Thanks to my colleague James Davidson, Vice President, Digital & Community Strategy at 7Summits, here is a great blog on social media and e-mail.

I find it interesting that most organizations don’t realize that e-mail marketing is the original ‘backbone’ of social interaction and should always be part of the social mix.  Simply adding some ‘integrated’ content will aid in elevating your brand – not to mention ROI for your social campaigns. 

Take a peek:19 Ways to Connect Social Media & Email Marketing Together by Infusionsoft

A word about Infusionsoft 

Infusionsoft is revolutionizing the way small businesses grow. At Infusionsoft, we're all about liberating and empowering entrepreneurs so they can enjoy doing business, wow their customers and better serve their families and communities.

About 7Summits

7Summits is a Social Business Agency focused on helping clients apply social media to drive measurable business value. Whether you're a B2C or B2B business, 7Summits will help create your Social Business Strategy & Plan and then help you execute and measure the results being delivered  

Best

Denice MacDonald 

Online marketing continues to evolve while traditional media is waning. The result is that many organizations are embracing social media as an effective way to engage and collaborate with consumers through social communities.  

LISTEN -- ENGAGE -- INFLUENCE 

Unlike traditional marketing, social media allows a two-way communication with consumers. People are talking about brands all the time. Companies need to evaluate if they are ready to start active listening and engaging in conversations with their customers and prospects with an effective strategy that will build personalized, lasting and meaningful connections. 

This connection will prompt viral exchanges, call to action scenarios and brand lift for a number of organizations that are stuck in traditional strategies that are no longer effective. 

There are a number of excellent resources that will aid organizations that are ready to embrace social marketing. Here are a few great resources to get started:  

Online Retailers Rank SEO and Social Media as Top Marketing Tool by CIO (Social networking, improved site content and utilising analytics are the top areas CIOs need to be looking at in the online retail space)

Mashable: The Social Media Guide (Learn the various components of social media - realizing that social interaction is 1 to many, not just 1 to 1)

110 Ways Retailers are Using Social Media Marketing (Leverage this detailed listing of organizations that are doing it right the first time)

Internet Retailer: Growing Importance of Social Media (Don't underestimate the growth potential - Internet Retailer has it all fared out for management disbelievers)

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Denice MacDonald

[Image Courtesy of http://www.valleyprblog.com]

Attracting Facebook fans is easy. Keeping them, engaging them and mobilizing them will present more of a challenge. Begin by maximizing Facebook’s potential with a conversation strategy.   

Down to the basics

The reality is that few people on Facebook are looking to fan a brand. That is, unless they truly love a certain brand, they are unlikely to hit the ‘become a fan’ button. Moreover, almost ninety percent of fans never go to a brand’s fan page. They engage via their news feed.  

Less window dressing – more conversation

The most obvious conclusion is that you will want to put less time in window dressing and more into a cohesive and targeted conversation strategy. Only when your conversation strategy is solid will integrated advertising make sense. 

Take to heart what Facebook recommends everyone do on a monthly basis

Facebook provides solid recommendations to make your conversation strategy by telling you to gather your marketing team and map out product, advertising and promotion plans for the month. Set realistic priorities and determine a compatible conversation strategy that avoids excess promotion and creates a balance of the following:   

1.     Questions that will stimulate reaction, feedback and even criticism 

2.     A mix of content (video, images, entertainment) that will be both useful and welcome

3.     Provide non-intrusive offers or incentives that can be engaging, shared and tracked 

Once you have run the above, closely scrutinize metrics and recalibrate where necessary. Start small – redefining and reframing the conversation as you go. 

It’s only a matter of time before everyone you want to connect with is on Facebook. You may want to get better at finding them, attracting them and engaging with them.  

Resources 

Join the Social Media Conversation by Web Trends

Who Owns the Social Media Conversation by Search Engine Watch 

Vendors and Vendor Resources 

BuzzLogic: Welcome to the Conversation

BuzzLogic is a digital media company with a data-driven ad platform built to optimize advertising across the largest pool of trusted blog content on the web.

Monitoring the Social Media Conversation:  From Twitter to Facebook (Download white paper) by Vocus

Best

Denice MacDonald

B2B firms led the first wave of social media adoption five years ago with aggressive blogging initiatives. More recently, Twitter, the simple yet powerful micro-blogging service, has lowered the barriers to social media entry for B2B entities almost to zero – allowing organizations to deliver sizable traffic to corporate and product Web content.  

Moreover, HR and legal departments are happy to see the ‘tweet’ alternative – diminishing any opportunity for users to provide inappropriate content with only 140 characters to get their message across.  In fact, Twitter has become a tool to point followers to safe corporate content – a means to monitor and listen to customer complaints before they get out of hand. 

Let’s not forget LinkedIn, the social network for professional adults – growing to 50 million users in 2009. The social network has become a popular destination for B2B companies in search of top talent or business professionals with areas of common interest. Moreover, LinkedIn claims its member demographics outpace those of The Wall Street Journal. 

With more than 500 million members, Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla of social networks. While it has been less popular with B2B marketers than other alternatives, companies including Ernst & Young, Forrester and IBM have built sizable fan bases there. Facebook is particularly popular with corporate recruiters trying to reach young job-seekers.  

Here are a few B2B social applications that will aid with integrated social initiatives – providing mechanisms to syndicate content, share content and monitor activity for future refinement:

SlideShare translates the popularity of PowerPoint presentations as a conversational medium into a membership that is reportedly approaching 10 million.  

BrightTALK takes the complexity out of managing an ongoing series of live and pre-recorded webcasts by consolidating them all into a single destination ‘channel’. It’s where you create webcasts and where your audience goes to see them. 

PRESSfeed, a social media newsroom, makes it easy for journalists, bloggers and site visitors to find and share your content. Content syndication through trusted channels is the next large wave for B2B social marketers. 

In the coming year, B2B marketers will turn their attention to expanding and optimizing the channels they use. Companies such as Jive are bringing tools to market that enable enterprises to manage large-scale social conversations while publishing simultaneously to multiple destinations.  

Great Resources: 

Social Media Will Change B2B Distribution Channels by Social Media B2B (Check out the entire site!)

9 Social Listening & Tracking Tools by Connected Marketer 

B2B Spending on Social Media to Explode by eMarketer

It's Official: Facebook Passes 500 Million Users by Mashable

Best

Denice MacDonald

With social media on the rise, many marketing professionals are in the midst of explaining, emulating and selling social media to management and/or clients. Why not consider infographics - visual representations of social information, social data or social knowledge?

Specifically, infographics provide statistical relevance, digital integration not to mention future payback that words cannot convey.

The following are great links with various infographics:

35 Great Social Media Infographics by Pat Dyer of Pamorama – 35 great infographics that have been cropped down for viewing – linking to the original graphic.

10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics by Grace Smith of Mashable – Similarly to Pamorama’s collection, this grouping concentrates on both social networking sites and twitter – also linking back to the original graphic.

Social Media Infographics from Slideshare – Tons of infographics – 50 in total.

These social media graphics will help convey your message – quickly.

[Infographic courtesy of Elliance]

Enjoy!

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Denice MacDonald

The new reality: brands can now be strengthened or damaged by social media. Online networking sites are being used as a means for immediate feedback. Advertising has lost its grip on influencing consumers being replaced by ‘peer’ opinion sharing through Twitter and Facebook.   

Bottomline: if you aren't using social media in your business strategy, you are already behind your competition. 

Explore how the concept of "Socialnomics" is changing the way businesses produce, market, and sell.  

Consider “Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business” – a must-read for anyone wanting to learn about -- and harness -- the power of social media, rather than becoming obsolete by it! 

BTW - this book is currently on sale at Amazon.com - get it here now.

I got my copy through the Kindle store here!

Jeremiah Owyang recently presented a slideshare at the Gilbane Content Management Conference on Your Corporate Website Can Be Relevant Again – a roadmap for the social corporate website.   

The highlight of this timely slideshare is simply: Be Deliberate! 

Jeremiah outlines a roadmap strategy that is simple, direct and to the point.

In summary:    

1.  Although a new and experimental medium, brands should plan a roadmap.

2.  The future of web experience will be based around people – not products.

3.  Take inventory of all corporate web assets and identify where they are in the framework. 

4.  Next, identify the desired state, and then build a plan against it. Start small and slow, and be sure to have a strategy.

5.  Don’t arbitrarily jump into the social marketing space without measureable KPI’s. Be deliberate in your actions.

A special thank you to Kristen Wright, Vice President, Provade for this shared learning. View Kristen’s Linked Profile or connect with her via Twitter.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

Concerns over Facebook's new privacy policy and the online social network's recent efforts to spread its information across the Web have led some of the site's faithful to delete their accounts. 

What’s the hoopla? 

Some Facebook user's online preferences are showing up all over the internet now, instead of just on Facebook.com. Meaning, if you listed some predisposition to a certain outrageous rock band, made an innuendo about someone at work or even suggested you smoked pot one night – the whole world will know it. Facebook: Read the site’s privacy policy 

Will You Really Abandon Facebook?  

The reality is many Facebook users will have a hard time abandoning their social community – even though there may be some exposure. In fact, The Business Insider just posted Ten Reasons You’ll Never Quit Facebook – citing the reality of all our addictions to this fast-growing phenomenon. 

If You Do Want to Leave...Here’s The Delete Button 

If you want to completely "delete" your account -- meaning that all of your information will be deleted from view, although some of it may remain on Facebook's servers for a bit -- you can follow these instructions from wikiHow. 

The user-edited site lists several methods for deleting a Facebook account. One of them is a seven-step process. 

Resources

CNN

Business Insider 

wikiHow 

Best

Denice MacDonald

Social media and social media marketing are quite the buzz these days. My user groups and close business colleagues remind me how ‘hot’ this topic is.  Although social media can be the silver bullet for some, e-mail marketing is still quite viable for others.

Customers still want to hear from you

Your strongest (and most loyal customers) still want to have a personal interaction with you. E-mail allows a strong format for segmented content to your customers – reminding them of your products, services or news. 

Some prefer to have the message delivered to their in box

Undeniably, no one can underestimate the power of a third party sell through a strong social networking community – but believe it or not, some prefer to have targeted information sent to them routinely, if not daily through e-mail.

E-mail can be delivered based on opt-in parameters from your mail list (what, when and how content is delivered). That way, there is a win/win for both parties: customers get the content they want and you have a way to stay connected - intimately.

Social Media – some not getting it quite right

Overzealous fan pages, corporate pages with no viable links, as well as poor content will lead to a marginal social media experience – possibly eroding any chance that your company will get noticed – nonetheless virally promoted. 

In order for social media to be successful, there needs to be a strong integrated interactive marketing strategy.

Until a strong social media plan is place, continue some form of e-mail marketing to stay connected to your customers. 

Other exceptional thought leaders who agree: 

Social Media vs. Email: Which Is A Better Marketing And Communication Channel? By Robin Good, MasterNewMedia  

Social Media Marketing Vs. Email Marketing By John Chow Dot Com 

Is Email Marketing Endangered? By ExactTarget (White Paper Download) 

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Denice MacDonald

With the social media craze in full action, how do you keep ahead of the pack relative to the best social resources? 

Below you will find my top picks that will help your organization connect social media to business initiatives – including the last resource on building influence while maintaining your brand reputation. Enjoy! 

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel

This is the first book to integrate digital marketing, social media, personal branding, and entrepreneurship in a clear, entertaining, and instructive manner that everyone can understand and apply. 

Buy it at Amazon

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     . 

Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuck

Cash in on your passion! The social media revolution has changed the way we live our lives and conduct our business. Learn how Crush It will give you the tools to take advantage and WIN.  

Buy it at Amazon 

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .    

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

Use the web to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust. 

Buy it at Amazon 

Denice MacDonald

According to several leading experts, social media has been the number one priority in 2010. Social media will be used by organizations to lift their brand, stay connected to customers while using networks to grow their lead-gen pipelines. To learn how your organization can capitalize on what others are doing, check out these ‘top’ resources, articles and blogs from leading subject matter experts.   

Social media on marketers' menu for 2010 by Helen Leggatt, Biz Report   

"It looks like social media is on the menu for most marketers this year. A survey of almost 2,000 MediaPost subscribers found that over half plan to have "a presence on social networks" as part of their marketing mix in 2010..."  

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010 by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com

"It is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Facebook reached 350 million users last month -- 70% of whom are outside the US -- and it accounts for 25% of the Web's traffic, according to Pew nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter or some other service to check status messages, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad -- it is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic..."

Why You Need A Social Media Policy in 2010 by Vanessa DiMauro, Customer Think   

"Policies are dull. No one wants to create them, no one likes to read them and certainly, few desire the job of enforcing them.  But they can play an important role in outlining the rules of engagement around a particular set of online behaviors and have a strong role to play in the face of new situations where the there are no standards.  This is especially true with the wild west world of social media in business..."  

Six Social Media Trends for 2010 by David Armano, Harvard Business Review   

"In 2009, we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year..."

Best,  

Denice MacDonald 

If you want consistent social media success, you have to understand what social media users crave. For social media content, that means understanding the type of content social media users want.        

Next, determine who your audience is—are you going for success on big social media sites or are you looking to engage customers on niche sites within your industry?

If you want the full scoop on how to develop consistent, relevant, eye-catching content, check out a recent SlideShare by Sara Meaney of Comet Branding.

The SlideShare presentation covers the gamut from creating compelling headlines to call to action scenarios that get users coming back for more.

Best,

Denice MacDonald

In a recent Mashable post The Maturation of Social Media ROI; Brian Solis helps C-suite execs understand the validity and moving ROI target of social media. Is anybody getting this 'measurement thing' right? 

It is quite apparent that social media strategists in their eagerness to prove social media's importance are literally creating bogus measures of performance – not to mention their own jargon to explain results – or lack of results.   

Organizations need to establish what needs to be accomplished, what should be conveyed and what should be measured before any actual engagement. Like most campaigns that require integration and defined ROI, begin connecting social media activity with a clearly defined end game.

To learn more about ROI, social media and the strategies that bind, read The Maturation of Social Media ROI.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .   .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     . 

Brian Solis is a principal at new media agency FutureWorks, and author of the upcoming book, Engage. You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook. 

Best

Denice MacDonald 

In today’s plethora of blogs, tweets and slideshare, how can you increase search engine rankings for your own organization? Simply by using social networks to help elevate your brand presence.

For example, I read and routinely respond to industry blogs that have a similar audience as MacDonald Consulting. 

Of particular interest is a blog response to an associate I’ve done work with:

Likewise, I take every opportunity I can to respond to questions on LinkedIn - hallmarking my industry breadth while helping fellow colleagues to be successful:   

Lastly, I’m asked permission to use my blog as an example in this scenario:   

This interaction has garnered MacDonald Consulting high rankings in Google search results while aiding in expanding my own social network.

Take some time each week to answer blogs, syndicate your own blog content and answer LinkedIn questions. See what happens. You’ll be amazed how quickly your own personal rankings now appear on first page results.

Best

Denice MacDonald

The application of social video - often referred to as using the strategy of video as the central piece for social interaction and storytelling online - is beginning to grow rapidly.  

Take for example Samsung's HD Camera Phone Trick. That YouTube clip was created and produced for Samsung Mobile by London's Viral Factory. Its traffic and engagement patterns were tracked and analyzed by Visible Measures – with unprecedented results.  

The social video piece was specifically designed for social interaction – prompting the consumer to take the challenge and solve the puzzle. The formula was a simple one (you’ll need to view to see why). To be perfectly honest – I was drawn in and wanted to take the challenge!       

What does this engaging video tell us? 

1. Modern brand building with social video is a necessary part of the marketing mix
2. Due to its authenticity, engagement with video is beginning to rank higher and more desirable in comparison to TV viewing or radio broadcast
3. Bottom-line, people like to watch video, share it and get involved with it making it a natural word of mouth strategy

Obviously, everyone who uses social video as part of their marketing mix is curious about direct measurement – meaning, does it really work and feed the bottom-line?

As social video become more active, click thru activity as well as viewing and registration are good indicators of brand lift, interaction and sharing offering much better results than highly charged broadcast metrics. Based on the Samsung example – how could argue with its success?  

BTW – there’s a follow-on video that reveals the puzzle. Here’s the answer. 

Best

Denice MacDonald

Website Magazine's March, 2010 cover story is about social media for business. And, as an educated audience of Web professionals in the industry, they want your input!

Please take just a couple of minutes to take their 2010 Social Media Initiatives survey. They want to know how social media is affecting your business, and what some of your objectives might be in 2010.

The survey is very brief, and they will share responses (anonymously, in aggregate) with all of their readers in the upcoming issue of Website Magazine. 

Take the survey now.  

Why should you care?

Social Media is getting quite a bit of hype – but is anyone truly doing it correctly?  With a lot of chatter and just plain noise – web strategist may need to get back to the basics: who is the intended audience and is the organization creating the right conversation that invokes engagement and sharing? I’ll be anxious to share the results of what others are doing in 2010.

More About Website Magazine (Denice's favorite web resource)

Website Magazine is the one magazine to focus exclusively on the business of running a website: tips for successful websites, solutions for enhancing website traffic, the latest Internet industry trends and statistics, as well as news analysis on the Internet industry.

Subscriptions (complimentary and professional/print and online)

Advertise (lots of opportunities and great pricing)

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Denice MacDonald

As always in January, we start to see a plethora of web predictions for the year. This year is not any different with the marked transition of mobile video, Android technology and geo mapping. In my estimation, the top technology to watch will be Social CRM.

We’ve seen the rise of Twitter and Facebook as social communication tools. This year, those modes of real-time communication will find their way deeper into the enterprise. Salesforce.com is set to launch Chatter, its real-time stream of enterprise data which interfaces with Twitter and Facebook and turn them into business tools. Startups like Yammer and Bantam Live are also making business more social.

As recently as last March, Jeremiah Owyang was blogging on The Future of Twitter: Social CRM. In that blog, Jeremiah inferred the various directions Twitter could go: create their own brand management system that they can resell to the world’s companies to monitor, alert, track, prioritize, triage, assign, follow-up, and report on the interactions with brands.

However, there is still one huge quandary – can CRM be ‘automated’ – that is, respond fast enough (daily, by the hour, by the minute) while still providing a personal touch to help and assist customers, continue to build relations and trust?

Again, Jeremiah Owyang presents and interesting blog on Matrix: The Four Social Support Strategies wherein he discusses the various ways in which to interact with customers – specifically the fourth strategy (automated social support) – companies will have the ability to quickly scale by responding to customers faster, and more accurately, using automated responses.

Bottom-line – whatever your social media strategies are for 2010, you’ll need to watch closely the rapidly changing landscape of Social CRM.

Best

Denice MacDonald

Sources:

10 Technologies That Will Rock 2010 by Erick Schonfeld, January, 2010

The Future of Twitter: Social CRM by Jeremiah Owyang, March, 2009

Matrix: The Four Social Support Strategies by Jeremiah Owyang, November, 2009

We all have seen the surge in the use of social networks like Facebook and MySpace allowing us to connect in unprecedented ways. The acceptance of social networks has allowed niche networks to flourish - offering topics and resources to specific targeted markets. 

Marketing through social sites 

While these sites' traffic may pale in comparison to the big networks, there's a good opportunity to connect and market to a dedicated audience who might be more open to learning a little more about your product, services or offerings. If you provide real value to members, they will be much more willing to engage your brand. 

Finding that 'niche' social network 

Try spending a some time investigating your industry - chances are there's a network out there where you can promote and/or brand your business to a specific target audience. Begin with associations or affiliations that are tied to your industry segment. Then, research specific topics or issues that resonate with your customers. Yes, your competitors will be right alongside you, but consumers will be there too. And they will be looking for an expert in the field.  

Lastly, if you can’t find a specialized community for your industry, you could always create one.   

Get started: Learning from the best 

How to Identify & Target the Right Niche Social Media Sites  by Chris Winfield

Fastest Growing Niche Social Media Sites and Networks by Jessica Merritt

Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network by Mark Hendrickson

Best,

Denice MacDonald

When you mix Jeremiah Owyang, Charlene Li and Forbes – you know for sure that the dialogue on social media and social media marketing has definitely elevated to a fever-pitch.  

In a recent article posted at Forbes, Owyang was able to provide readers a summation of the Forbes CMO Summit recently held in Palm Beach.     

Basically, Owyang contends, the dialogue on social marketing has elevated:  

1. CMOs are on a holding pattern for growth
2. CMOs admitted they were losing power to the empowered consumer
3. Social media was on the lips of nearly everyone
4. Social media is difficult to measure--yet marketers know
   they must be there
5. Beyond monitoring, insight from the social sphere is untapped 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: 

Behind Closed Doors: What's On The Mind Of Chief Marketing Officers?   

New to Forbes.com? Become a member for free! 

[Article and Photo Credit: Jeremiah Owyang, a Web strategist, is partner, Customer Strategy, at Altimeter Group]

Best

Denice MacDonald

Is Social Media a fad or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

Check out this latest YouTube video by Socialnomics to learn how this amazing trend is now a mainstay.

New to Social Media?

Social in Plain English by Commoncraft.com

A simple story that illustrates the forces shaping social media.This video comes in an unbranded "presentation quality" version that can be licensed for use in the workplace - simply go to Common Craft to learn more.

MacDonald Consulting Related Blogs:

Social Media as a Primary Business Tool

Social Networking Can Boost Your Business  

Best

Denice MacDonald