From the monthly archives:

March 2011

Finding Your Brand Voice

by Stephanie Schwab · March 31, 2011

Oscar winner Colin Firth could be the perfect person to ask about finding his voice – his virtuoso portrayal of a stuttering King George in The King’s Speech so cogently highlighted the frustrations of not having a clear way to communicate with a community. Some brands are equally tongue-tied, unclear about what the brand should sound like, leaving them either silent in social media or sounding haphazard and unrehearsed.

Get over your brand speech impediments by considering the following concepts, all of which play an important role in a well-rounded social media brand voice.

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35 comments

Why Groupon May Not Make Strategic Sense for Your Business

by Mark Smiciklas · March 30, 2011

Recent valuation reports continue to highlight the success Groupon’s business model. It’s hard to argue the benefit for the 70 million consumers that have signed up to date – the opportunity to experience a wide variety of products and services at deep discounts.

But what about the organizations providing the deals? Research about the negative impact of services like Groupon is starting to surface.

Erosion of Price and Profitability

The problem with Groupon from a strategic perspective is the ripple effect that results from a promotion model purely focused on price.

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55 comments

Linqia Offers Paid Placement Of Social Content

by Jason Falls · March 29, 2011

Community managers want to monetize what they’re doing. Brands want to reach niche communities with marketing messages. Seems like a simple solution, doesn’t it?

But then came the social media hippies and tree-huggers. “Marketing doesn’t belong here! We don’t want your spam!” So brands sulked away. And the community managers (think forums, LinkedIn Group leaders, not brand-side implementation specialists) who were interested in making money for their efforts got shut out or snuck behind their brethren’s back to make a buck.

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20 comments

What Chrysler Did Wrong: Remembering the Human Side of Social

by Jason Falls · March 28, 2011

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Megan Hannay, the Social Media Director for CarWoo.com.

Today I sent out a tweet about the psychology behind the purchase of a BMW. My bit.ly was a YouTube video about glow-in-the-dark dogs.

I didn’t realize the error until two followers messaged me wondering what the freak Beamers have to do with the furry products of a Japanese science experiment. Once I realized the source of my mistake – I left the “c” off the end of the bit.ly when I copied it to CoTweet – I thanked the social media gods that my accidental link hadn’t been more racy.

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33 comments

Exploring Social Media Business Summit Hits Toledo May 18

by Jason Falls · March 25, 2011

Most of you know I’ve launched Exploring Social Media, a learning community for those needing help understanding and embracing social media and digital marketing. Well today, I’m excited to let you know that the first Exploring Social Media Business Summit is coming to Toledo, Ohio. I’ve assembled a rock-star roster of speakers to come to Toledo on Wednesday, May 18! We’re rolling into town for an all-day, intensive learning event at the Hilton Toledo that will put attendees on the path to a more effective and efficient social media marketing effort.

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6 comments

Blogging is Good — In Moderation

by Ike Pigott · March 25, 2011

After years of hearing about these “blog” things, you finally broke down and got a new website for your company. And you discovered that your site was actually a “blog” cleverly disguised as a site … one that you could edit and update without having to pay additional fees to your designer.

You wrote articles and essays designed to appeal to your clients, and after a few weeks a trickle of comments came in.

Those early comments are so important — there’s nothing quite like the validation from outsiders who confirm that you’re having an impact. Why risk running off those commenters by putting them through moderation?

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26 comments

What Can You Expect From Your Corporate Blog?

by Ilana Rabinowitz · March 24, 2011

The first rule of measurement is know your objectives so you know what to measure.  That said, it’s a challenge to decide on objectives for a blog when you don’t know what the possibilities are.  At Lion Brand Yarn Company, we outlined objectives before we launched our blog in 2008, but what we discovered was that we would benefit in ways that we did not imagine.

Of all forms of social media, blogging can be the most time intensive. It is also a tool that requires a sustained, long-term effort. But therein lies the power of this tool. Developing a rich bank of content that serves our audience has been an important asset to our company. Here are five benefits of blogging that we have enjoyed:

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18 comments

Is there profit in a kinder, gentler business?

by Heather Rast · March 23, 2011

Big business is where it’s at, right?  The Industrial Revolution paved the way for us to produce a greater variety of products, in greater numbers, more efficiently than ever before.  We all know the impact Whitney, Ford, Watt, and many others made on living standards for the masses.  We gained access and became enabled.  Reach grew alongside speed to market.

Eyes turned to the assembly line, we fixated on efficiency. And we steadily lost sight of emotional and spiritual needs. We squeezed the joy and artistry right out of the village.

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6 comments

Is Facebook for Business Overrated

by Eric Brown · March 22, 2011

This may not be a popular position, or even a right one, but our experience with our own business, and the businesses we do social media marketing for, Facebook for business is completely overrated. Marketers are flocking toward Facebook in droves, partaking in an array of circus acts to garnish “Fans” and “Likes”, mostly with lackluster results at best, yet the Facebook madness drones on.

Facebook Is the New Web site

Small Business Labs reported on some interesting data from the Network Solutions State of Small Business report on the impact of social media on traditional websites;

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120 comments

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