Social Media Becoming a Business Productivity Tool

Until recently social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ were largely limited to marketing and community building functions at companies. But a recent survey conducted by McKinsey & Co. concluded that a majority of the estimated $1.3 trillion in untapped value from social technologies lies in “improved communications and collaboration within and across enterprises.” In other words, social media as an office productivity tool, in much the same manner that email did in the late 1990s.

Companies are moving beyond advertising on social media networks and are using social networks to build internal teams that solve problems faster, share information better among employees and partners, and bring customer ideas for new product designs to market earlier.

And as a bonus, the enormous popularity of the major social media networks means that for the most part your employees already know how to use them. That means that employees already have a basic ability to access company information simply because it’s easier to get to it. And because of employees’ familiarity with social media networks, very little training may be required.

In recent years, companies have begun to use social media tools such as internal networks, real-time chats and wikis for uses that go beyond marketing and community building to improving office productivity.

Here’s just a few other objectives that social media networks can improve for your business productivity and bottom line:

•Wikis: Lets you build a knowledge-base that keeps the latest most up-to-date information in front of your managers, sales team and customer service reps with a wiki.

• Blogs: Brainstorming and vetting new ideas. After all, your small business thrives on bringing new ideas to market faster. Blogs let you do that.

• Web-based file-sharing:  You probably have the ability to share documents internally, but web-based file-sharing gives you the ability to share private documents with customers and partners in a secure, auditable way.

• Microblogging: Lets you manage projects more effectively. Your team can’t always meet in person; microblogging keeps everyone in touch.

Much of work is social. But in today’s economy many employees now spend much of their time away from the office. Using social media as a productivity enhancement tool  helps workers stay connected and can increase your ROI.

Are You Taking Advantage of All the Social Media Marketing Options Available to You?

By now most companies have a Facebook and Twitter account to announce special deals and incentives for “Followers” and “Likes”.  That’s a great place to start your social marketing efforts, but if that’s all your company in doing in the social media marketing arena, you’re missing some golden opportunities and you need to seriously consider expanding your social media marketing in new areas.

Unlike more traditional marketing, social media marketing centers on creating content that attracts consumers’ attention and encourages them to share it with their social networks.  Your corporate message spreads from user to user because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company.

Here are some social marketing sites that you need to seriously consider using:

Blogs.  Okay, technically a blog isn’t a social network or even part of any social networking site.  But blogs are social and blog comments integrate into other social media tools, helping spread the word about your business.  A blog is a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing and public relations, raise the company profile and build the brand.  If you’re not already blogging, you need to start – ASAP.

Using a blog gives your company an identity and helps you gain visibility on the web.  Utilize your blog to educate and help clients and you’ll build trust and strengthen your credibility as an expert in your industry.

Blogging requires a time commitment and some writing skills, which not every small business has in-house.   Fortunately, blogging is something that can be contracted out. Even though your postings are almost instantaneous, tangible results can take time.

LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a social network for business professionals. It’s big, with 161 million members in over 200 countries.  People are joining LinkedIn at a rate of approximately two new members per second.  And more than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.  Use this business social network as an extended business card.  As people hear your name or mentions about your business, there is a good chance that they’ll check you out on LinkedIn.  So fill out your personal and business profiles and link them back to your business website.

YouTube.  The best known and largest video site is YouTube.  Although you don’t have to, you should consider producing your own videos for your marketing efforts.  For example, if you post a video to your blog, upload it to YouTube to reach a broader audience, and embed the video content in your blog posts. YouTube has a powerful analytics tools available so that you can evaluate the effectiveness of your video content.  While your customers might not be on YouTube, you can still use it as a place to store and tag your videos, and then distribute them to other social networks where you might prefer to invest more time and effort.

Flickr.  Start a Flickr account for your business and post photos of your customers or your products (or both).  Flickr offers a place where people can share photos with others, but also has discussion groups, many focused on local markets that offer additional opportunities for you to market your business.  Like YouTube, your customers might not be on Flickr, but you can still use it as a place to store and tag your photos, and then distribute them to other social networks.

Pinterest.  Pinterest allows account holders to create a virtual bulletin board – posting pictures of what interests them – and other users can drop by and evaluate your taste.  If others see something they like, they can repin that image to their own Pinterest account.  In other words, Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows members to take images, videos and other objects from your board and “pin” them to their board.  But what does it all mean from a marketing perspective?  Pinterest can effectively showcase your products on boards with links to your e-commerce or designated website. Such pins can be easily tagged with prices, repinned, and ultimately purchased.

There are hundreds of other social media sites – too many to mention all of them here.  There are benefits and drawbacks to using each site.  Explore the different sites to find which ones fit into your marketing philosophy and needs.  Using the various social networks effectively, will help your brand reach more customers, drive more traffic, and sell more products.

Just remember, it’s about consistency and your social media marketing campaigns are part of your company’s overall marketing strategy.  Make sure each message is aligned with your brand and marketing strategy as well as company philosophy and values, regardless of the medium.

Foolproof Steps to Writing Hot Blog Posts and Other Social Media Content

Do you have a blog? Is it getting the response you wanted? You may be making some common but easily fixed blogging mistakes. Here are 14 helpful steps:

1. Be Conversational: It’s called social media for a reason. Eliminate stiff, boring content that lacks personality. The goal is to bring your readers into the conversation. Write in the same tone that you’d use if you were talking face to face with your readers. An interactive, personal tone helps generate buzz for your content.
2. Keep advertisements to a minimum: If you place ads on your blog, keep them separated from the content. Place them in a sidebar or in a banner along the top or bottom of the page. Always make your content the main focus of your blog. And don’t overly promote yourself. Social media users will soon ignore any blog that constantly displays ulterior motives. Make sure you’re adding to your readers’ online experience by being useful and educational.
3. Use Pictures: Pictures act as a great supplement for your social media content. No matter how great your writing is, few readers want to be greeted with a long block of text when they click on your post. Pictures make your content easier to scan and they add aesthetic value to your post. Plus research shows readers are more likely to read a post that’s accompanied by a picture.
4. Become a resource: If you want your content to rise to the top of social media sites and to generate inbound links, you need to write pieces that act as a resource. How can you do this? By providing detailed analysis or information that can’t be found anywhere else. Make your post a leading resource is by including the tools and links to some hidden gems that others have overlooked. Make your post the place where readers can learn all they need to about a particular subject from.
5. Be unique: There are now literally thousands of blogs on the Internet and new ones are popping up every day. So, why should I read yours? The best way to stand out from the every growing crowd is to have a unique voice readers can’t find anywhere else. How can you do that? By being your own unique self. Write like you talk and be yourself. It’s that simple.
6. Post frequently: Keeping your readers’ attention is the key to building a loyal following. That’s difficult to do this if you post every few weeks or whenever you get around to it. You probably don’t need to post every day, you don’t, but post regularly enough to keep your audience’s awareness.
7. Persevere: Social media marketing requires a long-term commitment. You have to keep writing and posting. Learn from your mistakes and keep tweaking your approach until you hit on a formula that works. It’s a learning experience. Building a successful blog can be a slow process. But with time and perseverance you can achieve something great.
8. Open things up for conversation: Social media, including blogs, is about creating a dialogue with your readers. Your job as a blogger is to get the conversation started. You do this by expressing a clear opinion on the topics you write about, choosing timely issues, and then asking readers to share their thoughts.
9. Respond to comments: If a reader leaves a comment he/she expects the writer to respond to it. Knowing the author will respond to comments gives the reader incentive to join the conversation. When your respond, you keep the conversation going and build relationships with your readers.
10. Add something new to for your readers: Whatever topic you are writing about has probably been covered by someone else. That’s not a problem. But make sure you add a own unique perspective or some info not generally covered to the topic.
11. Tag and categorize your content: Readers are interested in specific subjects and those subjects are what they want to read about. Categorizing your content makes it easy for readers to find the information they need fast. It’s a simple matter of usability.
12. Write compelling headlines: A great headline is the first thing readers see of your blog and the foundation of all social media content. If your headline doesn’t grab the readers’ interest, they won’t bother reading the rest of your post.
13. Link out: Linking out turns your blog into a resource for your readers. When you link out, readers know you’re giving them all the info they need. In addition, linking out captures the attention of other bloggers, helping you build your network.
14. Optimize your posts for the search engines: If your posts aren’t targeting specific keywords, you’re missing out on long-term search engine traffic. Stick to some SEO basics like keywords in headlines, body content, and back links.
    

5 Content Tips That Will Increase Your Blog Readership Right Away

You recently started your company blog. You do your research, you write killer headlines, and you follow that with a great and compelling opening paragraph. But still, you’re not getting the readers you’d hoped for. What are you doing wrong? Content is still king; but you need to know how to present and promote your content in order for your blog to succeed.

Here are 5 tips that can help you write and promote your blog more effectively and increase your readership immediately:

Be More Conversational. It’s called the “social” media for a reason. Write like you’re holding a face-to-face conversation with your readers. And bring your readers into the conversation. An interactive and personal tone generates buzz for your content.

Don’t Overdoing the Advertising. Readers are turned off when they feel you’re more concerned with advertising than the content of your blog. You need to find a balance between providing useful information and advertising. If there is any question, always lean toward more content and les advertising. Successful blogs are viewed by their readers as a resource; they will never see you a resource if they feel that your sole purpose is to make money. If you’re going to have ads on your blog, keep them separated from the content.

Use Pictures. Pictures are a great addition to your blog. No matter how great of a writer you are, most of your readers don’t want to be greeted with a long block of text when they click on your post. Pictures add a nice aesthetic look to your blog and they make your content easier to scan.

Become a Resource. If you want your content to rise to the top of social media heap (and generate inbound links), you need to become a resource. You accomplish this by providing information and analysis that can’t be found anywhere else. Whatever subject you plan on writing about has probably already been covered by others. That’s fine; adding your own unique perspective to the topic will keep it interesting. Online readers are well-known for having short attention spans; it’s your job to keep them focused.

Be Sure You’re Posting Frequently Enough. To build a loyal following, you need to be able to keep your readers attention. It’s pretty difficult (if not impossible) to build a following if you only post whenever you can get around to it. Posting every few weeks just doesn’t work. Posting everyday may not be necessary, but you needed to do regularly enough and often enough that your audience doesn’t forget about you.

Building a successful blog following takes time and effort. It can be a very slow process and generally requires a long-term commitment. Keep writing and learn from your mistakes. By persevering and continually tweaking your approach, you’ll eventually develop a formula that works for you. It’s a learning experience; stick with it for the long haul.