeney’s and imagines stuff at his own website, youwillnotbelieve.us . Just as early television shows were essentially radio plays shot on film, the earliest attempts by online marketers mimicked the worlds of television and print. While banner ads and pre-roll commercials are still with us, of course, a new generation of marketing professionals and companies are exploring techniques more native to the web: multi-platform marketing campaigns that encourage interactivity.
Beyond Viral: How Successful Marketers Are Embracing the Social Web
40 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed
Happy new year! Oh, sorry, was that too loud? We all may be nursing festive hangovers from spilling too much bubbly, food, or maybe we're just winding down from the end of the (overlong) holiday season. Whatever the cause, tuck into your favorite reading chair with your favorite digital device and scroll through our list of social media tools and resources from the past week or so. Contained below are some tech and media predictions for the new year and even a few apps to help you stay on track with your perennially frustrating New Year's resolutions.6 Essential Steps for Executing Your Social Media Strategy
The Social Media Marketing Series is supported by Webtrends Facebook Analytics , which provides comprehensive tracking and measurement solutions to help you maximize your ROI. To keep up with Webtrends Social products, follow its blog . It's easy to plan a squeaky clean social media strategy for your business when it's on paper.
5 Tips for Improving Your Social Customer Service
Maria Ogneva is the Director of Social Media at Attensity , a social media engagement and voice-of-customer platform that helps the social enterprise serve and collaborate with the social customer. You can follow her on Twitter at @themaria or @attensity360 , or find her musings on her personal blog and her company's blog . Back in the day, if you wanted support from a business, you had to go to where the business’s reps were. Be it via an 800 number, support forums, e-mail or chat, the business would set the rules about how quickly your inquiry was addressed.20 Free Social Media Icon Sets For a More Shareable Website
If your blog needs a face lift, the creative types who power the web are here to help. Sometimes a few well-designed, tastefully placed icons can add a little class or creativity to an otherwise neutral theme. Social media links, which we'd argue are a priority for any blog, are a great opportunity to add some texture. You could always roll with the standard-issue glossy, rounded-edge fare, but for those who want to distinguish themselves, there are more creative options out there. To help, we've rounded up some of the most impressive works of social icon art circulating the web lately.
