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Archive for December, 2009

Marketing For The Masses

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

To he honest, I’ve never been one to attract the masses, nor one who felt attracted to what the masses were. We could call that a niche-perspective, if you will. Obviously, that perspective is absolutely valid not only for individuals, but for businesses as well. The problem is, most business try to focus on the masses. They want to get as many people as possible to use their products, to visist their website, to read their blog. And even though I’m not a fan of that strategy, I think I can help with a couple of social media tips of what I believe the masses find appealing. These are things that I’ve realized after observing the “social media human psyche”, to label it in some way. It’s marketing that works.

My five social media recommendations on how to attract big numbers:

 

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Are You Censoring Yourself?

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Social Media Censorship

As the saying goes, “if you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t say anything at all.” The problem though is that sometimes it’s hard to figure out what is good and what is bad. Especially with the advent of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter especially, updating or sharing something that won’t offend the masses can be a difficult, and sometimes tricky dilemma.With that said, does that mean social media needs self censorship?

‘Self Censorship’ is commonly defined as “censoring ones own work, such as blogs or written work, out of fear or deference to the sensibilities of others without an authority directly pressuring one to do so.” If you have ever posted something on your Twitter or Facebook account that you later took down because you decided it would offend others, you have practiced self censorship. While a majority may not be familiar with the term itself, many practice it in their daily lives.

 

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The Importance of Stepping Outside Your Social Media “Circle”

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Social Media is a wonderful thing. The Internet is making the world a much smaller place and allowing us to connect with like minded people from literally all over the world. Last week I Skyped with someone in Paris, chatted with a friend in Argentina, and planned a Wii party with a buddy in Chicago – people would have scoffed at the idea a few years ago.

But as wide a net as can be cast through the use of Social Media and blogging, we still often find that our communities are not as big as they seem. We look to meet a wide range of people but somehow, we still end up developing small cliques and social groups  – and while there’s nothing wrong with this, when you settle in and become overly content with one specific group, you’re closing you’re mind to a whole word of learning possibilities and potential.

 

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Lingo 101

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Jumping into social media is more than blogging, commenting and tweeting—it’s a culture shift. It’s real time, all the time. So, learning customs and lingo is more than half the battle. Because of this it’s hard to learn what someone means by ‘I got poked’ or ‘she’s a contact, not a friend’ and ‘I posted on their wall, but I didn’t tweet him’. Let’s go through some definitions one social media site at a time.

Social networking is a branch of social media, and we’ll focus on networks in this post.

 

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Using Social Media To Repurpose Content

Friday, December 25th, 2009

repurposing content within social media

photo by azglenn

I am a firm believer in working smarter and not harder. There is so much on many of our plates in any given day and tangling ourselves with the countless activities in social media can be a bit much when faced with other tasks and duties. Today I wanted to touch on a subject that I have been a huge fan of, for both clients I have worked with and in my own work. The concept is to repurpose content through social media.

Like Reuse Old Content?

Not exactly. This isn’t like Back To The Future II when Doc Brown creates a car that drives on garbage. Instead repurposing content is actually about spreading your thoughts, ideas and content over multiple formats to expand your reach without going crazy in content creation.

 

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2010 Social Media Considerations

Friday, December 25th, 2009

As the year comes to a close and we take a look at the social media whirlwind of 2009, we must definitely think about social media planning and execution for 2010. Although the entire year cannot be planned (a “Twitter” platform might just explode mid-way through the year or Facebook might totally redesign fan pages overnight), we can definitely consider some short and long-term goals in addition to management and cost.

Some considerations companies will consider include:

Are You Cut Out to Be A Blogger?

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

3d business man character sitting with laptop at desk

I once had a lengthy conversation with a mentor who was considering starting a blog for his financial services company. His concerns naturally revolved around whether blogging would pay off in sales and conversions for his firm. It’s always difficult to say what direct and indirect impact a blog may have on someone’s profession or on the amount of business a company gets, because the results of a blog are largely dependent on the amount of time and effort the writer is able to put into it. Additionally, some bloggers don’t do it for the money—sometimes writers just want to establish their personal brand online or promote their book, for example, and they may not have the ability to measure financial conversions directly.

Two things are certain: a blog definitely increases an organization or individual’s “findability” and, if used properly, can also establish the writer as an important authority in his or her field.

 

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